Wilson Fisk might be the undisputed Kingpin of New York, but when it comes to the big screen, he’s currently caught in a web of Marvel red tape. In a new profile with GQ, Vincent D’Onofrio finally pulled back the curtain on the creative silos of the MCU, explaining why we haven’t seen the Mayor of NYC trading blows with Spider-Man or the Avengers in a movie theater yet.
According to D’Onofrio, the reason isn’t a lack of interest—it’s a matter of theatrical logistics.
“Right now, they don’t have the rights,” D’Onofrio explained, before expanding on previous comments about the complicated rights situation. “They have a bit more rights than they did a couple of years ago, but it’s tough right now. They have the rights to a lot of characters from the Spider-Man series, but they don’t have mine, not completely. So I think that’s holding them back a bit. But I hope to be able to do it, we’ll see.”
I hope Kingpin is in the movies someday. We’ll see, I don’t know. Maybe it will be me, maybe it won’t.
-Vincent D’Onofrio
Of course, by co-starring in Daredevil: Born Again, D’Onofrio has been able to provide significant input into how Fisk is portrayed on screen and devote more screentime to the character than even a trilogy of films would provide. And so while D’Onofrio—and everyone else–wants to see Fisk take on Spider-Man, it’s not in the cards…yet.
The renaissance of the Netflix Defenders-verse been confirmed. After months of speculation, photos from the New York City set of Daredevil: Born Again Season 3 have revealed that the new season will indeed reunite the Defenders.
Twitter user jadames1775 was able to capture Mike Colter, Finn Jones and Krysten Ritter on set, leaving no further room for argument that the heroes for hire will reassemble in 2027.
With Marvel Television intent on producing new season of Daredevil: Born Again on an annual cadence, fans will continue to run the risk of learning information about each “next” season before the “current” season completes its run. While it’s easy enough to avoid major spoilers (and as Season 2 will prove, easy enough for the studio to keep major reveals away from the public eye), it’s impossible to keep everything under wraps when much of the series is filmed on the streets of New York City. And with filming on Season 3 underway, a pair of major characters have been confirmed to return to your small screens in 2027.
Behind the scenes photos from the NYC set have revealed that both Krysten Ritter‘s Jessica Jones and Deborah Ann Woll‘s Karen Page will not only be back for Season 3 but will be sharing scenes…with no sign that Charlie Cox‘s Matt Murdock will be joining them.
Karen Page and
🚨 Jessica Jones and Karen Page trailers and JJ stunt double have been spotted on the set of ‘DAREDEVIL: BORN AGAIN’ Season 3.
Looks like Krysten Ritter will be back as Jessica Jones for the next season.
Shared by Daredevil Shots, the new photos reveal trailers for “Jessica Jones” and “Karen” and “JJ” (reported to be the stunt double for Ritter).
It’s been made clear by Marvel’s streaming skipper Brad Winderbaum that fans should expect more Jessica Jones stories in the future and the photos confirm that at least some portion of those will be told in Daredevil: Born Again Season 3.
While Scardapane probably appreciates the job security, writing a television series that’s expected to stretch out into infinity also places a heavy mandate on his plate. For Daredevil: Born Again to ultimately be judged as a great show, not only will Hell’s Kitchen have to become the same sort of living, breathing enclave Frank Miller created in the comics but it’s cast of characters designed to support its dual protagonists will also need to bear the weight of world building, provide tonal shifts and serve–in one way or another–as moral counterweights to the dilemmas faced by the leads. With a pair of beloved stars like Charlie Cox and Vincent D’Onofrio, protagonist fatigue doesn’t seem likely but Scardapane and the rest of the show’s writers must still build in safeguards against it by creating a supporting cast that does more than fill screentime..and so far, those results have been decidedly mixed.
