Echo’s Daredevil cameos have to solve one frustrating MCU mystery

Echo really is going to pick up where Hawkeye left off.

Not only will the series continue to explore the life of Maya Lopez (Alaqua Cox), but a recent report from The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed that Vincent D’Onofrio will reprise his role as Wilson Fisk/Kingpin, following his long-awaited return as the character in Hawkeye last year. In case that wasn’t exciting enough, Charlie Cox is also set to follow up his cameo as Matt Murdock/Daredevil in last year’s Spider-Man: No Way Home with a larger role as the character in Echo.

In other words, Echo is set to boast more connections to Daredevil than any other post-Netflix MCU title to date. That also means Echo will have to answer the question that both Spider-Man: No Way Home and Hawkeye avoided addressing.

Echoes of the Past — In the comics, both Daredevil and Kingpin play important roles in Maya Lopez’s origin story, so it doesn’t come as much of a surprise that the two characters will be in Echo. The fact that their involvement in Echo has already been confirmed, however, suggests that both Charlie Cox and Vincent D’Onofrio are going to have fairly sizable roles in the Hawkeye spin-off.

That means there’s a far greater chance Echo will actually reveal more about Cox and D’Onofrio’s new, post-Netflix versions of Daredevil and Kingpin. Specifically, the series may finally confirm whether the versions of Matt Murdock and Wilson Fisk that Cox and D’Onofrio are now playing in the MCU are the same iterations of the characters from Daredevil.

Questions about canon — Ever since Marvel began producing its own shows for Disney+, comic book fans have been asking questions about the studio’s previous TV offerings. For instance, by introducing a new version of the Darkhold, WandaVision threw Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s canonical status into question last year. Daredevil and Marvel’s other short-lived Netflix shows are stuck in the same uncertain territory.

Hawkeye’s version of Kingpin is notably different from the dark, psychologically tortured iteration of the character seen in Daredevil. And while the Matt Murdock that briefly appears in Spider-Man: No Way Home doesn’t seem all that different from the one that Cox played in Daredevil, it’s yet to be confirmed if he actually is the same version of the character.

To make matters even more confusing, Marvel updated their dossier for Cox’s Matt Murdock earlier this year to include a summary of his No Way Home cameo, only to quickly undo that update. Fans are therefore continuing to question Daredevil’s canonical status. In fact, even though it’s been revealed that Marvel is developing a new season of Daredevil for Disney+, it’s unclear whether it will be a continuation of the Netflix show or a reboot.

In its recent Echo report, THR does refer to Marvel’s new Daredevil project as the former Netflix series’ “fourth season.” However, it’s yet to be officially confirmed if that’s what the new Disney+ version of Daredevil will actually be.

The Inverse Analysis — If Marvel is going to continue bringing its various Netflix-era heroes back into the MCU, it’s going to have to address the canonical status of their shows sooner or later. If Matt Murdock and Wilson Fisk do have major roles in Echo, it stands to reason that the Hawkeye spin-off will be the project that finally answers these questions.

Here’s to hoping that Echo does just that. At this point, Marvel has dragged out the mystery of Daredevil’s place in the MCU for so long that fans just want to know one way or the other what the deal is. It’s better to know what’s going on than continue to be confused, even if that means discovering that Marvel has chosen to retroactively set Daredevil Seasons 1-3 in one of the MCU’s alternate universes.

Echo is set to premiere on Disney+ in 2023.