Murphy's Multiverse

Tag: Born Again

  • Matthew Lillard’s ‘Born Again’ Character is the MCU’s New Global Shadow Player

    Matthew Lillard’s ‘Born Again’ Character is the MCU’s New Global Shadow Player

    When news first broke that Matthew Lillard was joining Daredevil: Born Again Season 2, the fancasts went wild—was he the new Norman Osborn? A live-action Alistair Smythe? But as the premiere draws near, the reality is much more interesting. Lillard isn’t playing a costumed man; he’s playing the man who makes the costumes possible.

    Lillard’s Mr. Charles–who he describes as having a “Cheshire Cat energy” and a level of chill that should terrify every other player on the board–is exactly the type of character the actor would never be expected to portray.

    Lillard found his way to Hell’s Kitchen via a relationship with showrunner Dario Scardapane that originated from the pair’s shared love of Dungeons & Dragons. “I am the Dungeon Master for all these incredibly powerful showrunners,” Lillard joked. Scardapane apparently liked Lillard’s ability to shape a narrative so much that he wrote the role of Mr. Charles specifically to “plus up” the veteran actor’s unique energy.

    Mr. Charles is described as a “CIA-style spook” and a global power broker. While Wilson Fisk is busy playing Mayor of New York, Mr. Charles is playing a different game on an international stage. In a world where everyone is terrified of the Kingpin, Mr. Charles is notably “unimpressed.” Lillard teased a “delicious struggle over power” between himself and Vincent D’Onofrio, noting that his character sees Fisk as a big fish in a very small, local pond. And in an interesting bit of tethering, Scardapane has confirmed that Mr. Charles reports directly to Valentina Allegra de Fontaine. He exists in the “Val world,” effectively linking the events of Born Again to the larger Thunderbolts* and narrative. So, apparently, it’s all connected again.

    Despite the high stakes, Scardapane says the scariest thing about Mr. Charles is how “regular” he looks. He’s the guy wearing a plaid button-up and slacks to a tense dinner at Gracie Mansion, completely relaxed while everyone else is buttoned-down and bleeding. Lillard himself admits he’s “chewing scenery” in a world that is otherwise incredibly grounded and tense.

    Whether Mr. Charles is there to help Fisk or pave the way for his replacement remains among the season’s biggest mysteries.

  • The “About-Turn” —New Details Emerge About How Marvel Frankenstein-ed ‘Born Again’ into a Netflix Sequel

    The “About-Turn” —New Details Emerge About How Marvel Frankenstein-ed ‘Born Again’ into a Netflix Sequel

    The last two years of tracking Daredevil: Born Again revealed significant behind-the-scenes turbulence, but we finally have the surgical breakdown of exactly how Marvel Studios reworked he show from its original, “legal procedural” premise.

    In a candid new interview with USA Today, series lead Charlie Cox pulled back the curtain on the “Herculean task” showrunner Dario Scardapane faced when he was hired to fix a season that was already half-finished. According to Cox, the overhaul wasn’t just a few reshoots—it was a complete structural “about-turn.”

    When the creative reset happened in late 2023, Marvel found themselves with six episodes of footage that “didn’t quite work” but contained “brilliant” individual scenes. Rather than tossing it all, Scardapane—who previously wrote for The Punisher—essentially re-engineered the season’s DNA.

    Scardapane wrote and filmed a brand-new Episode 1 from scratch. This new pilot was designed specifically to bridge the gap between the 2018 Netflix finale and the current MCU, re-establishing the “dream” of Nelson, Murdock, and Page. In what was described as a “Frankenstein job”, the original six episodes were moved. What was supposed to be Episodes 1 through 6 became Episodes 2 through 7. To stick the landing (a phrase made very important on social media by Marvel stans) and tie the new narrative threads together, Scardapane wrote a two-part finale to replace the original ending.

    The new team filmed a series of “interstitial scenes” to be woven into the existing middle episodes, ensuring the transition from the new pilot to the old footage felt seamless. And the result was a frustratingly fantastic return to the streets of New York City.

