It has long been rumored that Daredevil: Born Again would feature another costumed vigilante and a new video from the New York City set of the Disney Plus series may have given fans thier first look… though it may not be exactly what rumors led many to believe.
POTENTIAL SPOILERS AHEAD
The video, shared by X user @porgomomics shows a costumed character standing just inside an NYC store. Dressed in white with black stripes all over the suit and helmet, it’s very possible this is the first look at White Tiger.
While.its hard to make you anything for certain, it does appear as though it may be a male inside the suit which would lead to the assumption that Daredevil: Born Again will feature Hector Ayala, the first character to take on the mantle of White Tiger in the comics.
Rumors that White Tiger would appear in Daredevil: Born Again date back to November 2022, though those rumors often proposed that a female had been cast in the role, leading fans to expect an appearance by Ava Ayala, Hector’s niece in the comics. Another rumor that surfaces recently indicated that the series was set to adapt the Marvel Comics The Trial of the Century arc in which Matt Murdock represented Hector Ayala who was on trial as White Tiger for murder. This, of course, lines up neatly both with what little is seen in the set video/photo and with Wilson Fisk’s anit-vigilante platform in hisayoral campaign.
Once production got back underway in New York, it didn’t take long for photos from the set of Daredevil: Born Again to make their way online. A fresh batch of set photos from X user Finn seemed to confirm that the deranged serial killer Muse–long rumored to be part of the series–will appear. A closer look at those same set photos may reveal even more information about the D+ series.
On a wall near Muse’s graffiti mural of Kingpin, posters for real life NYC venues Baby’s All Right and Bowery Ballroom can be seen. While posters like these are located all over the Big Apple, these are indeed part of the set for Daredevil: Born Again.
The Bowery Ballroom poster indicates that someone named Spencer Giles will be at the venue on Friday, March 12th which could be let in determining when this portion of the series is set. While there are certainly continuity problems within any shared universe as large as the MCU, Marvel Studios does its best to keep things tight which means if we accept that they’re working off a real world calendar where March 12th is a Friday, this portion of the series is either set in 2021 or 2027.
Either choice is interesting but each for its own reason. Should the series be set in 2021, it would be during the Blip and set roughly at the same time as Clint Barton’s exploits as Ronin as seen in detail in Hawkeye. At that point in time, Wilson Fisk was shown to be out of prison and in charge of the Tracksuit Mafia. Should the series be set in 2027, it would be set beyond the events of Secret Invasion which are, to date, the farthest out into the MCU’s “present day.”
Daredevil: Born Again underwent a significant creative overhaul that saw Elden Henson, Deborah Ann Woll and Wilson Bethel–all of whom starred in Marvel Television’s Daredevil–added to the cast. However, as production resumed in New York City, a new set photo confirms that one villain, long rumored to be part of the series, remained in the plans.
A photo taken in the area of W50th to W52nd Street between 9th and 11th Avenues and shared by X user Finn, confirms that the serial killer Muse will indeed be involved in the events of Daredevil: Born Again. The set photo shows a graffitied mural of Wilson Fisk’s Kingpin and is clearly signed by Muse.
Long rumored to be part of the Disney Plus series, Muse is a serial killer who uses his victims’ blood and body parts to create art. The character was first introduced in Charles Soule’s run on Daredevil, which is believed to be one source of inspiration for Daredevil: Born Again. In December 2022, actor Colin Woodell joined the cast of the show and it was widely speculated that he might be taking up the part of the deranged artist.
In addition to confirming Muse’s presence in the project, other set photos shared by Finn show a Nelson, Murdock and Page sign hanging above what will clearly be the office space shared by the 3 in Daredevil: Born Again. The new firm was first drawn up by Foggy in Daredevil 3.13, “A New Napkin.”
In 1998, Kevin Smith and Joe Quesada teamed up for an absolutely insane eight-episode Daredevil arc published under the Marvel Knights banner. That arc, known as “Guardian Devil”, took Matt Murdock on one hell of a ride that included brief team-ups with Black Widow and Doctor Strange as well as run-ins with Mephisto and Mysterio. Though Mysterio is revealed to be the mastermind behind the series of unfortunate events that befall Matt throughout the eight issues, it’s one of the most dangerous villains in his rogues gallery who does the majority of the damage: Bullseye.
