Vincent D’Onofrio Reveals How Marvel’s Netflix Shows Became MCU Canon After Daredevil: Born Again Overhaul

Daredevil and Kingpin have a bright future in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and that future involves taking the characters back to the basics of their previous Netflix iterations. When the rights to the Defenders characters went back to Marvel Studios, and the company announced the returns of Charlie Cox and Vincent D’Onofrio in their fan-favorite roles, it was with the caveat that their journey in the MCU would be following a different story than the one we watched unfold in the Defenders-verse. Recently, all of that changed.

The upcoming Daredevil: Born Again TV series underwent a creative overhaul, which has it refocusing to be more like what was featured on the Netflix Marvel shows. That also means that much of what happened in those shows is carrying over to the MCU canon. Echo confirmed as much when it addressed Kingpin murdering his father with a hammer.

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, D’Onofrio opened up about the changes coming to Daredevil: Born Again, and how the new direction is honoring the canon established in the original Daredevil series.

“During our restart of all the creative on Daredevil: Born Again, all the creatives got together and said, ‘Look, this is how we’ve got to do it now.’ So we are for sure only speaking about it in terms of being directly connected to the original Daredevil, and that’s a great thing,” D’Onofrio explained. “It brings in a lot of cool stories and all the collateral story that happened in those original three seasons. So we now get to start this Born Again situation with all of that history behind us and the outcome of all that history. So we’re all talking about Daredevil: Born Again in those terms now.”

Ahead of Echo‘s premiere, D’Onofrio talked with ComicBook.com about the tone of Daredevil: Born Again, and how that tone is established in the newest Marvel series.

“I really can’t say much, as you know, but I will say that while I was shooting Echo, I realized it confirmed a lot for me. Which was that even if people had never seen the original Daredevil, the tone of Echo and the writing of Echo allowed me to present the character to even a new audience, not just audiences that had seen Daredevil before. And the way that I think he’s best portrayed, I think in that tone, he’s best portrayed like that, and we’re going to continue that.”

Starring Alaqua Cox, all five episodes of Echo debuted exclusively on both Disney+ and Hulu on Tuesday, January 9th. The origin story of Echo revisits Maya Lopez, whose ruthless behavior in New York City catches up with her in her hometown. She must face her past, reconnect with her Native American roots and embrace the meaning of family and community if she ever hopes to move forward. Vincent D’Onofrio will reprise his role as Wilson Fisk / Kingpin, and Charlie Cox will reprise his role as Matt Murdock / Daredevil. Echo will also star Chaske Spencer, Tantoo Cardinal, Devery Jacobs, Cody Lightning, Graham Greene and Zahn McClarnon.

Kevin Feige, Louis D’Esposito, Victoria Alonso, Brad Winderbaum, Stephen Broussard, Richie Palmer, Marion Dayre, and Jason Gavin (Blackfeet) are executive producers of Echo. Amy Rardin, Sydney Freeland, Christina King (Seminole), and Jennifer Booth are co-executive producers.