Warning: This feature contains spoilers for the Daredevil: Born Again finale.
Daredevil: Born Again season 1 is in the books with a fantastic finale that basically plays like the Empire Strikes Back of the MCU. Episode 9 saw Kingpin (Vincent D'Onofrio) turn Red Hook into his own private nation, built a militia out of the NYPD, and sent the heroes on the run, desperately trying to rally in Josie’s Bar. The only thing that is missing from the finale? The rest of the Defenders.
To be clear, we’re talking about Luke Cage (Mike Colter), Jessica Jones (Krysten Ritter), and, yes, even Iron Fist (Finn Jones), who are a giant "are they still in the MCU" shaped hole in the first season – and the season finale in particular. To jump to the conclusion here at the top, the answer to the question is: yes, potentially.
"I can't say much, but I'll tell you that it's so exciting to be able to play in that sandbox," Brad Winderbaum, head of Marvel TV previously said about bringing in the wider team in an interview with Entertainment Weekly. "Obviously we don't have the unlimited storytelling resources like a comic book. If you can draw it, you can do it. It's dealing with actors and time and the massive scale of production in order to build a cinematic universe, especially on television. But I can just say that all those variables taken into account, it is certainly something that is creatively extremely exciting and that we are very much exploring."
So yeah, it was always a bit of a longshot to expect any of the aforementioned characters would show up this season, though – no shade – Marvel has lied in this fashion plenty of times when a surprise cameo was about to pop up later. But they do not show up in season 1, unfortunately, even in a brief cameo. Marvel did not, in fact, lie.
A huge gap
While it’s been thrilling to see the return of Frank Castle, aka The Punisher (Jon Bernthal) in Daredevil: Born Again there have been multiple times throughout the season when the absence of the other formerly Netflix characters has been felt. The first was when Kingpin called out Punisher, Daredevil, and Spider-Man in a TV address in the season’s second episode – and nobody else. And then here in the finale, when Daredevil tells all the good guys they need to rally at Josie’s Bar, but what we get are characters like Cherry (Clark Johnson) and Josie (Susan Varon). Cherry has proven himself pretty capable in a tight spot, but what is Josie gonna do, throw old olives at the Kingpin’s goons until they surrender?
The issue (if you can call it that) is further exacerbated by the return of Karen Page (Deborah Ann Woll), which is a great reminder in the finale that Daredevil: Born Again isn’t an isolated MCU series, it’s a continuation of the first three Netflix seasons. While we don’t know all the behind-the-scenes changes that happened with Daredevil: Born Again, we do know that the show was significantly tweaked mid-filming to bring it more in line with Netflix’s show, rather than being an MCU-style reboot. So with Karen back, teaming up once again with The Punisher and Daredevil… Where's everyone else?
Missing in action
To contradict this argument, sure, this is a frequent refrain with the MCU itself. Why doesn’t Thor (Chris Hemsworth) show up to help Iron Man (Robert Downey, Jr.) all the time? And the answer is because A) Thor’s not in this movie, and B) it’s not as interesting if Iron Man doesn’t solve his own problems. So having Luke Cage and Jessica Jones pop up semi-randomly in Daredevil: Born Again is maybe too easy of a fix, versus The Punisher who ties heavily into the plot of the season – as well as (more importantly) Matt Murdock’s emotional journey.
But not having them even mentioned is a bit of a detriment to the plot, when it comes to Kingpin’s war on vigilantes. In the show, we get that shout-out to Spider-Man, who is not seen and due to contractual reasons will likely never be seen on screen. White Tiger (Kamar de los Reyes) was killed at the end of episode 3. And Swordsman (Tony Dalton), we’re told, has been active as a vigilante exactly once, and is left locked in a cage at the end of the season anyway. So that leaves Daredevil and Punisher as the vigilantes Fisk is declaring martial law over. Thematically, you could underline how those in charge will demonize a threat that is barely there to gain power, let alone a threat at all.
Given there are at least three others that could be called out for Kingpin to make his case… Where are they? Not even a mention of Danny Rand, or preferably, Colleen Wing (Jessica Henwick)? Imagine the thrill that would have come with Daredevil entering Josie’s at the end of the episode to rally the troops, if the rest of The Defenders had been waiting in the wings, eager to help. Granted, it would have made the agonizing wait for season 2 all that more excruciating, but the buzz that would have caused would have blown the hype through the roof.
Could they still show up in the currently filming Daredevil: Born Again season 2? Absolutely. But as is, we’ll have to temper expectations and assume Kingpin gets taken down by the real Defender: Josie and her olives.
Daredevil: Born Again is now available to watch in full on Disney Plus. Check out our Daredevil: Born Again season 1 review for our full verdict, as well as our spoiler-filled guides to the Daredevil: Born Again post-credits and the Daredevil: Born Again ending explained.