After going on a bit of a murderous rampage, the psycho killer squares off with Daredevil in the Clinton Mission Shelter where Karen Page finds herself involved in their fight. After Bullseye shoots Matt to gain the upper hand, Karen makes a deal to save Matt’s life but–as you’re certainly not shocked to find out–Bullseye reneges and as he’s making his exit takes his kill shot by launching one of Matt’s clubs at his chest. However, the projectile from the man that doesn’t miss found its home in the chest of Karen who sacrificed herself for Matt. It was a tragic and shocking turn of events in 1999’s Daredevil Vol. 2 #5 and now some new details about the roles of some returning characters could hint at it possibly being adapted into Marvel Studios’ Daredevil: Born Again.
During a major creative overhaul on Daredevil: Born Again, Marvel Studios made the decision to retcon Marvel Television’s Netflix series into the MCU’s Sacred Timeline. As a result, new showrunner Dario Scardapane and new directors Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead were able to directly connect the new show to the events of the three seasons of Daredevil. Part of that meant bringing back even more familiar faces from the popular series including Elden Henson, Deborah Ann Woll and, most recently, Wilson Bethel. If you’ve yet to watch Netflix’s Daredevil, that means Foggy Nelson, Karen Page and Benjamin Pointdexter, aka Bullseye, are now set to appear in Daredevil: Born Again and a pair of reports has indicated that two of those characters are set for a limited role in the series which could portend some seriously bad things.
According to Deadline, Bethel will return as Pointdexter for just three episodes. A separate report by insider Daniel RPK indicated that Woll’s role as Page in the series is limited to just three episodes as well. If you don’t subscribe to coincidence, you might start to think that the two characters’ three-episode appearances might overlap. While it’s highly unlikely that Daredevil: Born Again would adapt “Guardian Devil” in its entirety, it’s possible that the creatives behind it could be brave enough to establish Dex as a major thorn in Matt’s side by having him return as Bullseye and kill Karen. While most fans would likely name Kingpin as Matt’s archnemesis, Bullseye has always been his deadliest enemy. Having a totally unhinged Bullseye take Karen off the board would establish him as a major threat in the MCU and would definitely generate a social media shit storm that might never die down.
Daredevil: Born Again is currently without a release date but some episodes are expected to stream in 2025.
In 2013, 5 years after the MCU kicked off with Iron Man, Disney and Netflix reached a deal that allowed the streaming service to develop four live-action series based around some of Marvel Comics’ “street-level” heroes: Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage and Iron Fist. The original deal called for a 13-episode series to be developed for each character with their stories intersecting in a crossover events series, The Defenders. Ultimately, each of the series were granted at least a second season and, in 2016, following the character’s debut in Season 2 of Daredevil, a spinoff series centered on Jon Bernthal’s Frank Castle, aka The Punisher, went into development.
In late 2018, Netflix began cancelling the series individually and by February 2019, the Defenders-verse died a quiet death in the trades. In March 2022, the series were all removed from Netflix’s streaming platform and appeared on Disney Plus as The Defenders Saga and were not included in the MCU Timeline or the Infinity Saga.
The Defenders Enter The Multiverse Saga
After Avengers: Endgame put a bow on The Infinity Saga, Marvel Studios began a new chapter in its shard universe. Comprised, like its predecessor, of three phases of storytelling, The Multiverse Saga simultaneously continues the stories of characters from The Infinity Saga while also introducing brand new characters into the narrative tapestry. The new saga also came with a major change for Marvel Studios as they began to develop and produced both live-action and animated canonical streaming series for Disney Plus. Though there had been some talk of the Netflix series being revived on Disney Plus, Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige indicated in 2021 that the studio was focused on their own series but also–as is the way of The One Above All–said he’d “never say never” and that the characters could now appear in MCU projects.
Despite the apparent clarity on the issue, for two plus years, Marvel Studios remained mum on whether or not the characters appearing in their projects were the same versions of the characters depicted in the Netflix series or Multiversal Variants. In October 2023, a foreward from Kevin Feige in Marvel Studios The Marvel Cinematic Universe An Official Timeline made a distinction between projects that he considered Multiversal canon and ones that were set on the the MCU’s Sacred Timeline, indicating that the book only contained projects that took place on the latter. None of the Netflix series were included in the book.
On the Multiverse note, we recognize that there are stories – movies and series – that are canonical to Marvel but were created by different storytellers during different periods of Marvel’s history. Thetimeline presented in this book is specific to the MCU’s Sacred Timeline through Phase 4.
