Even after a pretty extensive creative overhaul, Daredevil: Born Again was a hit with MCU fans. However, when the show returns for Season 2 on Disney+ next year, showrunner Dario Scardapane's vision won't be competing with that of a previous creative team's.
The series has made several noteworthy casting additions, with Scream star Matthew Lillard among the most intriguing. The actor will play Mr. Charles, an antagonist described as being every bit as influential as Mayor Wilson Fisk. We still don't know whether that's a codename for someone from the comics or a newly created character to pit the Kingpin against.
Looking at the source material, he may represent the Stromwyns, wealthy power brokers who back Wilson Fisk's mayoral campaign and political actions in a bid to make him their puppet in the White House. "Mr. Charles" may even be a new take on those characters.
Talking to the Los Angeles Times, Lillard shared some intriguing hints about his MCU role. "I played Dungeon & Dragons with three incredible showrunners. Dario Scardapane, who runs 'Daredevil,' Matt Nix, who’s doing the new 'Baywatch,' and then Elwood Reid, who does 'Tracker," he explained. |I’m their dungeon master. We play with Abraham Benrubi, this beautiful actor, a dear friend of mine."
"Dario brought me in to play Mr. Charles [on 'Daredevil: Born Again'], who’s like a CIA spook. He’s a guy that controls power from afar. He helps nations rise and fall, but he’s very clandestine," the actor continued. "He is not impressed by the powers of [Vincent] D’Onofrio’s character [Kingpin] at all. He and I get into this really delicious struggle over power. It’s good. It’s fun."
That certainly sounds similar to the role played by the Stromwyns in Chip Zdarsky's Daredevil run, or at least a new take on the idea of Fisk learning he's not as powerful as he thinks. How key that will be to The Kingpin's MCU future remains to be seen.
If there wasn't such a divide between Marvel's big and small screen stories—not to mention characters from Spider-Man's world being largely off-limits outside of the wall-crawler's movies—then another villain we might see the Man Without Fear cross paths with is Mysterio.
In the comics, he orchestrated Karen Page's in Kevin Smith and Joe Quesada's "Guardian Devil" storyline. Talking to Entertainment Tonight about The Bride!, Jake Gyllenhaal was asked if Mysterio could return in Avengers: Doomsday.
To that, the actor said, "Oh man, I’m not the one to ask about that" before walking away. If anything, it's more likely that Quentin Beck would show up in an upcoming Spider-Man movie, but we'll have to wait and see on that front.
In Daredevil: Born Again, survival, resistance and redemption collide as the battle for the soul of New York begins. In Season 2, Mayor Wilson Fisk crushes New York City underfoot as he hunts down public enemy number one, the Hell’s Kitchen vigilante known as Daredevil.
But beneath the horned mask, Matt Murdock will try to fight back from the shadows to tear down the Kingpin’s corrupt empire and redeem his home. Resist. Rebel. Rebuild.
Created by Dario Scardapane, Chris Ord and Matt Corman, Daredevil: Born Again Season 2 stars Charlie Cox as the titular masked vigilante (aka Matt Murdock) and Vincent D’Onofrio as Wilson Fisk.
Returning to the series are Deborah Ann Woll as Karen Page, Ayelet Zurer as Vanessa Fisk, Wilson Bethel as Benjamin Poindexter/Bullseye and Margarita Levieva as Heather Glenn. This season also marks the long-awaited return of Krysten Ritter as fan-favourite Jessica Jones and introduces Matthew Lillard as the mysterious Mr. Charles.
Daredevil: Born Again returns to Disney+ on March 24.