One Daredevil: Born Again Scene Properly Acknowledges The Larger MCU

Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned. This article contains major spoilers for the first two episodes of "Daredevil: Born Again."

Christmas came early for Marvel fans when news first broke that "Daredevil: Born Again" would officially bring Charlie Cox's Matt Murdock, Vincent D'Onofrio's Wilson Fisk, and all the other holdovers from the Netflix show into the Marvel Cinematic Universe — but what did that actually mean for these fan-favorite figures? For one thing, that seemed likely to usher in the end of obnoxiously tenuous references to events from the movies like "The Incident" in New York City (referring to Loki's alien invasion in 2012's "The Avengers') or ham-fisted clunkers like mentioning "the guy with the hammer." More importantly, it meant studio president Kevin Feige finally had free rein to continue constructing his master plan as he saw fit, which came in the form of seeding Matt Murdock's return via a cameo in "Spider-Man: No Way Home" and a guest appearance in "She-Hulk: Attorney At Law" (which won't come up again in this new series, apparently).

Now that the first two episodes of "Born Again" have debuted, fans are getting a firsthand look at how the MCU is integrating Daredevil into the broader franchise. And, for once, the expanded universe of it all actually feels relatively natural when it comes up early in the second episode. After Fisk not-so-shockingly wins his campaign to run for Mayor of New York City, his congratulatory speech on New Year's Eve perfectly sets the tone for the season to come with Daredevil's most hated enemy fully in charge of his beloved city. Unfortunately for our hero, Fisk's agenda is a blatantly anti-vigilante one, and he uses this speech to fire a warning shot across the bow towards anyone who might feel compelled to put on a costume to fight crime ... including some famous faces featured in multiple MCU productions.

Although Fisk doesn't call them out by name (okay, so maybe the days of those clunky references aren't over just yet), the sentiment remains. Daredevil has been reborn into a new era of the series where he could conceivably cross paths with Tom Holland's Spider-Man or even Captain America as easily as he did with Jon Bernthal's Punisher. The door to the MCU has been kicked open for good, and it's not closing anytime soon.

It's the dawn of a new era in the MCU, and "Daredevil: Born Again" is leading the charge. Or, rather, make that Mayor Wilson Fisk leading the charge. And what better stage than the busiest and most densely-packed space in all of Manhattan to announce his most ambitious plans to reshape the face of the city as we know it? That's great news for Fisk and his criminal cronies who are hoping to take over this war on crime for themselves, and an awfully ominous development for vigilantes like Matt Murdock, Frank Castle, and even Peter Parker ... all of whom get singled out over the course of his celebratory speech to his constituents. As he puts it:

"The city is in shambles. Crime, poverty, the feeling of uneasiness as if, at any moment, things could explode. But New Yorkers are tough. We know how to take care of ourselves. We don't a gun-toting vigilante who wears a skull on his chest, or a man who dresses in a spider outfit, or a guy who wears devil horns to save us. No, we'll be our best once again."

Delivering this rhetoric-fueled address certainly makes a statement, and that goes double when you consider he does so with a billboard for "Rogers: The Musical" hanging out over to the side. If Mayor Fisk gets his way, will this be the end of superheroes in New York City? If his power remains unchecked, could we end up seeing reverberations of this agenda echoing throughout the various Marvel movies to come? The City That Never Sleeps has always played a rather significant role in the franchise, so what happens if it truly becomes the capital of anti-superhero activity in the United States? As far as connections to the broader MCU go, we'll take this approach over, well, the vast majority that the other movies and shows have opted for. (Looking at you, "Captain America: Brave New World.")