After the opening episode of the new season established Daredevil as the enemy of Wilson Fisk’s police state, episodes 2 and 3, titled “Shoot the Moon” and “The Scales & The Sword”, respectively, spend their narrative currency on the tissue that connects the revolutionary and the regime to the reality faced by those who while not the public-facing symbols of the struggle, belong to the society or are actively taking part in its downfall. While this includes characters such as Karen, Vanessa, Jacque Duquesne and Bullseye, the latest double dip spends more time on Fisk’s collaborators Daniel Blake, Buck Cashman and, and Heather Glenn, in addition to BB Urich, whose role in the propaganda war puts both her and Blake at risk, and Kirsten McDuffie. While each of these characters has a defined role in this revolution, some of them are simply more interesting than others.
By choosing to canonize the Netflix series, Marvel (and perhaps Scardapane) chose to accept all the consequences of the choices (both good and bad) made by those writers and none resonates more loudly than the decision to kill Ben Urich. An absolute cornerstone of Daredevil’s Marvel Comics lore, Ben was killed by Fisk at the end of Season 1 of Daredevil…an act that you’ll be constantly reminded of in season 2 of Daredevil: Born Again. Without spoiling the entire season, it’s safe to say that not even Scardapane could write himself out of that particular hole and, as such, BB–and her relationship with Blake, the “heir unapparent”– just too often feel as an effort to right that wrong. And don’t get me started on Blake.
On a positive note, Scardapane seems to enjoy enhancing the parallel paths of Murdock and Fisk by pairing the arcs of characters in their respective orbits. Karen and Vanessa. BB and Blake. Heather and Kirsten. The AVTF and the AdT (Angela del Toro). Buck and…Foggy (gasp). In episodes 2 and 3, the writers leverage the supporting characters by setting them in ideological opposition to one another. As Vanessa tries to convince Wilson to leave New York, Karen and Matt talk about staying put. As the AVTF cracks down, AdT levels up. As the Deputy Mayor of New York City for Communications elevates his position in the regime, BB digs deeper and becomes the underground press, attempting to strip away the facade of fear by mocking the Kingpin. Buck serves as Kingpin’s loyal capo, weaponizing authority, while Foggy’s absence–and his adherence to the idealism of the system–allows Matt to teeter on the edge of disappearing behind the mask.
The transition between episodes accentuates these polarities as the cracks in both sides begin to show, both literally and figuratively. Karen’s radicalization (Matt compares her thought process to that of Frank Castle) and Vanessa’s gaslighting (convincing Heather of her security while fearing for her own); Heather dissociates and descends into madness as Kirsten grounds herself in the reality of the populace; state-sponsored security becomes state-sponsored terror. The final straw, of course, is the farcical trial of Jack Duquesne, in which Heather’s lack of morality and the Kingpin’s influence over the Vigilante Trials conclude with a guilty verdict handed down to a LARPer. By publicly executing the spirit through the illusion of due process, Fisk unwittingly hands the resistance its eventual winning hand.
For the entertainment of the masses. Presented in all it’s ugly glory by then whose hand holds the scale.
-Jack Duquesne
And, of course, the wild card becomes increasingly wild…but it’s not time for his story just yet. Through 12 episodes, Daredevil: Born Again has patiently painted a picture of a pair of protagonists prepared to prove his love for his city is greater than the other’s; however, the cumulative scar tissue on the city and its inhabitants–the sinew of the story–and each man is increasingly faced with losing something they love, even if only the blind man can see it coming.
Daredevil: Born Again Season 2 premiere just dropped on Disney+ and a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it audio cue has officially tied Wilson Fisk to the highest levels of the MCU’s shadow government.
In a post-premiere breakdown with The Wrap, showrunner Dario Scardapane and executive producer Sana Amanat pulled back the curtain on the episode’s biggest Easter egg: the off-screen presence of the MCU’s shadiest normy,Valentina Allegra de Fontaine.
The moment happens in Wilson Fisk’s mayoral office in Gracie Mansion. As Fisk is being lectured by high-ranking government officials, Matthew Lillard’s Mr. Charles abrubtly enters the room. When one of the officials receives a phone call that instantly flips his hostile tone into one of total submission, he addresses the caller as “Miss de Fontaine.”
