Daredevil: Born Again Season 2 Features A Major Connection To Marvel's Thunderbolts Movie

JoJo Whilden/Marvel Studios

Spoilers for "Daredevil: Born Again" play 2 section 1 follow.

Matthew Lillard joins nan formed of "Daredevil: Born Again" this season, but Marvel fans hoping he'd beryllium personification from nan comics are going to beryllium disappointed. No, Lillard plays "Mr. Charles" (definitely not nan character's existent name), a CIA supplier overseeing a woody betwixt nan agency and New York City Mayor Wilson Fisk (Vincent D'Onofrio).

"Born Again" play 1 had 1 of nan darkest endings successful Marvel Cinematic Universe history, erstwhile Fisk declared martial rule successful NYC. Matt (Charlie Cox) and Karen (Deborah Ann Woll) besides discovered nan existent logic Fisk was moving to revitalize Brooklyn's Red Hook port. Under a 19th period charter, nan larboard is simply a "free port" (meaning equipment tin travel successful without customs approval), making it cleanable for smuggling.

But travel play 2, it turns retired nan New York authorities government isn't excessively happy astir Fisk's actions, particularly erstwhile a cargo vessel capsizes connected its measurement to Red Hook (the unit scuttled it to support Daredevil from uncovering nan weapons onboard). The New York lieutenant politician and lawyer wide show up successful Fisk's office, attempting to enforce immoderate oversight. But past Mr. Charles walks successful — aft 1 telephone call, nan AG is defanged. Who was connected nan different line? "Miss de Fontaine."

Marvel fans will admit that that sanction arsenic Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), nan corrupt head of nan Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and arguably nan main villain of "Thunderbolts*." Val, an anti-Nick Fury, has been recruiting superhumans arsenic assassins but arsenic CIA director, she's still overseeing much mundane achromatic ops for illustration weapons smuggling too.

Matt and Karen presume nan guns are for Fisk's equipped police, but Mr. Charles and Val's engagement suggests nan guns are really meant for nan CIA.

Marvel Studios

Val de Fontaine utilizing Fisk's free larboard to procure weapons propose nan guns are meant for an forbidden aliases unauthorized CIA operation. The existent CIA has a agelong history of arming preferred factions successful different nations. See nan 1986 Iran-Contra scandal, wherever it was recovered nan CIA had (without legislature support but nan backing of nan Reagan administration) sold missiles to Iran to money nan right-wing Contra guerillas successful Nicaragua.

Sticking to only nan Marvel Cinematic Universe setting, Val indicated backmost successful 2022's "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever" that she wants to topple nan Wakandan government; she sees their exclusive entree to Vibranium arsenic a threat to nan United States' world superpower status. "Thunderbolts*" besides revealed she funded forbidden experiments to create a superhero arsenic powerful arsenic each Avenger and nether her control: nan consequence was nan Sentry (Lewis Pullman).

During "Thunderbolts*", nan walls were closing successful connected Val and she was nether legislature investigation. She tried to group up each of her recruited assassins — Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh), John Walker (Wyatt Russell), Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen) and Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko) — to termination each different and dispose of nan surviving grounds each 1 was. That only brought them together (well, isolated from Taskmaster) arsenic nan Thunderbolts, who Val past spun to nan nationalist arsenic nan New Avengers to prevention herself.

Val isn't showing up successful "Daredevil: Born Again" because she presumably has bigger food to fry, truthful Mr. Charles is location to enactment successful her stead. But this cameo-by-phone connects "Daredevil: Born Again" to nan existent MCU position quo without needing to bring successful Julia Louis-Dreyfus herself.

"Daredevil: Born Again" is streaming connected Disney+.