While some fans will argue until they're blue in the face that the original Marvel Television shows are MCU canon, they were only ever very loosely connected to the movies. The first couple of seasons of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., for example, featured some noteworthy ties to what was happening on the big screen, but became more separate as the years passed.
On Netflix, shows like Daredevil and Jessica Jones repeatedly referenced The Avengers, only to ignore developments like Ultron's attack and the Sokovia Accords. Why? Well, by that point, the only real communication with Marvel Studios came when Kevin Feige barred them from using certain characters.
Daredevil: Born Again was originally set to be a completely clean break from Netflix's Daredevil. A few actors would remain the same, but it wasn't until the creative overhaul that the Defenders-related TV shows became "canon."
That's been welcomed by fans, but until Agent Coulson and his team show up in a new movie or TV series, the status of them and characters like the Runaways and Cloak and Dagger remains unclear.
Charlie Cox returned as Matt Murdock for a cameo role in 2021's Spider-Man: No Way Home. The month before, Vincent D'Onofrio reprised his role as The Kingpin in Hawkeye, for a clearly very different take on the character (his size had massively increased, as had his strength).
On the first episode of the Daredevil: Born Again Official Podcast, Marvel Television Head Brad Winderbaum revealed that it was Cox's Spider-Man: No Way Home appearance that led to him pushing for a new solo series to follow.
It's unclear what the plan was for the Man Without Fear before that, but his role in She-Hulk: Attorney at Law suggests he was going to be portrayed quite a bit differently from Netflix's Daredevil. That was more in line with Mark Waid and Chris Samnee's Daredevil run, and a far cry from what we've since seen in Daredevil: Born Again.
What's interesting about this, though, is that we now know Daredevil: Born Again wasn't already in the works when Cox was enlisted for a surprise appearance as Peter Parker's lawyer.
You can hear more from Winderbaum in the players below.
In Daredevil: Born Again, survival, resistance and redemption collide as the battle for the soul of New York begins. 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.
Created by Dario Scardapane, Chris Ord and Matt Corman, Daredevil: Born Again Season 2 stars Charlie Cox as the titular masked vigilante (aka Matt Murdock) and Vincent D’Onofrio as Wilson Fisk.
Returning to the series are Deborah Ann Woll as Karen Page, Ayelet Zurer as Vanessa Fisk, Wilson Bethel as Benjamin Poindexter/Bullseye and Margarita Levieva as Heather Glenn. This season also marks the long-awaited return of Krysten Ritter as fan-favourite Jessica Jones and introduces Matthew Lillard as the mysterious Mr. Charles.
Daredevil: Born Again returns to Disney+ on March 24.