Scardapane confirmed to The Wrap that this wasn’t just a random name-drop. “Mr. Charles has a boss!” he teased, finally confirming that Lillard’s character is an asset reporting directly to Val. Sana Amanat explained that the Easter egg was designed to “create space” and remind the audience that these street-level stakes exist within the larger MCU ecosystem, even if Val doesn’t physically walk into Gracie Mansion.
We wanted to put Mr. Charles in that world. We wanted to kind of connect those two. Her showing up in our world would be the best, but a lot of the times, we’re siloed in this, you know, pretty rich world of characters and where those crossovers are.
-Dario Scardapane
As tantalizing as the tease was, Amanat clarified that fans should NOT take it as an indication that it’s anything more than an it’s-all-connected Easter egg. “There’s no need for that,” Amanat said when asked if the mention was teeing up another project. “I feel like these stories are so rich on their own that we are able to tell the stories we need to, especially with Daredevil, because there’s so many different kinds of characters.“
However, informed fans know that Val has her hands into more dirt than just smuggling weapons which means, by extension, so does Mr. Charles…and his MCU story is just beginning.
…it definitely has to be Spider-Man. One day…I’m hoping. We’ll see if they ask me to do it. Kingpin lived in a world of Punisher, Daredevil and Spider-Man so that would be the one.
-Vincent D’Onofrio
While responding to a fan’s statement that a matchup between Kingpin and Spidey was needed “ASAP”, D’Onofrio stated in order for it to happen, Sony and Marvel would need to “get their shit together” over what he called a “complicated rights issue.”
If Sony and Marvel ever get their sh*t together maybe. It's a complicated rights issue. Hope so.
While Kingpin debuted in the pages of The Amazing Spider-Man #50, he has since become a primary Daredevil antagonist. D’Onofrio explained that because the character is technically “shared” between Marvel (Disney) and Sony, placing him in a Sony-produced Spider-Man film requires a level of legal acrobatics that hasn’t happened yet. In the past, D’Onofrio has noted that his current contract is firmly rooted in the Marvel Television side of things, so similarly to how Spider-Man won’t appear in a live-action Marvel Television series, Kingpin won’t appear in a live-action Marvel Studios film until a new deal is arranged.
Since its inception, Marvel’s streaming spin on Daredevil has been heavily inspired by Frank Miller; however, in Daredevil: Born Again Season 2, showrunner Dario Scardapane chose to lean into the theological elements that Miller–who was raised as an Irish Catholic–introduced into the character’s mythos. Indeed, under Miller‘s short-lived pen, Murdock’s Catholicism emerged as an architectural framework for the character.
Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
Hebrews 11:1
It’s not just the gritty, noir-inspired spin on the character that Miller made famous that makes him synonymous with Daredevil. It was Miller‘s recognition that a lawyer moonlighting as a vigilante provided a perfect gateway to explore Matt Murdock’s inner-struggle laid the groundwork for the character’s turbulent internal conflict: is he a good man doing bad things or a bad man trying to break good? Miller, an Irish Catholic himself, believed that only a Catholic could manage to handle the contradicting duality that has come to define Daredevil. By leaning heavily into Hell’s Kitchen, a historically Irish-American enclave, Miller was able to build an entire theological scaffold around Murdock, and from it emerged the irony of a guilt-ridden Catholic dressing as the devil while fighting crime. By the time he wrote Born Again in 1986, Miller had codified Catholicism into Daredevil’s DNA. And though it is sometimes only in the subtext, Daredevil: Born Again Season 2 circumspectly examines one of the crucial contradictions that torments Matt Murdock: how does a man who believes in a merciful God go about living in a merciless world? And almost unbelievably, the season finale dares to answer that question.