    The original version, steered by Matt Corman and Chris Ord, famously kept Matt Murdock out of the Daredevil suit until Episode 4. Kevin Feige reportedly pulled the plug after realizing the show lacked the “brutality and pathos” that made the Netflix run a hit. The overhaul brought Foggy Nelson (Elden Henson),  Karen Page (Deborah Ann Woll), Vanessa Fisk (Ayelet Zurer) and Bullseye (Wilson Bethel) back into the fold after they were originally omitted from the series. And, perhaps most importantly, the “About-Turn” allowed them to lean back into the dark, street-level tone that fans have been begging for since 2018 in Season 2.

    Marvel has turned a potential disaster into what looks like a genuine love letter to the Defenders era. Scardapane’s ability to  Frankenstein two different visions into one cohesive Season 2 which, according to early reactions, should be a hit with fans.

  • Bearded Behind Bars —Charlie Cox’s New Look May Tease ‘Born Again’ Season 3 Building the “Devil in Cell Block D”

    Bearded Behind Bars —Charlie Cox’s New Look May Tease ‘Born Again’ Season 3 Building the “Devil in Cell Block D”

    Charlie Cox’s recent appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! may have been massive, scruffy spoiler for the future of the Man Without Fear. Cox showed up sporting an uncharacteristically thick beard while revealing he had finished shooting scenes for Season 3 in New York just 12 hours prior.

    For fans of the comics, that facial hair isn’t just a style choice; it’s a beacon pointing directly toward one of Matt Murdock’s most harrowing chapters: The Devil in Cell Block D.

    It’s been theorized to be a potential source of inspiration for some time but Cox’s new look has brought the possibility of Season 3 adapting Ed Brubaker’s legendary “The Devil in Cell Block D” arc back into the spotlight. The story Matt Murdock is outed, arrested, and thrown into Ryker’s Island alongside the very criminals he put away…and it could work pretty brilliantly as the third season of Marvel Television’s flagship series.

    Cox told Kimmel he’s been filming heavy action sequences where he’s “getting cut a lot” and covered in prosthetic scars. This fits the brutal, close-quarters desperation of a prison riot or a no-rules brawl behind bars, similar to what fans loved in Season 2 of the Netflix Series.

    While the film studio is taking its time, Marvel Television Marvel is moving at breakneck speed. By filming Season 3 before Season 2 even premieres, they are ensuring that the street-level corner of the MCU has a consistent, high-stakes narrative through 2026 and 2027.

  • Jessica Jones’ Return Respects the Seven-Year Gap Since Season 3

    Jessica Jones’ Return Respects the Seven-Year Gap Since Season 3

    When Krysten Ritter’s Jessica Jones steps back onto the rain-slicked streets of Hell’s Kitchen in Daredevil: Born Again Season 2, she won’t be the same person we left behind in 2019. In a move that prioritizes narrative weight over easy nostalgia, showrunner Dario Scardapane has confirmed that the MCU is leaning into the real-world passage of time, treating the seven-year gap since the Netflix era as canon.

    Speaking on the character’s evolution, Scardapane made it clear that they aren’t interested in a “frozen in time” version of the character. “One of the things we’ve leaned into is that time has passed… We’re acknowledging that. These characters have matured; they’ve gone through life,” Scardapane told SFX Magazine.

    The question driving her return is simple but fascinating: What does it look like for a bourbon-swilling smartass to mature seven years in a world that has been through the Blip and a Kingpin takeover?

    The show respects the timeline since Jessica Jones Season 3 ended on Netflix. By the time we see her in Born Again (set in 2027), nearly a decade has passed in-universe since her last standalone adventure. Unlike Matt Murdock, Jessica doesn’t wear a mask. Scardapane noted that this makes her particularly vulnerable in the Mayor Fisk era. While Daredevil can hide in the shadows, Jessica is a known quantity to the Anti-Vigilante Task Force.

