You don’t need to know anything about the Marvel Cinematic Universe to enjoy season two of Daredevil: Born Again. But it couldn’t hurt, especially since the show does take place in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. And while a new post answers some questions about when it’s happening in comparison to other films and shows we’ve seen, it raises even more.
This week, the official Marvel website posted an article called “See the Complete MCU Timeline on Disney+.” It’s a list of (almost) everything in the MCU timeline with the new additions of both Wonder Man and Daredevil: Born Again season two. Wonder Man is, according to the list, as far into the future as we’ve seen so far. And right behind that is Born Again season two.
That means the events of Daredevil: Born Again season two take place after the events of Thunderbolts, which is partially set in New York, just like Daredevil, as well as The Fantastic Four: First Steps, which is an alternate dimension but does crossover with Thunderbolts at the end.
Most importantly, though, is the caveat that the list only has films and shows on it that you can find on Disney+. So, Spider-Man: No Way Home, a very important New York City movie, is not on there. We don’t know specifically when the events of that film (in which Matt Murdock shows up) take place, but a safe bet is before Born Again season one. (Which would mean Spider-Man: Brand New Day is even after Born Again season two and Wonder Man.)
Taking Spider-Man out of it, though, there are a few other things that make this a little weird and complicated. One is the aforementioned Thunderbolts end credits scene with the potential Fantastic Four crossover. We think you have to ignore that. The scene takes place well after the main events of the film, so it seems plausible that Born Again season two happens in that gray area. Plus, you’d have to think Mayor Fisk might be pretty annoyed if “The New Avengers” were based in his city. That might be a bit more annoying than Daredevil.
What you can’t ignore, though, is the moment in Thunderbolts when all of New York is covered in the Void. That almost certainly happened in this world, but we don’t yet know if that’ll be mentioned in Born Again. (We hope so, especially since it would, in theory, be a strong argument Mayor Fisk could use to empower his Anti-Vigilante Task Force).
So while, on the one hand, it does make sense for Daredevil: Born Again season two to be set here in the MCU, it is a tiny bit weird. Maybe it’ll be less weird by the end of the season. What do you think?
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