One big difference between Netflix’s Daredevil and Disney+’s Daredevil: Born Again, other than the new name of the show? The latter definitively takes place in the MCU. No wishy-washy spats behind-the-scenes, no references to “the big green guy” or “the guy with the hammer.” This picks up straight from multiple MCU appearances of Daredevil (Charlie Cox) and Kingpin (Vincent D’Onofrio). And in the second episode of the revamped series, Kingpin drops a tantalizing tease for a potential showdown with Spider-Man (Tom Holland)… Which, let’s be honest, will probably never happen.
To give you some context here, and spoilers past this point, Wilson Fisk, aka The Kingpin, has been elected Mayor of New York City. As in the comics, Fisk here is an analogue for Donald Trump, and along with his supporters comes a fair amount of fear and even fighting between protestors. In order to calm those worries, Fisk takes to TV to address the city, and says that he’s knows people are scared, but you know whose fault that is? Vigilantes.
“But New Yorkers are tough,” Fisk says. “We know how to take care of our ourselves. We don’t need a gun-toting vigilante who wears a skull on his chest, or a man who dresses in a spider outfit. Or a guy who wears devil horns to save us. No.”
So you’ve probably figured this out already, but Fisk is referencing The Punisher (Jon Bernthal), Spider-Man, and Daredevil. Given it’s Daredevil who is watching the TV, and we already know that The Punisher is returning later in the season… Could your friendly neighborhood wall-crawler be far behind? Heck, Cox first showed up in the MCU in Spider-Man: No Way Home as Peter Parker’s lawyer, so quid pro quo. And not for nothing but Kingpin was first introduced in 1969’s The Amazing Spider-Man #50 as a Spider-Man villain… Not a Daredevil villain. It’s only fair that Kingpin gets to put Spider-Man in a bear hug and squeeze him on the small screen.
…Except, no, Spider-Man is not going to show up in Daredevil: Born Again Season 1. Nor, unless something drastically changes, will he show up in Season 2. The fact of the matter is that Sony controls the long-form TV rights to the character, so Disney can use him for 30-minute animation, but anything live-action or longer than that gets complicated. And while it’s up to the Marvel/Disney/Sony lawyers to know how this all works, Sony is generally reserving Peter Parker for the big screen. For example, the upcoming Spider-Noir TV series is rumored to have Nicolas Cage as Ben Reilly — not Peter Parker.
The only real possibility of a Kingpin/Spider-Man showdown is if the villain is tapped to be in the upcoming fourth Spider-Man movie. As we don’t know anything really about that other than Tom Holland and Zendaya are returning… Well, we don’t know if Kingpin or Daredevil will be in that, either.
But we do know that even if Wilson Fisk can call out a man who only in the most liberal stretch of the words dresses in a spider suit on Daredevil: Born Again, Spidey won’t be swinging by any time soon.
Daredevil: Born Again Premiere Dates And Episode Guide:
New episodes of Daredevil: Born Again premiere on Tuesdays on Disney+ at 9pm ET / 6pm PT.
Here’s the full list of episodes in Daredevil: Born Again Season 1 with premiere dates:
- Tuesday, March 4, 2025: Daredevil: Born Again, Season 1, Episode 1
- Tuesday, March 4, 2025: Daredevil: Born Again, Season 1, Episode 2
- Tuesday, March 11, 2025: Daredevil: Born Again, Season 1, Episode 3
- Tuesday, March 18, 2025: Daredevil: Born Again, Season 1, Episode 4
- Tuesday, March 25, 2025: Daredevil: Born Again, Season 1, Episode 5
- Tuesday, March 25, 2025: Daredevil: Born Again, Season 1, Episode 6
- TBA: Daredevil: Born Again, Season 1, Episode 7
- TBA: Daredevil: Born Again, Season 1, Episode 8
- TBA: Daredevil: Born Again, Season 1, Episode 9 *Season Finale*
Where To Watch Daredevil: Born Again
Listen to MarvelVision:
Discover more from Comic Book Club
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.