    Scardapane hinted that he is drawing from a specific “next chapter” of her life found in the comics. For those following the source material, this has immediately set off alarm bells for one very specific direction things could go, but one that has not been hinted at even remotely in any marketing for the series.

    L-R: Jessica Jones (Krysten Ritter) and Matt Murdock / Daredevil (Charlie Cox) in Marvel Television’s DAREDEVIL: BORN AGAIN, exclusively on Disney+. Photo by Jojo Whilden. © 2025 MARVEL.

    The official production notes for Season 2 also highlight a 6-month time jump from the end of Born Again Season 1. This means that by the time Jessica enters the fray, Fisk’s administration has truly taken hold, and the underground resistance—led by Matt and Karen—is in desperate need of a heavy hitter who has gone through life and come out the other side.

    By acknowledging the gap, Marvel is finally connecting the dots of the Defenders Saga in a way that feels organic. This isn’t a reboot; it’s a sequel. Scardapane’s reverence for Melissa Rosenberg’s original Netflix run suggests that while Jessica has changed, the hard-edged soul of the character remains intact. She’s just a little older, a little wiser, and likely a lot more dangerous to anyone standing in her way.

  • Daredevil Finally Gets the “DD” Chest Logo in ‘Born Again’ Season 2

    Daredevil Finally Gets the “DD” Chest Logo in ‘Born Again’ Season 2

    It’s been over a decade since Charlie Cox first donned the horns in 2015, and while he’s worn everything from black ninja rags to “ketchup and mustard” yellow, there has been one glaring omission for comic purists: the logo. No longer. As has been featured prominently in the marketing for the new season, Daredevil: Born Again Season 2, Matt Murdock has finally graduated to the iconic intertwined DDs.

    For Charlie Cox, the inclusion of the logo isn’t just a design tweak—it’s a narrative milestone. Reflecting on the ten-year journey to this suit, Cox noted, “I doubted whether that would ever happen. They made me earn it… I just waited for it to be something that would be hopefully inevitable.” In the context of the show, the logo represents Matt Murdock fully embracing his identity as a figurehead for the Hell’s Kitchen resistance.

    Fans of Charles Soule’s Daredevil run and the Shadowland event will recognize the aesthetic immediately. The Season 2 suit is predominantly black with red lenses and a blood-red “DD” logo front and center. Costume designer Emily Gunshor revealed a brilliant bit of visual storytelling for the new threads. The lore of the show is that Matt took his red suit from Season 1 and spray-painted it black to stay in hiding from Fisk’s Anti-Vigilante Task Force. As the season progresses and Daredevil gets into more scrapes, the black paint will actually chip and peel away, revealing the original red underneath, providing a literal “Born Again” metaphor for the suit itself.

    Matt Murdock/Daredevil (Charlie Cox) in Marvel Television’s DAREDEVIL: BORN AGAIN, exclusively on Disney+. Photo by Jojo Whilden. © 2026 MARVEL.

    It took Gunshor’s team 18 weeks to construct the suit, with six total versions created for Cox and his stunt double, Niko Stavropolous. They even went as far as creating six different shades of red lenses for the mask to ensure the color remained consistent regardless of New York’s fickle night lighting.

    By saying it with his whole chest, Murdock is moving away from the guerrilla vigilante of the Netflix era and into a symbol of open defiance against Mayor Fisk. Embracing the logo is Matt’s way of telling Fisk—and the city—exactly who is leading the rebellion. As Cox put it: “When I found out I had the double Ds, I was like, I hope I get paparazzi. I was so proud of it.”

    Season 2 of Daredevil: Born Again begins streaming on D+ on March 24th.

  • Marvel Launches Official ‘Daredevil: Born Again’ Companion Podcast Ahead of Season 2 Premiere

    Marvel Launches Official ‘Daredevil: Born Again’ Companion Podcast Ahead of Season 2 Premiere

    If you thought the hype for Matt Murdock’s return couldn’t get any louder, Marvel Television is making sure you’re fully immersed before the first frame of Season 2 even hits your screen. Disney has officially announced the Daredevil: Born Again Official Podcast, a nine-episode video companion series launching March 17.

