Did Daredevil: Born Again Just Drop A Young Avengers Easter Egg?
Don’t underestimate the filler episode.
Unlike so many stories set in Marvel’s Cinematic Universe, Daredevil: Born Again is delightfully self-contained. Sure, it’s building on threads set up in MCU projects like Echo and Hawkeye, but it's more of a sequel to Netflix’s original Daredevil, so it’s mostly picking up where that show left off.
Daredevil (Charlie Cox) is also the kind of vigilante who works alone. Apart from the Defenders, he doesn’t have a team to fall back on. He’s not joining the Avengers any time soon, either — and the same could be said for a number of heroes floating around New York. Elsewhere, though, there is one who may still believe in the value of collaboration. The latest episode of Born Again even goes so far as to namedrop her, teasing a potential team-up that’s been years in the making.
Spoilers ahead for Daredevil: Born Again Episode 5.
Daredevil works alone, but another super-team may be forming behind the scenes.
St. Patrick’s Day has already come and gone in the real world, but Born Again Episode 5 sees Matt Murdock celebrating the holiday at the bank. He’s hoping to take out a loan to support the law firm he runs alongside Kirsten McDuffie (Nikki M. James), and Ms. Marvel’s own Yusuf Khan (Mohan Kapoor) is the one assisting him.
Even though the Devil’s moved out of Hell’s Kitchen, the financial district is no stranger to thugs and criminals — and Matt learns this the hard way when he gets caught up in a bank robbery. Just before the bullets start flying, though, Yusuf tells Matt a bit about his family. Naturally, he can’t resist bragging about his daughter Kamala (Iman Vellani), otherwise known as Ms. Marvel; as he tells Matt, she’s currently “in California, visiting some friends.”
Nothing mentioned in a Marvel project is ever casual, so there’s no way there aren’t greater implications here. When we last saw Kamala in The Marvels, she was looking to form a team of younger superheroes. She started in New York with Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld), and ever-so-casually mentioned that Ant-Man has a daughter, Cassie Lang (Kathryn Newton), who could join their ranks next. Cassie and her family live in San Francisco — so is it possible the “friend” Kamala’s visiting is actually a new candidate for her super-team?
Kamala could be recruiting the Young Avengers while her dad teams up with Daredevil.
Born Again naturally doesn’t spend much time digging into Kamala’s specific whereabouts, but it’s hard not to wonder what she’s up to while Yusuf and Matt face off with a team of Irish bank robbers. The series found a clever way to sidestep a cameo from Ms. Marvel, all while setting up Marvel’s next superhero team. There’s no telling when Kamala will next appear, but if we read between the lines a little bit, she could be well on her way to forming the Young Avengers. Though the MCU has taken its sweet time introducing the next generation of heroes, Born Again might have just moved the needle forward in its own subtle way.