On January 3rd, 2024, Head of Streaming, Television, and Animation at Marvel Studios, Brad Winderbaum, revealed that the Netflix series were now considered canon, just two days before they were moved to the MCU Timeline Order section of Disney Plus. “So, I can say that up until this point, we’ve been a little bit cagey about what’s Sacred Timeline and what’s not,” said Winderbaum. “That was born, frankly, out of a period at the studio where we were like ‘we have to stick the landing with Avengers.’ It was another part of the company developing the Netflix stuff; we were aware of what they were doing, they were aware of what we were doing, but it was a lot.. it was a lot to balance anyway,” he explained. “But now that some time has passed, now that we actually see how well-integrated the stories are, I personally, Brad Winderbaum, will confidently say that they are part of the Sacred Timeline.“
During our restart of all the creative on Daredevil: Born Again, all the creatives got together and said, “Look, this is how we’ve got to do it now.” So we are for sure only speaking about it in terms of being directly connected to the original Daredevil, and that’s a great thing. It brings in a lot of cool stories and all the collateral story that happened in those original three seasons. So we now get to start this Born Again situation with all of that history behind us and the outcome of all that history. So we’re all talking about Daredevil: Born Again in those terms now.
With the Defenders-verse series having been firmly established as pre-Multiverse Saga canon, fans have begun to question if they’ll need to take in all 39 episodes of Marvel Television’s Daredevil series in order to understand and enjoy Daredevil: Born Again and potential future streaming series and films. The answer is no.
As the MCU continues to grow, fans–especially those who are new to the shared universe–are feeling the burden of the ever increasing number of projects as”required viewing.” Indeed, a common refrain online, from fans and critics alike, is that the MCU has become too big and that an understanding of new projects is too dependent on having a deep understanding of those that came before. In adding the Netflix series to the Sacred Timeline, Marvel Studios just added 161 episodes of “homework” that would take 144 hours and 6 minutes to consume. Even if a fan wanted only to watch all 3 seasons of Daredevil to prepare for Daredevil: Born Again, it would take them over 34 hours to do so. Asking fans who haven’t already seen those to do so in order to understand and enjoy what’s going on in your new show is unreasonable and would only further the negativity already building towards the studio on message boards and on social media.
And if you think Marvel Studios isn’t aware of what’s out there and listening, you’ve got it wrong. Over the course of its 3 season run, Daredevil built an enormous online following. In October 2018 when it was announced that Netflix had canceled the series, the Save Daredevil movement began online. In 2021, when Cox and D’Onofrio returned to their respecitve roles, and again in 2022 when Daredevil: Born Again was announced, the group, now known as We Saved Daredevil, celebrated, assured that their passion and online presence helped force Marvel Studios decision. Simply put, if you think Marvel Studios was listening then, you have to think they’re listening now and they hear loud and clear that “required reading” is not something fans want to spend days, weeks and months catching up on to enjoy a show. And so…
Marvel Spotlight
With Echo, Marvel Studios debuted a new production banner: Marvel Spotlight. The purpose of the new banner was made very clear by Winderbaum and Marvel Studios: “viewers don’t have to watch any other Marvel series to understand the plot” of a Marvel Spotlight project.
Marvel Spotlight gives us a platform to bring more grounded, character-driven stories to the screen, and in the case of Echo, focusing on street-level stakes over larger MCU continuity. Just like comics fans didn’t need to read Avengers or Fantastic Four to enjoy a Ghost Rider Spotlight comic, our audience doesn’t need to have seen other Marvel series to understand what’s happening in Maya’s story.
Prior to the revelation of when Marvel Studios chose to make the Netflix series canon, D’Onofrio stated his belief that Daredevil: Born Again, like Echo, would be produced under the Marvel Spotlight banner. While he was clear that the statement only reflected his opinion, given the growing public sentiment that the MCU’s supermassive runtime is making it hard for fans to feel connected, it would certainly work in Marvel Studios’ favor to roll Daredevil: Born Again out as a Marvel Spotlight project. That doesn’t mean that the events of it can’t dovetail into other projects (indeed, it’s very likely that its plot will tie directly to Spider-Man 4), only that everything fans NEED to know to understand and enjoy it will be explained within the series itself. While Marvel Studios clearly designed Marvel Spotlight on the fly and could have done a better job with the exposition necessary to understand Echo, they have plenty of time to get it right in Daredevil: Born Again, which isn’t expected to debut until 2025.