    This isn’t just a standard promotional fluff piece; Marvel is positioning this as their first official podcast on D+, signaling a major shift in how they handle behind-the-scenes content for their heavy-hitter series.

    The Actors on Actors Deep Dive

    L-R: Matt Murdock / Daredevil (Charlie Cox) and Karen Page (Deborah Ann Woll) in Marvel Television’s DAREDEVIL: BORN AGAIN, exclusively on Disney+. Photo courtesy of Marvel Television. © 2026 MARVEL.

    Launching exactly one week before the March 24 premiere of Season 2, the podcast kicks off with a massive Season 1 retrospective. Episode 1 will feature Wilson Bethel, showrunner Dario Scardapane, and Marvel’s streaming skipper, Brad Winderbaum, looking back at the chaos that brought us to Fisk’s mayoral reign.

    Subsequent episodes will drop alongside the series, featuring an unprecedented look at stunts, costumes, and those inevitable Easter eggs. Expect to see Charlie Cox, Vincent D’Onofrio, and Deborah Ann Woll in intimate, actors on actors style conversations. In a smart move for accessibility, the video version will stream on both Disney+ and YouTube, while audio-only listeners can find it on all major platforms like Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

    The Season 2 Stakes

    L-R: Jessica Jones (Krysten Ritter) and Matt Murdock / Daredevil (Charlie Cox) in Marvel Television’s DAREDEVIL: BORN AGAIN, exclusively on Disney+. Photo by Jojo Whilden. © 2025 MARVEL.

    The announcement also gave us a fresh look at the Season 2 logline, and it’s grim: Mayor Wilson Fisk is officially hunting Daredevil as “public enemy number one.” The tagline—Resist. Rebel. Rebuild.—suggests we’re moving away from the courtroom and into a full-blown urban insurgency.

    In Season 2 of Marvel Television’s Daredevil: Born Again, Mayor Wilson Fisk crushes New York City underfoot as he hunts down public enemy number one, the Hell’s Kitchen vigilante known as Daredevil. But, beneath the horned mask, Matt Murdock will try to fight back from the shadows to tear down the Kingpin’s corrupt empire and redeem his home. Resist. Rebel. Rebuild.

    -Official synopsis for Daredevil: Born Again Season 2

    With a cast that includes Krysten Ritter and Matthew Lillard, the Born Again era is clearly Marvel’s new flagship. By launching this podcast, they’re creating a sticky ecosystem for fans to obsess over every detail of the Kingpin’s corrupt empire.

    Marvel is taking a page out of the HBO playbook here. Shows like The Last of Us and Succession proved that a high-quality companion podcast can keep the conversation alive all week long. For a show as dense and anticipated as Daredevil, giving fans a direct line to Scardapane and the cast is the best way to ensure Born Again dominates the cultural zeitgeist through the spring.

  • Rumors Suggest Danny Rand Will Punch His Way Into ‘Daredevil: Born Again’ Season 2

    Rumors Suggest Danny Rand Will Punch His Way Into ‘Daredevil: Born Again’ Season 2

    It’s certainly starting to look as though the creative overhaul of Daredevil: Born Again wasn’t just about fixing Matt Murdock. With Marvel’s streaming skipper Brad Winderbaum making it clear that Daredevil will be the studio’s flagship series for the near future, it looks like Kevin Feige is using the show to systematically rebuild the entire Netflix-era Defenders roster. We’ve already got Jon Bernthal’s Punisher back in the mix, with his own Special Presentation coming soon, and Krysten Ritter’s Jessica Jones will return later this month. But today, the most divisive member of the team is stepping back into the spotlight.

    According to a report from Cryptic4KQual—a source that has become increasingly reliable regarding Marvel’s production schedules—Finn Jones is set to reprise his role as Danny Rand in the second season of Born Again…or at least be mentioned.

    I think this world is extremely rich, and there are many stories to be told on the streets of New York.

