It’s been five long years since Charlie Cox headlined his own adventure as Daredevil, and his absence has been felt. Though Daredevil belonged to a tangential pocket of the Marvel Universe and wasn’t technically MCU canon, the series was beloved by fans who have steadily petitioned to bring Cox and his co-stars into the fold. Those prayers were finally answered in 2022 with Spider-Man: No Way Home, and again with She-Hulk: Attorney at Law in 2022. It’s all led to Cox’s triumphant return in Daredevil: Born Again, a revival of the original Netflix series.
The question of continuity has haunted Born Again since it was first announced. Whether the show was designed as a direct sequel to Daredevil or would reboot the characters into the MCU wasn’t clear until very recently. But cast and crew alike have been shedding light on the new show’s place in canon, and after Cox’s recurring role in She-Hulk, it seemed clear he was the same Daredevil, and that he’d just been hiding in the shadows for a few years.
According to Wilson Bethel, who played Bullseye in Daredevil’s twisty third season, Born Again will honor that passage of time within its story. Just as Daredevil has barely been seen on-screen for the past five years, his new adventures will pick up after a five-year time jump.
Born Again’s time jump could offer characters like Bullseye more nuance.
Bethel made the reveal during a retrospective panel with Cox at Fan Expo San Francisco. The actors spoke about the benefits of aging with their characters, and how off-screen experience allowed them to bring more depth to their on-screen journeys, with Bethel saying:
“The show doesn’t pick up the day after we last saw it. It picks up five years later ... In theory, these are characters who have all lived five years of life and all of the twists and turns that you take in the meantime. So whether or not even those stories are necessarily on screen, there’s just that little extra bit of life in there, which I think is … as an actor, it gives you an opportunity to bring whatever your own journey has been in that time and they get sort of a little longer in the tooth.”
Born Again will certainly have many questions to answer when it finally premieres. Daredevil brought Matt Murdock’s years-long crusade against Wilson Fisk (Vincent D’Onofrio) to a temporary resolution, but those who tuned in to Hawkeye and Echo on Disney+ know that the Kingpin has returned stronger than ever. What has the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen been up to while his archenemy regrouped? Where has the Punisher (Jon Bernthal) been hiding? It’ll be great to truly catch up with these characters, especially after such a long hiatus, but Born Again still has to find a clever way to fit into the MCU and bring the Daredevil cast into a new era.