By making it a Marvel Spotlight project–and hopefully continuing to make sure fans know what that means–Marvel Studios subsequently makes the consumption of Marvel Television’s Netflix series, which all took place during The Infinity Saga, an option rather than a requirement. Fans who have watched them or chose to watch them ahead of Daredevil: Born Again will obviously find themselves with a deeper, more full understanding of character relationships and interactions and, as a result, may find themselves feeling fulfilled and content as completists. However, knowledge of 34 hours worth of story should not be used to gatekeep and prevent new fans from enjoying the next live-action story of one of Marvel Comics’ greatest characters.
After news broke that Elden Henson and Deborah Ann Woll were set to reprise their respective role, the creative overhaul of Marvel Studios Daredevil: Born Again has added another familiar face to the mix.
According to Comic Book’s Adam Barnhardt, Wilson Bethel has now joined the cast of the Disney + streaming series.
Following the release of the 5-episode streaming series Echo, Disney added the Netflix Defenders-verse series to the official MCU timeline. According to Vincent D’Onofrio, the decision to canonize those series came about during the creative overhaul on Daredevil: Born Again in the Fall of 2023.
Barnhardt’s report did not include any details on what to expecfrom Bethel’s Benjamin Pointdexter. When last seen in the Season 3 finale of Daredevil, the character was undergoing an experimental spinal surgery to in an effort to repair the significant damage done to him at the hands of Fisk’s Kingpin.
Release slates have never been more fluid than they are now. As productions get up and running again around the world, projects that were supposed to drop in 2024 have already been moved to 2025 and the butterfly effect is in full…effect. Only a crazy person might try to hypothesize when projects might actually see the light of day…so let’s look at one possible Marvel Studios’ release slate for 2026
January: Wonder Man
After a little creative retooling, Wonder Man resumed production in mid-January which means it will likely complete principal photography no later than Summer. With that in mind, it could easily be ready to roll out in 2025 but with Marvel Studios looking to space out their D+series and with very few new streaming projects far enough in development to get in front of cameras anytime soon, we’ve decided to put the Simon Williams solo series here.
Initially revealed to be a streaming series, Armor Wars is now a feature film and the first one on any of our hypothetical calendars to not have a release date set aside by Marvel Studios. That makes this spot as purely hypothetical as it gets. With the news that Marvel Studios’ search for a director is underway, it seems likely that cameras could roll on this one in either late 2024 or early 2025 since the script seems to have been in place for some time. IF that’s the case (that’s the nature of these hypothetical calendars, after all), this one would have no problem making this May 1st date…which was most recently set aside for Avengers: The Kang Dynasty.
July 24th: Spider-Man 4
Nobody knows it better than me: Sony sets the date for the Spidey movies that they make in collaboration with Marvel Studios. So why are we placing Spidey 4 on one of Marvel Studios’ tentative release dates? Because it seems increasingly likely that Spidey 4 (once believed to be a 2025 film) will be released in 2026 and it also seems increasingly unlikely that Marvel Studios will be able to roll Avengers 5 out in 2026.
September: Vision Quest
Even with Marvel Studios pumping the brakes on their streaming projects while they figure out how to make TV, it does seem Vision Quest is still going to happen. Who is making it and what exactly it will end up looking like are still questions we all have. Originally, it was going to be heavily influenced by Tom King’s excellent 12 issue Vision book but it’s been some time since anyone has had an update. Because this project COULD serve as a sequel to WandaVision and a prequel to the rumored Scarlet Witch solo project, it seems like something the studio would want to make happen and make happen right.
November 6th: Shang-Chi 2
Another project that has yet to be officially given a spot in Marvel Studios Multiverse Saga, Destin Daniel Cretton’sShang-Chi sequel seems like a priority for the studio. Cretton dropped out of Avengers 5 to spend more time preparing this which, hypothetically, could be because the studio wants to roll it out first. Interestingly enough, that’s consistent with info we heard a couple of years ago which makes us inclined to buy it.
January 15th-March 12th: Daredevil: Born Again, Part 1
New directors Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead have completed taking stock of the footage that was shot last year and seem to have come away with a little less work to do than fans thought. The latest word is that the directing duo and showrunner Dario Scardapane were able to condense what was filmed into 6 episodes and that they’ll be getting to work on filming a new pilot episode and two additional episodes to complete Part One. However…
According to star Vincent D’Onofrio, this highly anticipated streaming series may no longer be 18 episodes…but will it be more or will it be less?
It seems like there are a few shows that could work with more episodes, then some that just need eight or 10 or six. Echo is like five. I think this show [Born Again] could definitely work with more episodes and I know that Charlie [Cox] is, and I am too, happy to do that.
