Daredevil: Born Again Sneaks In a Thunderbolts* Villain Return You Probably Missed

Alright, so if you blinked during the first episode of Daredevil: Born Again season 2, you probably missed one of those Marvel setup moves—the kind of thing that seems tiny but actually shoves a big piece into place for the MCU. Let me walk you through it, because this one’s got some sneaky implications.

How a Side Character Quietly Connects to MCU Power Players

There’s a new guy in town for season 2, episode 1: Mr. Charles. You’d be forgiven for thinking he’s just a cardboard cutout bureaucrat type, but it turns out he’s loaded with connections. Instead of announcing which shadowy organization he’s with, the show just drops enough hints for fans—think, unnamed agency with ‘CIA vibes’. But what really matters is who he’s calling.

During a scene with New York’s General Attorney Steverud, Mr. Charles is sitting across the table when a phone call rolls in. Steverud, who’s been all about extra oversight on Wilson Fisk’s new Anti-Vigilante Task Force, picks up and—out of nowhere—gets told about 'Miss de Fontaine'.

The reference to 'Miss de Fontaine' is all you get as confirmation that Valentina Allegra de Fontaine—yes, the Nick Fury-in-scarves—has her hands in the cookie jar.

It’s a subtle moment. Steverud does an immediate 180, suddenly insisting there’ll be no oversight and Fisk’s little task force will get all the support it wants. If you’re wondering who pulls those strings behind the scenes, surprise: it’s Val. Through her 'employee' Mr. Charles, she’s clearly got direct influence inside city government.

Why Is Val So Invested in Fisk?

• Valentina’s interest isn't random: she’s trying to muscle illegal weapons—connected to the Northern Star incident—through Red Hook, Fisk’s port. Fisk is getting his hands dirty (as usual), but Val is higher up the food chain.
• When Daredevil crashes her smuggling party, Val sends Charles back in to do damage control and mop up her lost cargo.

What This Means for the Bigger MCU

Mr. Charles is brand new—Scardapane, the showrunner, explained that Charles was created specifically to be another one of Val’s orbiting agents. She’s already thrown weight around in Thunderbolts*, called herself the founder of the New Avengers, and keeps popping up where you'd least expect.

All this means that Daredevil: Born Again is no longer just Daredevil versus Kingpin in a vacuum. Valentina is working behind the scenes, steering things toward even bigger MCU crossovers. If you thought she was just a background player, this episode is your heads-up: she’s the kind of character who shows up everywhere, yanking plot threads from the shadows.