    -Brad Winderbaum

    The first season of Iron Fist is often cited as the low point of the Netflix era. But by the time The Defenders and Iron Fist Season 2 rolled around, fans have argued Jones had finally started to find the groove of the character and the character seemed to be headed in the right direction. If Marvel Studios is bringing him back, you can bet they aren’t interested in retreading the corporate boardroom drama of the old show.

    The rumor suggests that Danny’s return won’t just be a cameo. Instead, it’ll be a “tease” that sets up a more significant role. Perhaps suiting up as Daredevil while Matt Murdock is behind bars? Ed Brubaker’s “The Devil in Cell-Block D” continues to be a popular pick for quasi-inspiration for Season 3 of Daredevil: Born Again and might serve as the perfect way to reintroduce Danny Rand while making him more palatable to MCU fans.

  • Jack Mulhern Joins ‘Daredevil: Born Again’ Season 3 as Mystery Villain

    Jack Mulhern Joins ‘Daredevil: Born Again’ Season 3 as Mystery Villain

    With principal photography on Season 3 of Daredevil: Born Again set to get underway this month, the first bit of news about the new batch of episodes has emerged and it may well tie to one of the most prominent theories about what to expect from the third season.

    According to Nexus Point News, 31-year old Jack Mulhern (Painkiller, Mare of Easttown) has joined the cast as a character named Phillip.

    While NPN’s own speculation is that the character–who is described as “a smart and scrappy New Yorker who’s sweet and lovable with a hidden rageful side”–might be one of Wilson Fisk’s children, another interesting option might be considered.

    Though he’s hardly one of Daredevil’s primary antagonists, Phillip Sterling caused plenty of problems for the character after being introduced in  Daredevil #39 (1968). While it’s unlikely showrunner Dario Scardapane would choose to directly adapt the character, whose comic book resume is full of some odd bits that won’t fit at all with the studio’s vision for Daredevil: Born Again, one particular arc featuring Sterling would  match well with the anticipated direction of Season 3.

    Sterling had a long standing field with The Man Without Fear and went by a few aliases, including Death-Stalker, and was one of the few early Daredevil villains to know the heroes true identity. It’s been widely theorized that Season 3 will involve Murdock being exposed as Daredevil in an adaptation of Ed Brubaker‘s “The Devil in Cell-Block D.” Sterling also has comic book ties to both Karen Page, whom he kidnapped.

    Scardapane recently revealed that fans should expect an abrupt narrative shift in Season 3, and introducing a villain like Sterling (if they stay away from his more…unusual powers) would make for a nice transition back to the street-level story the showrunner has teased.

    Source: NPN

  • ‘Daredevil: Born Again’ Showrunner Teases Jessica Jones “Next Chapter”

    ‘Daredevil: Born Again’ Showrunner Teases Jessica Jones “Next Chapter”

    The return of Krysten Ritter as Jessica Jones in the upcoming second season of Daredevil: Born Again has generated serious hype and, truthfully, did so long before the actress’s return was confirmed. Ritter‘s performance as the streetwise smart ass was a highlight of the Netflix Defenders-verse series and there always seemed to be room for her to grow, especially considering the last two seasons of Jessica Jones were minimally inspired by the character’s adventures in the pages of Marvel Comics.

    Season 2 of Daredevil: Born Again will see Jones once again team-up with Matt Murdock, this time facing Wilson Fisk’s corrupt takeover of New York City. It sounds as though that won’t be the last we see of Ritter in the role, however, as both she and Marvel’s streaming skipper Brad Winderbaum have teased that there’s more to come, with the latter teasing that whatever they have in mind will be “coming sooner than you think.”

    There’s a lot of stuff that I’ve felt there was room to explore, and Brad and I talked and I am not going to say any of it, because we’re going to be doing it.

    Krysten Ritter

    Now, Daredevil: Born Again showrunner Dario Scardapane has added fuel to the fire in an interview with SFX Magazine, discussing where Jones picks up when we meet her again in the upcoming season and what the future has in store.

