I Can't Believe Daredevil: Born Again's MCU Villain Story Was First Teased 10 Years Ago

By Zoe Miskelly

Published Feb 21, 2025

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With The MCU timeline has been making corners of Marvel's on-screen franchise that seemed like they might never intertwine with the main official MCU canon with surprising regularity of late, with both Deadpool & Wolverine making the Fox X-Men universe part of the multiverse, and Daredevil: Born Again set to further reinforce the original Daredevil and Defenders universe being more canon than it previously appeared.

Since Daredevil season 3 ended the show in 2018, there's been a considerable gap for the MCU to fill in now that Charlie Cox's Daredevil and Vincent D'Onofrio's Kingpin are a more definitive part of the franchise's overarching story, and are set to have their own arcs further developed in the Daredevil: Born Again story a decade ago.

Daredevil Season 1 Teased Kingpin's Born Again Storyline In 2015

Years before Daredevil: Born Again had been so much as teased, Daredevil season 1 put the pieces in place for Kingpin's MCU mayoral campaign - and the danger this presents - that would be later realized with Echo and Daredevil: Born Again both confirming Fisk's plans involving him being New York City's mayor. Season 1 sees both the introduction Vincent D'Onofio's Wilson Fisk and his first major bids to control New York and its underworld, which is perhaps most dramatically demonstrated when Kingpin sends people to bomb the Russian mafia at several locations they're gathering in, decimating their numbers and Hell's Kitchen.

Ever an opportunist, Wilson Fisk later holds a charity gala for those affected by the bombings that he orchestrated in Daredevil season 1, episode 10, using the mayhem he generated in the city to bolster his reputation, since the general public didn't know he was responsible. While the gala is cut short by several of the guests being poisoned - later revealed to be the work of Madame Gao and Fisk's associate Leland Owlsley - the parts we do see of the gala before this show that this plan is until then working perfectly for the crime boss, as he receives several compliments and is clearly cementing his place in New York.

In fact, after Fisk gives a speech on his hopes for a "brighter future" for Hell's Kitchen, Kingpin is greeted by Senator Randolph Cherryh, who tells him: "That was a hell of a speech, Fisk. You ever think about running for office?" While Fisk responds "I'll leave that to people like you, Senator." - and Cherryh calls this a good answer - the fact that Fisk would later go into political campaigning and actively run for office with his mayoral campaign makes this moment all the more striking in retrospect, especially with Daredevil: Born Again close on the horizon.

Why Daredevil's Mayor Kingpin Storyline Tease Is So Wild

Daredevil season 1, episode 10 released on April 10, 2015 - years before Daredevil: Born Again's 2025 release, and well before the plans for Fisk's story in the later MCU show appear to have ever been conceived. Indeed, Daredevil season 1 existed in a quasi state of canon when it came to the MCU, with it never being entirely clear whether the series and the wider Defenders universe that grew from it was to be fully considered part of the mainline MCU, or whether it was to be considered fully its own separate entity, meaning it would've been almost impossible to predict Daredevil: Born Again coming to fruition.

Daredevil: Born Again premieres on April 4, 2025, marking an almost exact 10 year window between its release and Daredevil season 1.

Similarly, though the Mayor Fisk storyline does originally appear in the comics, this storyline kicks off within Daredevil #595 - which released in 2017, two years after Daredevil season 1, episode 10. Between this and the most famous story associated with the Mayor Fisk storyline - that of the 2021-2022 Devil's Reign arc - both being released after the show's tease, it isn't as though this moment was created with the prospect of potentially adapting this comic narrative in the show itself, making the fact this now appears like such a clear tease all the wilder when looking back now.

Daredevil raising the prospective idea of Kingpin vying for a government office isn't entirely surprising, since his goals are to amass increasing amounts of power - and his later use of government agents like the then-FBI agents Benjamin Poindexter and Ray Nadeem the idea he'd be willing to gain a position of his own to misuse for his own agenda. However, the way in which Daredevil manages to set up a storyline for a sequel show that couldn't have been predicted - which looks to adapt a comic narrative that hadn't yet come to fruition - feels just a little mindboggling with the blessing of hindsight.

I'm Glad Daredevil Secretly Foreshadowed Daredevil: Born Again's Story 10 Years Ago

One of the true highlights of Daredevil is the careful way it constructs and executes its storylines, with a range of narratives blending over into one another and tying together to create something that feels genuinely special. The show effectively used small details from prior episodes and scenes to build to much bigger things in its overarching narrative, which worked to make every moment feel important, and every character seem like they could have a crucial role in some part of the proceedings as they unfolded - since this was often the case even with smaller side characters.

As such, the original show building to Daredevil: Born Again from such early chapters helps the characters' stories carry over more naturally, and helps make what could otherwise be a slightly jarring narrative shift after Daredevil's ending itself feel more fitting, since the idea of Fisk running for office had been at least suggested since Vincent D'Onofrio's first year on-screen as Kingpin. With Daredevil: Born Again's biggest challenge arguably being mirroring the lightning in a bottle that was the original series, I'm glad there are big and small ways that all the pieces connecting the series fit together and build to a new future.