There’s been a fair amount of confusion with Daredevil: Born Again, at least in terms of where it sits in the official MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) timeline. Does Daredevil: Born Again take place after She-Hulk: Attorney at Law? What about Spider-Man: No Way Home, or Echo and Hawkeye? And for that matter, what is canon in the original three seasons of the Daredevil Netflix series?
Here’s the short answer: they all pretty much take place in the order they aired (or streamed). And they are all canon — or at least, they’re canon until something in Born Again specifically contradicts or erases something that happened in the Netflix series. That’s because while the MCU has absorbed Daredevil (Charlie Cox), Kingpin (Vincent D’Onofrio), and now other characters like Foggy Nelson (Elden Henson) and Karen Page (Deborah Ann Woll), Netflix’s Daredevil wasn’t exactly canon… Until it was.
Point being, assume it counts, and assume it all fits together. As Jeph Loeb, impresario of the first version of Marvel Television used to say: it’s all connected. That said? Let’s break down the official Daredevil: Born Again timeline, including the burning question of whether DD and She-Hulk (Tatiana Maslany) have smashed that yet.
Daredevil: Born Again Timeline: Official MCU Watch Order
Just a note up top here… I’m going to skip Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, and Defenders on here, as well as any other Marvel TV shows that haven’t explicitly been canonized at this point (though these probably have been by default). I will include The Punisher, though, as Frank Castle (Jon Bernthal) appears in Daredevil: Born Again, and references events of that series.
Daredevil, Season 1: The first season of the Netflix series takes place in 2014, right between Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2 and Avengers: Age of Ultron.
Daredevil, Season 2: The second season of the Netflix series takes place in 2015, after Ant-Man and before some of the events of Doctor Strange.
The Punisher, Season 1: This takes place in 2016, after Spider-Man: Homecoming, and before Doctor Strange.
Daredevil, Season 3: The third and final season of the Netflix series takes place in 2017, after Doctor Strange and before Thor: Ragnarok.
The Punisher, Season 2: Set in 2018, the second (and final) season of the Netflix series comes after Thor: Ragnarok, and before Avengers: Infinity War.
Spider-Man: No Way Home: Things start to get a little confusing past this point as the MCU began jamming a bunch of movies and TV shows in the timeline, all at the same overlapping time. However, the section of No Way Home containing Matt Murdock as Peter Parker’s (Tom Holland) lawyer takes place in late 2024. That scene comes first in terms of the events of Daredevil officially entering the MCU.
Hawkeye: Taking place near-simultaneously with the events of the end of No Way Home is the entire season of Hawkeye (they both happen around Christmas, 2024). That introduces Wilson Fisk, aka Kingpin into the MCU as he goes toe-to-toe with Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld). Here, Fisk is shot in the eye by Echo (Alaqua Cox), leading to the scar he’s sporting in Born Again.
Echo: Though it was released later, Echo comes next in the timeline. It takes place in 2025, and features Kingpin traveling to Oklahoma to see/get revenge on Echo, who thought she had killed him. She had not! The ending teases the plotline of Born Again, with Kingpin returning to New York and getting the idea to run for Mayor.
She-Hulk: Attorney at Law: In the Marvel comedy series, Matt heads to Los Angeles and ends up hitting it with Jennifer Walters. Oh, and they also suit up together, fight crime, and butt heads in the courtroom. This takes place in 2025, and directly precedes the events of Born Again. Which takes us to…
Daredevil: Born Again: Okay so this is a little bit insane, but the beginning of Born Again takes place in late 2025, after She-Hulk. Spoilers past this point, but we know that Foggy is killed after the events of She-Hulk because Matt is happy and in costume in the latter show. And after Foggy is killed? He is not.
We then do a time dash to one year later to the Mayoral election. Slightly confusing things, it’s a recall election, which is not legally allowed in New York state. But assuming they’re using shorthand there, it just means the election is happening in an off year (the Mayoral election in NYC is, in real life, happening in 2025). So we’re now in 2026, which — I also have questions about this — sets it the same time as the Presidential election of Thaddeus Ross (Harrison Ford) in Captain America: Brave New World.
By Episode 2 of Born Again it’s New Year’s Eve, then into 2027. So the bulk of Born Again happens in 2027, which sets it after Agatha All Along, and concurrent with Captain America: Brave New World. However, without getting too heavily into spoilers, time continues to jump forward a bunch throughout Season 1 of Born Again, meaning the end of the season likely takes place after the end of Brave New World. Will it be concurrent with Thunderbolts*, which also takes place in New York City? TBD.
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
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Great info. Thanks! But you should those release dates. They all say 2024…
Ack! Thank you for the catch, and updated!
Sorry for that duplicate! Browser didn’t refresh.