There's a lot to notice in the first trailer for "Daredevil: Born Again." From nods to deeper themes to blink-and-you'll-miss-it references, here's everything you might not have caught.
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00:00There's a lot to notice in the first trailer for Daredevil Born Again.
00:04From nods to deeper themes to blink-and-you'll-miss-it references, here's everything you might not
00:08have caught.
00:10As we find out from the get-go, a lot of time has passed since we last saw Fisk — enough
00:14time for him to become mayor.
00:16For a brief moment, we see Fisk's mug plastered all over Times Square as he gives a citywide
00:21New Year's Eve address.
00:23If you let your eyes wander down to the crowd, you might notice there are a number of people
00:27wearing hats that sport an image that any eagle-eyed MCU fan would instantly recognize
00:32— the logo for a company called Pym Van Dyne.
00:35Just how will Hope Van Dyne's post-blip continuation of Pym Technologies play a part in Born Again?
00:41Being that the company is geared towards changing the world for the better, it's possible that
00:45Fisk will have dealings with them as the city's mayor, both for the usual political purposes
00:50and also the more… villainous kind.
00:52I can't shake the feeling that you're gaming the system.
00:55It's anyone's guess at this point, and it could also just be set dressing to plant us
00:59firmly in the MCU.
01:00Oh, and get used to this single frame — there are more references packed in here that we'll
01:05get into in a bit.
01:07As if the fact that the majority of the original cast is returning for Born Again isn't enough
01:11to convince us that it's a direct continuation of the long-dormant series, there's a very
01:16brief shot that provides another subtle hint.
01:18As Fisk and Vanessa cheers each other over dinner, we see his favorite painting, Rabbit
01:22in a Snowstorm, chilling in the background.
01:25Being that this painting is how he came to meet the love of his life in season one, its
01:29significance can't be overstated.
01:31This goes double for the fact that it now has a fresh splatter of blood all over it,
01:35which makes us ask the same question Vanessa asks Fisk the night she meets him at the gallery.
01:40All that matters is, how does it make you feel?
01:46Judging by the blood, we'd have to say that Fisk is feeling more violent than he's ever
01:49felt before.
01:51Another piece of evidence that hints at Born Again being directly connected to previous
01:55MCU installments, and not just some nebulous reboot, lies within that single frame of Times
02:00Square we brought your attention to earlier.
02:02If you look at the upper left portion of the screen and squint your eyes a bit, you can
02:06see an ad for Harlem's Paradise, the nightclub owned by Buggy Stokes and Quincy McIver and
02:11Luke Cage.
02:12Though Cage never made an appearance in Daredevil, he did become pretty well acquainted with
02:16the Man Without Fear and the Defenders, so this little easter egg definitely hints at
02:20the fact that he might be popping up to lend his fists to the fight in Born Again.
02:26While there are plenty of tiny details to take note of with your eyes in the trailer,
02:30there's also a little treat for your ears.
02:32Hear that?
02:33Yup, in the latter half of the trailer, we can hear the original Daredevil theme being
02:37played on a church organ.
02:39This is fitting in more ways than one.
02:41Of course, it ties in perfectly with the overarching theme of Catholicism that plays a huge part
02:45in Matt's approach to fighting crime.
02:50It also plays into the Born Again wording, which is a nod to the Christian idea of finding
02:55God again after steering clear of him for a time.
02:58So yeah, the religious undertones are even more abundant this time around.
03:02As we'll mention a few times more throughout this video, it's obvious that the showrunners
03:06took a lot of inspiration from the comics this time around.
03:09Being that Fisk has risen to the rank of Mayor in Born Again, it's very likely that a good
03:14portion of the show will also be drawing from the Mayor Fisk run that stretched from Daredevil
03:18issues 595 through 600.
03:20The most direct nod to this run is the Times Square frame, which was lifted directly from
03:24issue 595.
03:26It also looks to be drawing somewhat from the Devil's Reign story, which ran from December
03:302021 to May 2022.
03:33One of the main plot points revolves around Mayor Fisk putting together a group of supervillains
03:37in the hopes of eradicating costumed vigilantes in the city once and for all.
