Marvel marketing has officially confirmed that one of its leading heroes is legally "wanted" within the MCU. The next major Marvel release is due at the end of March, with Daredevil: Born Again set to hit Disney+. The revival of Netflix's Daredevil series is officially canon in the MCU since the character's rights returned to Marvel Studios, meaning what happens in Daredevil: Born Again could have ramifications for the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe (and vice versa).
As marketing for Daredevil: Born Again's new season begins, the team at Disney is getting meta, releasing official-looking "Missing" and "Wanted" posters for Charlie Cox's two Marvel personas, Matt Murdock and Daredevil. Spotted in subway stations in New York City (via @TheBrooklynJoey), the new posters establish the status quo for Matt/Daredevil heading into Season 2 of the Disney+ show.
The two posters are aligned side by side, playing into the irony that no one has realized Matt Murdock's alias is Daredevil.
These posters confirm that Daredevil is now a wanted man in the MCU, following Season 1's establishment of the Anti-Vigilante Task Force, and Mayor Wilson Fisk/Kingpin's outlawing of vigilantism. Meanwhile, Matt Murdock, a lawyer by day, is proclaimed missing, giving the authorities two very different reasons to look for Cox's character.
Murdock was last seen in the public eye at Fisk's Black & White Ball, where he took a bullet meant for Fisk. He was hospitalized as a result, but Fisk ordered his accomplice, Buck Cashman, to eliminate Murdock in his bed, forcing Matt to flee. Now, in Season 2 of Daredevil: Born Again, Murdock is on the run in both his personal and superhero lives.
These warrants will make things difficult for Murdock in Season 2, as he will be forced to remain ever-vigilant and in the shadows as the authorities search for any sign of him and his alter ego. It's just another reminder of the power Fisk wields as Mayor of New York, making Daredevil's fight not just against his corruption but also against public sentiment toward superheroes and vigilantes in general.
Daredevil: Born Again Season 2 is preparing to see Daredevil and his nemesis, Kingpin, go to war. Following Fisk's imposition of martial law to enforce his Safer Streets Initiative, Daredevil will turn to his own allies, including Krysten Ritter's Jessica Jones, to ensure superheroes don't go extinct in Hell's Kitchen. The new season will begin streaming on Disney+ from March 24, starring Cox, Ritter, Vincent D'Onofrio, Matthew Lillard, and Deborah Ann Woll.
Daredevil Joins the MCU's Wanted Heroes
The criminalization of Daredevil places him on the Wanted list alongside a long array of MCU superheroes. Throughout the MCU's decades of storytelling, not all of its heroes have had squeaky-clean records in the eyes of the law.
Paul Rudd's Scott Lang is a classic example of this, serving time in jail as part of his origin story before suiting up as Ant-Man. In this case, Lang's history as a thief actually bolstered his superhero powers, but his parole status made things difficult for the hero as he went about his adventures in Ant-Man, a situation Matt Murdock is likely to find similar in Daredevil: Born Again, being a wanted felon.
On top of that, multiple MCU heroes found themselves convicted by the government as a result of opposing the Sokovia Accords, including Captain America, Scarlet Witch, and Hawkeye, who were all imprisoned on the MCU's superhero prison, the Raft.
Daredevil himself is no stranger to brushes with the law, particularly as he's acting as a vigilante rather than a recognized superhero, like one of the Avengers. However, now that Daredevil is an established figure within the MCU, perhaps there will come a day, eventually, when he doesn't have to fear the law when completing heroic actions.
