As comic book fans, we’re attuned to look for Easter eggs everywhere. For example, is “Office Morales” on Daredevil: Born Again a reference to Miles Morales’s father? Or merely the name of a cop? But this week’s episode of the show had what could be characterized as an anti-Easter egg, as the show referenced Latvia, a real country in the real world, and not Latveria, a fake country in the Marvel universe.
Spoilers past this point, but in the episode, it just happens to be Latvian Heritage Day. We discover this as Wilson Fisk (Vincent D’Onofrio) is dragged around New York City to various functions he can barely stand. The first is a group of school kids singing “We Built This City” off-key, which he leaves behind as soon as it’s done. But then it’s off to the Latvian embassy, where he’s treated to a rendition of “We Built This City”… In Latvian.
That’s pretty much the whole bit, though earlier in the episode, Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox) negotiates with court appointee Sofija Ozola (Elizabeth A. Davis) by bringing her Latvian treats to celebrate her homeland. However, in neither instance are they saying “Latverian.” They’re saying “Latvian.”
Is Latveria Based On Latvia?
Latveria, famously, is the homeland of Doctor Doom in the Marvel Universe. It was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby and is just south of Hungary, and West of Romania. Meanwhile, in the real world, Latvia shares an Eastern border with Russia, and is South of Estonia. They are in two completely different areas.
But did Lee and Kirby base Latveria on Latvia? That’s unknown, but writers since then have striven to make the connection. In, of all places, the 1992 RPG game Domains of Doom, the writers established Latveria was founded after two brothers, Rudolfo, and Karl Haasen, annexed a portion of Transylvania. The Latvian brothers wanted to pay tribute to their homeland, and named the new country they founded Latveria.
Your mileage may vary as to whether that is canon or not, but portions of the story from the RPG game were later used for the 2007 series Marvel Atlas, which provided deep-dive info about the different countries in the Marvel Universe. Though it does reference the Haasen brothers, it does not mention Latvia. Point being, it’s up to you to decide whether Latveria is based on Latvia, though the answer is “probably” because Stan Lee did stuff like that all the time.
Is Latvian Heritage Day A Real Holiday?
This, by the way, does not exactly seem to be a real holiday. The Knicks celebrated Latvian Heritage Day in 2018 on April 7 but scrapped it in 2019. Presumably, the show used this because A) a fake holiday is less likely to annoy people if represented wrong, and B) it’s extremely specific. Regardless, happy Latvian Heritage Day, and all hail Emperor Doom.
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
- Tuesday, April 1, 2025: Daredevil: Born Again, Season 1, Episode 7
- Tuesday, April 8, 2025: Daredevil: Born Again, Season 1, Episode 8
- Tuesday, April 15, 2025: Daredevil: Born Again, Season 1, Episode 9 *Season Finale*
Where To Watch Daredevil: Born Again
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