-Vincent D’Onofrio on the Daredevil: Born Again episode count
Whatever the final total ends up being, it seems Part 1 is still on track for an early 2025 release.
May 2nd: Captain America: Brave New World
The great release date shuffle may never end but a new round may start with Captain America: Brave New World. At one point in time, the studio set aside 5 months for additional photography to take place and brought in Matthew Ortman to script those scenes. While the hope is to start in mid-2024, we’ve heard cameras will not roll again until the powers that be are content with what’s been written rather than trying to course correct on the fly. Whether or not they actually film for 5 months, this project cannot afford to be a miss so expect them to take their time which may just mean it gets bumped off its February date and lands in May.
As was the prevailing belief, star Dominique Thorne confirmed that Ironheart has completed filming. That means it’s just sitting in the can waiting to be released at Marvel Studios’ pleasure. Given all the concern over many of the projects the last few years, that’s a welcome change. It sounds like a very safe bet that this will roll out in Fall 2025.
November 7: Fantastic Four
In an effort to accommodate the schedule of yet-to-be-announced-as-Reed-Richards star Pedro Pascal, it seems as though the start of production on Fantastic Four has been bumped into the second half of 2024. If that’s accurate, there’s absolutely no way this makes its May 2025 release date and there’s no need to rush it out in July when Thunderbolts SHOULD be completely ready to go. And so, the first family’s MCU debut will have to wait…perhaps until November. There should be no concern about WHEN MCU movies debut anymore (Doctor Strange, Thor: Ragnarok and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever all did very well at the box office in November) but rather that they release when they are ready to release. That might just mean Mahershal Ali’s Blade gets bumped to 2026 but that might just do the studio a favor as its one and only announced 2026 project might need some more time to cook anyway.
When Kevin Feige announced Daredevil: Born Again at SDCC, its planned 18 episodes made it Marvel Studios most ambitious D+ streaming series yet. Now, following a major creative retooling, that episode count is no longer a sure thing.
In an interview with Comic Book’s Adam Barnhardt, Born Again and Echo star Vincent D’Onofrio has revealed that the series is no longer guaranteed to run for 18 episodes.
The amount of episodes keeps fluctuating, so I don’t really know the number that we’re at right now.
-Vincent D’Onofrio on Daredevil: Born Again’s changing episode count
“It seems like there are a few shows that could work with more episodes, then some that just need eight or 10 or six. Echo is like five,” said D’Onofrio. “I think this show [Born Again] could definitely work with more episodes,” he explained, “and I know that Charlie [Cox] is, and I am too, happy to do that.”
Though it seems the show may now be made up of fewer than 18 episodes, D’Onofrio stopped short of putting a number on it, indicating it’s best to wait for word from Marvel. “But the number keeps fluctuating, he said. “I think you’re gonna have to wait for an official announcement, because I don’t want to say a number that we’re going to do because I’m not even quite sure what it is.”
Daredevil: Born Again is expected to hit D+ in 2025.
Following the Season 2 finale of What If…? on Disney Plus on December 30th, Marvel released a “Look Into the Future” feature for the third season of the animated series. Though no release date for the new season was given, the feature ended with the promise that the new season was “coming soon.” Soon is, of course, relative and with all the changes behind the scenes at Marvel Studios following Bob Iger’s return as CEO of Disney, release dates have never been more uncertain than they are now. In an interview with Comic Book’s Phase Zero podcast, What If…? director and executive producer Bryan Andrews echoed that sentiment while discussing the potential timeline for the release of Season 3.
While working hard to make no promises he couldn’t keep, Andrews revealed that the best fans could hope for is a late-2024 debut of What If…? Season 3. “They move stuff around,” said Andrews of Marvel Studios. “Every time I thought it was like, ‘Oh, it’s going to be this!’ It’s like, ‘It’s going to move a little bit!’ So, even I would hate to say something and have people’s hopes come up and then have them be dashed because of the beast of production and when things move around,” he explained. “I thought that it could come out at the end of the year in 2024 possibly, but that would be tight. There’s some other group of people that are masterminding when things [release] and they’re moving things on the board, and I don’t know where we exist on that at this moment.”
So while it’s entirely possible that Marvel Studios rolls What If…? out in 2024, it was not listed on the slate sent out to press in late 2023. However, as Andrews explained, the slate is only the slate until it isn’t and fans should start getting used to the idea that dance.
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