    “One of the things we’ve leaned into is that time has passed between the end of the Netflix show and the beginning of ours,” Scardapane explained. “We’re acknowledging that. These characters have matured, they’ve gone through life. And Jessica Jones, bourbon-swilling smartass – what’s it like for her to mature seven years?“

    Scardapane also revealed that he was a fan of the first season of Jessica Jones and immediately pitched her return to Marvel when he boarded Daredevil: Born Again. And it turns out he has some ideas in mind for her further adventures, based– believe it or not–on Marvel Comics.

    “…what Melissa Rosenberg did with Season 1 of Jessica Jones is some of the finest superhero television work ever. When I first came talked to Marvel I was like, ‘We’ve got to bring Jessica Jones back!‘,” Scardapane said. “I don’t feel that her story ended. If you read the comic books, you’ll know that there’s a next chapter of her life that I thought was super interesting.”

    As jarring as it is to hear a Marvel Studios creative reference being inspired by the comics, Jones’ interactions with the larger Marvel Universe seem unlikely to end up translating to the MCU, leaving her brief stint as Knightress, her time at the Daily Bugle and the family she and Luke Cage have as the only other options to mine for narrative ore.

  • ‘Daredevil: Born Again’ Showrunner Teases Narrative Shift Ahead in Season 3

    ‘Daredevil: Born Again’ Showrunner Teases Narrative Shift Ahead in Season 3

    With annual releases becoming a priority for Marvel Television and Daredevil: Born Again serving as the studio’s flagship streaming series, production follows a pretty annual cadence and it’s just about time for cameras to roll on Season 3. As was the case with Season 2, that might mean fans can glean information about the third season of the series before they’ve seen all of Season 2, especially with much of the series filmed in and around New York City.

    Moving forward our priorities have shifted. We’re making shows as shows that can exist as annual releases, more like television.

    -Brad Winderbaum

    Videos and photos from the NYC sets were plentiful while Season 2 was in production, revealing a city under siege by Mayor Wilson Fisk and his anti-vigilante task force; however, as prep for Season 3 begins, showrunner Dario Scardapane has revealed fans should not expect more of the same.

    In an interview with SFX Magazine, Scardapane reveals that the series will be moving away from the Mayor Fisk story, opting to steep the new season in the street-level sauce of one of its iconic creators.

    According to Scardapane, after a pair of politically-charged seasons, Daredevil: Born Again will be changing course, with the noir-stylings of Frank Miller as inspiration.

    “The playbook is pretty well established, so when we were writing this stuff we were like, ‘Here’s what he does.’ The anti-vigilante task force is part of the comics. We built them and costumed them based on the comics. There are a few sequences that were shot a year ago that could be off the news, and it’s weirding all of us out,” explained Scardapane.

    “Stan Lee once said that he wanted to make his comic books a reflection of the world you saw outside your window. Then I also believe that what’s fun about the genre, and definitely fun in working with superheroes, is you’re dealing with huge archetypes, almost mythological characters, and that’s fun writing,” Scardapane continued, foreshadowing a significant change of pace for Season 3.

    “Getting into the realm of politics, New York politics, the Game of Thrones intrigue behind the scenes… okay, that’s fun too, but as it becomes almost too topical it feels like it’s going away from the large, mythological genre stuff,” he explained before adding that Season 2 will put a bow on the Mayor Fisk arc.

    So as we finish up the Mayor Fisk run with season 2, as that storyline comes to its inevitable conclusion, what we’re doing going forward feels more like a return to the [Frank] Miller-era comics. So yeah, it was fun to play in the realm of politics but I like something a little more street level, personally.

    -Dario Scardapane

    Though he only wrote 30 issues of Daredevil, Miller’s work redefined the book by introducing Elektra and The Hand, and focusing on a more cynical and fatalistic approach to comics. With little to mine from Miller’s work, it certainly seems possible that rumors of the return of Elektra to the series, perhaps this time as an adversary to Daredevil, seem increasingly plausible.