Born Again Showrunner Debunks Major Marvel Cameo Theory

This article contains spoilers for the season one finale of “Daredevil: Born Again.”

Last week, the long-awaited first season of Marvel Studios’ “Daredevil: Born Again” came to an enthralling and exciting conclusion. The season finale, titled “Straight to Hell,” gave viewers some of the highest highs that these iterations of Matt Murdock/Daredevil (Charlie Cox) and Wilson Fisk/Kingpin (Vincent D’Onofrio) have ever been involved with in their decade-long story that began on Netflix in 2015, was cancelled in 2018, and finally made its triumphant return with this new Disney+ exclusive series. Also, this iteration of Frank Castle/Punisher (Jon Bernthal) shone in all of his brutal glory alongside his dear frenemy, “Red,” while also being at the center of the season finale’s incredible post-credits scene.

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Before the post-credits scene, the first season finale of “Daredevil: Born Again” ends on an intriguing note, so much so that fans are already foaming at the mouth at the possibilities of what’s in store for Matt Murdock now that he’s finally re-embraced his superhero alter-ego following a year of mourning his legal partner and best friend, Foggy Nelson (Elden Henson), who was shot and killed by Benjamin “Dex” Poindexter/Bullseye (Wilson Bethel). With New York City Mayor Wilson Fisk declaring martial law and outlawing vigilantism, Daredevil takes a stand while in Josie’s Bar, forming a rebellion with his investigator Cherry (Clark Johnson), NYPD detective Angie Kim (Ruibo Quan), and other honest police officers to protect the city and combat Mayor Fisk’s regime.

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That final scene left some folks reeling over what could happen in “Daredevil: Born Again” season 2. The assembly of a team to combat Mayor Fisk’s declaration of martial law is exciting enough, but diehard fans are holding out hope that Daredevil might reunite with some of his old friends from “The Defenders,” specifically Jessica Jones (Krysten Ritter), Luke Cage (Mike Colter), and Danny Rand/Iron Fist (Finn Jones). The hopes of a potential return are so high that a theory has gained steam which suggests, because there’s a character named Luke who’s shown picking up NYPD Commissioner Gallo (Michael Gaston), that he is, in fact, Luke Cage.

But it turns out there’s no need for that level of Easter egg hunting.

“Daredevil: Born Again” showrunner Dario Scardapane discussed the first season finale with EW. When asked about the prospect of Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist potentially returning for season 2, he played coy, acknowledging that they remain present within his mind when working on this specific corner of the Marvel Cinematic Universe:

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“Without giving too much away…when you’re working in what I would call the Hell’s Kitchen corner of the MCU, those iconic characters are always in your mind. The thing is that — and this is kind of hard, I’m trying to thread a needle here — you want to bring in people and relationships and past figures in Matt’s life because they help the story, particularly in terms of a story where Fisk has taken over the city. And there is a resistance and a rebellion, so to speak, rising. So there’s going to be people, vigilantes, superheroes that are involved in that. There has to be because this is happening to their city. That said, you also want to create a completely organic story for that. So who comes in and why has to be beyond anything earned. So the easiest answer to your question is, yes, those characters that you just listed off are absolutely in my head and everybody’s head as we’re working. How that manifests itself is both really tricky writing-wise and a pretty closely guarded secret at this point. So I’m being intentionally cagey, but I’m also saying, ‘Hell yeah!’ in terms of it’s something we’re thinking about.”

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Scardapane also acknowledged the inclusion of Easter eggs within the series, but specifically debunked the major Marvel cameo theory involving Luke Cage secretly appearing in the season finale:

“There’s a character who picks up Gallo at the end of the show. His name is Luke. That’s not Luke Cage. If you look closely, he’s about one-third the size of Mike Colter. Everybody’s looking for Easter eggs, and there are a few, but that was not one of them.”

While the future of Daredevil’s fellow Defenders members is unknown, fans are clearly hungry to see them return, given their previous ties to the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen, especially given that the last time they saw him, a building imploded and collapsed on him. Production on “Daredevil: Born Again” season 2 is currently underway, so if we hear any updates regarding the potential involvement of Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist, perhaps they’ll come within the next few months.

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Whether or not those characters’ potential return happens in “Daredevil: Born Again” season 2 remains a mystery for now, but despite their respective cancellations during their initial Netflix series, perhaps the creative team at Marvel can allow the characters to shine brighter than ever. In particular, it would be nice to see Finn Jones return as Danny Rand, hopefully with better material and more preparation time to train in the martial arts needed for the Immortal Iron Fist. Although Jones’ performance in his “Iron Fist” Netflix series was subject to much criticism, fans saw some exciting potential for growth in his guest-starring appearance in the “Luke Cage” season 2 episode “The Main Ingredient,” where his dynamic with Mike Colter as Luke Cage was expanded upon, teasing an exciting future for the duo, perhaps even adapting the Marvel Comics stories of “Power Man and Iron Fist.” Thanks to Netflix’s cancellation of their shows, that future was never realized, but here’s hoping the success of “Daredevil: Born Again” can help bring back this missed opportunity for growth.

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The complete first season of “Daredevil: Born Again” is streaming on Disney+.