‘Daredevil’ Showrunner on Subverting Comic Fan Expectations in Easter Eggs

The new season of Daredevil on Netflix takes a lot of cues from the source material of Marvel Comics, especially since storyline is loosely based on the comic classic “Born Again.”

But there are a lot of other influences on the season, and many more Easter eggs that Marvel fans are likely to be picking through.

Warning: Minor spoilers for Daredevil Season 3 below.

Series showrunner Erik Oleson addressed these references in a recent interview with ComicBook.com, and revealed the rules the show needed to stick to when putting them in action.

“There are a number of iconic panels from everything from ‘Born Again,’ to ‘Guardian Devil,’” Oleson said, adding that callbacks to Daredevil: Yellow and more were also included. “I had my favorite moments, and we kept kind of a Easter egg list of stuff that we wanted to do in the writer’s room while we were breaking stories. But the rule that we all imposed was that it had to be organic to the story that we were telling, and it had to come in an unexpected or a way that comic book fans would recognize it, but not know, or know what would come next, I guess is what I’m saying.”

This is a big reason why Daredevil Season 3 is not a direct adaptation of “Born Again,” but incorporates a lot of elements from that storyline.

“And so there are panels, like for instance, there’s a panel from ‘Guardian Devil’ where Matt is cradling Karen’s dead body, but we reversed it where Karen is cradling Matt’s beat-to-hell body,” Oleson said.

A good chunk of Matt Murdock’s scenes early in the season take place in the crypt of the church where he’s hiding out, being cared for by Sister Maggie. Some fans fluent in Latin might notice some major references in these scenes.

“There are Latin phrases on the gates of the crypt as Sister Maggie is allowing the FBI to go into the crypt. The names on the tombstones, or on the wall in the background of the crypt, said if people freeze and zoom in there’s Easter eggs there. There are characters that are Easter eggs.”

This is why Oleson didn’t want to do a direct adaptation; not only because he needed to tell his own story in the framework of the superhero franchise, but because he didn’t want to push out fans who might not be familiar with these classic Daredevil comics.

“I love Easter eggs, but I very much wanted them to flow naturally, and not trip up people who aren’t familiar with the comics,” Oleson said. “I think one of the dangers for guys like you and me is that we can totally geek out if we go for those moments, but it alienates people who don’t know the comics and so it can become very inside baseball. And I didn’t want to do that. I wanted to make sure that we could bring fans into the tent who hadn’t necessarily read the comics.”

Daredevil Season 3 is now playing on Netflix.