The season 2 premiere of Marvel Television's Daredevil: Born Again is now streaming on Disney+, and "Northern Star" features the MCU debut of a powerful new player.
Shortly after Mayor Wilson Fisk (Vincent D'Onofrio) is made aware that the Man Without Fear has foiled his latest scheme (more here), we are introduced to the mysterious "Mr. Charles" (Matthew Lillard).
This shadowy figure doesn't seem to have many (if any) scruples, but it soon becomes clear that he could prove to be an even bigger thorn in the Kingpin's side than Daredevil's.
Spoilers ahead!
We first meet Charles taking a phone call (the person on the other end is revealed later on) in a bar in Washington, before he volunteers to fly to New York to look into the "clusterf*ck" in Red Hook's port. He later barges into Fisk's office while he is taking a meeting with the Attorney General, who has some concerns about the Mayor's abuse of power.
When Sheila Rivera asks Charles to explain himself, he tells her he's "from Langley," and his CIA connections are confirmed when the Attorney General immediately backs down after taking a call from "Miss Fontaine."
It remains to be seen whether Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) will actually put in an appearance, but the fact that Charles is in league with such a powerful figure could have huge implications for the show going forward.
"So, building Mr. Charles as somebody who lives in the Val world, we wanted to make that connection," showrunner Dario Scardapane said in a recent interview with Movieweb. "So, that's why that's on the other end of the phone call. For me, personally, away from everything MCU, I would love her to be part of our world. There's a story in the back of my head I would love to tell you, but I don't know, those choices aren't mine."
Executive producer Sana Amanat added: "Yeah, it's always nice to have that connective tissue, because you never know. So yes, as fans, we would love it."
As for Charles himself, he appears to have been created for this series, but there's always a chance he will turn out to be an established Marvel Comics character.
Across eight gripping episodes, survival, resistance and redemption collide as the battle for the soul of New York begins," reads the season 2 synopsis. "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."