You Should Probably Watch Echo Before Daredevil: Born Again
The Daredevil revival requires a bit of homework.
Despite any allusions to the contrary, there will never be a truly standalone Marvel story. Every piece of Marvel’s Cinematic Universe builds upon another, with characters and storylines echoing throughout the franchise. At this stage of the MCU, anything (or anyone) from Marvel’s 15-year history could come back at any time. The limits of that strategy have been tested a lot in recent years — but Daredevil: Born Again might take the brief to its fullest extent. The Disney+ series is set to merge elements of Netflix’s previously non-canon Marvel universe into the MCU at large. But it will also continue a story set up in a string of MCU shows: Hawkeye, Echo, and She-Hulk: Attorney at Law.
Marvel is taking a massive gamble with this new show, but if its two-episode premiere is any indication, the MCU might have finally cracked its riskiest formula. Born Again synthesizes years of disparate storylines with true finesse, crafting a sequel that reveres its predecessors and simultaneously betters them. That said, it’s very much in conversation with the original Daredevil, and with recent Marvel series. The first two episodes don’t hit as hard without knowing the characters’ history, but the same could be said for other Marvel shows. Though it might be wise to return to the Netflix universe before tuning into Born Again, one Marvel project stands out as a crucial piece of homework: Echo.
Spoilers ahead for Daredevil: Born Again.
Wilson Fisk’s arc in Born Again owes a lot to Echo.
Echo was initially touted as a singular story in the Marvel Universe, one that didn’t require past knowledge of any other Marvel projects to enjoy. It goes out of its way to acclimate newbies to the events leading up to the show, but Echo is still a direct sequel to Hawkeye, which itself borrows heavily from the Netflix universe. It was the second MCU project — after Spider-Man: No Way Home — to bring in a character from Daredevil. Wilson Fisk (Vincent D’Onofrio) became a major player in Hawkeye’s messy season finale, and a crucial figure in the life of Maya Lopez (Alaqua Cox). Echo takes pains to reestablish their relationship organically, from Maya’s childhood, to her adoption by Fisk, to their falling out... during which she shot Fisk point-blank.
Fisk mentions this altercation a few times in the Born Again premiere. It’s one of the chief reasons he decides to run for mayor at the end of Echo, and crack down on vigilantes across the city. It’s also one of the things that’s driven a wedge between Fisk and his wife Vanessa (Ayelet Zuror). As Vanessa explains in Episode 1, Fisk wasn’t the same after Maya’s attack. It took him weeks to recover, and even after the fact, he still kept Vanessa at arms’ length. Their marriage is essentially on the rocks because of Maya and her fractured relationship with Fisk. She doesn’t show up in the Born Again premiere, nor do we get a flashback to the events of Hawkeye or Echo — which, honestly, could have been really helpful. But even with no presence in the series, Maya is a major catalyst for Born Again.
With so much history to follow up on, Born Again was never going to be a completely standalone series. Still, few might have expected that its most important stepping stone would be Echo. For all its merits, it’s one of Marvel’s least-watched shows, and one of the worst-reviewed. It builds a weak foundation for both Maya and Fisk, working overtime to establish a decades-spanning relationship. It didn’t completely succeed in creating a strong story, especially where future projects like Born Again are concerned. But in order to understand Fisk’s arc in the new series, fans will have to remember what went down in Echo.