03:42Based on the Born Again trailer alone, it's hard to tell if they're going to cram in as
03:46many hero-villain appearances as there are in the comic.
03:49But we're here for it, no matter how much or how little they actually ended up drawing
03:53from it.
03:54Yes, there are plenty of old faces to recognize in the trailer, but there are a few new ones
03:59to take note of as well.
04:00Or should we say, a few new masks?
04:03The first one belongs to Muse, who you might not be aware of if you're not familiar with
04:07the comics.
04:08He's a pretty sadistic supervillain, having first appeared in the eleventh issue of Daredevil
04:12Vol. 5.
04:13A serial killer who likes to create art via acts of violence and terror, such as a mural
04:18painted with the blood of over a hundred people, he wears a white costume clad with eyeholes
04:23that are soaked with blood.
04:24We only see him for a split second in the trailer, but it's enough to confirm his identity.
04:29The second belongs to White Tiger, another character that only fans of the comics will
04:33likely recognize right off the bat.
04:35Debuting in 1975 as Marvel's first Latino superhero, White Tiger's real name is Hector
04:41Ayala.
04:42In short, he's a college student who discovers an amulet that grants him the power of an
04:45ancient being known as the Tiger God.
04:48Note that there are other iterations of White Tiger, both male and female, that have appeared
04:52in subsequent Marvel comics, but the cast listing confirms that the late Camar de los
04:56Reyes appears as Ayala in Born Again.
04:59Like Muse, we only see him for a flash in the trailer, and it's hard to tell what exactly
05:03his arc might be.
05:05Being a lawyer and a superhero, the Man Without Fear is definitely a busy guy, but he's never
05:11afraid to make room in his life for a little romance.
05:13Matt has had a handful of intimate relationships since the original show debuted in 2015.
05:18First, there was Claire Temple, a night shift nurse who got close with him after becoming
05:22his go-to patcher-upper in Season 1.
05:25Then, of course, there was Electronachios, an old flame he reconnected with in Season
05:292.
05:30He had a thing with Karen Page as well, but it never got too far.
05:33And don't forget that he had a little fun with Jennifer Walters, a.k.a. She-Hulk.
05:39In the Born Again trailer, we get a few quick shots of his newest squeeze.
05:44The first glance shows them dancing together, while the second shows them having a good
05:47time in the shower.
05:49It's hard to tell from the trailer alone, but it's been confirmed that this is none
05:52other than Heather Glenn, another character from the Daredevil comics.
05:56We aren't sure exactly how big of a role she's going to play in Born Again, but it's important
06:00to note that she does eventually become Matt's fiancée in the comics.
06:04There's a lot more to know beyond that, but we aren't here to drop any spoilers.
06:07Not today, anyway.
06:09Okay, as promised, we're going back to that single frame of Times Square.
06:13Told you there'd be more!
06:15Turns out, there's another Easter egg that can be found directly below the Harlem's Paradise
06:19ad, a poster for Rogers the Musical.
06:22A Broadway production about the life of Steve Rogers that we see in the Hawkeye series,
06:26this is yet another piece of evidence that hints at Born Again being connected to the
06:29MCU in a variety of ways.
06:32It's doubtful that this will end up being integral to the plot, but it's still a fun
06:35nod nonetheless.
06:37One more thing to notice in that Times Square shot is an ad that sits directly to the right
06:42of the Rogers the Musical poster.
06:44You have to squint especially hard, and maybe even manipulate it a bit in Photoshop to see
06:48it clearly.
06:49It's an ad for the Pingo Dosey soda from The Incredible Hulk, you know, the one that did
06:54a number on Stan Lee.
06:56This isn't the first time the green soda has reappeared in Marvel installments.
07:00It appeared at least in set photos from 2015's Ant-Man, a different Times Square billboard
07:05in What If?, and it also showed up in 2024's Deadpool and Wolverine, barely.
07:10You can also get it in real life at the Pym Test Kitchen on Avengers Campus at Disneyland.
07:15I mean, if you want.
07:17Being that it shows up in the Born Again trailer, not to mention the fact that Tim Blake Nelson
07:21is coming back in Brave New World in a new villainous role, it looks like The Incredible
07:25Hulk is having quite the unexpected renaissance in the MCU.