Mercy. Grace. Justice not vengeance. Forgiveness. Daredevil: Born Again Season 2 balances and explores these and more key tenets of Catholicism but what’s most impressive is how strong writing allows them to emerge organically throughout the season as Matt Murdock, not Daredevil, begins to be reborn. Perhaps one of the show’s strongest elements is how those in Murdock’s orbit react and respond to him as he chooses mercy, forgiveness, justice and grace…and to whom he extends those blessings. In what seems an homage to Miller‘s Born Again, in which the final pages are noticeably brighter despite Matt losing everything, the final scenes of Season 2–which are far too spoilery to be discussed–are noticeably brighter as well, providing a sense of a man no longer at war with himself. As Fisk told Murdock, tragedy can transform a man, and the season finale certainly finds both men transformed. While production on a third season of Born Again is already underway, the Season 2 finale serves as a fitting denouement of the series that was originally announced at SDCC ’23.
I thought Daredevil was kind of cool because he couldn’t do anything. I mean, he’s blind. It wasn’t that he could fly. His major power was an impediment. So I was intrigued. When I took over he was kind of like Spider-Man lite, but I was able to project a lot of my Catholic imagery onto it. And I’d always wanted to do a crime comic.
-Frank Miller
Now fully in creative control, Scardapane deftly uses the second season to provide a definitive resolution to the wonderfully written diner scene from “Heaven’s Half Hour”, the first episode of the revival, in which a tense meeting over coffee ends with both men swearing they’ve left their alter egos behind them, slowly devolves into a pissing match between the better angels of their natures. In it, it is revealed that both of them believe they can transform both themselves and the city they love; however, Season 2 reveals that neither of them is remotely capable of such a change. The new season makes good on the parallel paths of the pilot, bringing them back to confront each other and themselves. Both Murdock and Fisk believed they could save the city, yet their resulting feud set it on fire.
I was raised to believe in grace. To be touched by the divine and transform. So if you say to me you’re a new man, I say fine. But you should know I was also raised to believe in retribution. So if you step out of line…I will be there.
Calculatedly, the new batch of episodes resonate thematically with each of the seasons of Netflix’s Daredevil without exploring those beats through the same lenses. Even as one episode spends significant time doing some retconning in a flashback set during Season 1 of Daredevil, the writers take every opportunity to subvert expectations, challenging characters in scenarios fans would expect other characters to face. As a second season, those challenges and their repercussions allow for character arcs to evolve and resolve and, for some, those resolutions are quite final. The series key players all have agency to make choices without the constraints of external forces, though it’s the choices made by Murdock and Fisk that will reverberate the loudest.
I cannot see the light. So I will be the light. I am Daredevil. And I am not afraid.
-Matt Murdock, Daredevil #612
Built on a narrative framework that honors the heavyweights who created The Man Without Fear, the new season delivers the MCU’s definitive devil, fearlessly ferocious and soaked in equal measures of blood and grace. Daredevil: Born Again Season 2 shrewdly shares the duality of its title character, dressing itself as its Netflix predecessor while continuing to make bold choices that distance it from the original series. The eight episodes crescendo with the final three standing as perhaps the finest of any season, culminating in a finale that is both unpredictable and astonishing. Truly, Daredevil is born again.
As has always been the case in the comics, the supporting cast comes and goes, roles shrink and grow and new players join the game. Of the latter, none are more captivating than Matthew Lillard‘s Mr. Charles, a kingmaker and lynchpin with ties to the MCU’s ongoing narrative and a couple of fan-favorite Defenders. Indeed, it’s once again all connected and the product is truly better for it. Krysten Ritter returns as Jessica Jones, in a role similar in size and impact to Jon Bernthal‘s Season 1 turn, and immediately returns to form, doing significant heavy-lifting, physically and narratively, in a short time. This is representative, perhaps, of Scardapane‘s best decision with Daredevil: Born Again: cutting to the chase with fast-paced episodes that are absent the distended dialogue-heavy scenes that often weighed down the original series.
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 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.
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 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.
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.
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