We're all enjoying the era of Daredevil: Born Again very much. The Disney Plus series has welcomed us back into the arms of the characters of the beloved Netflix show that premiered on screens back in 2015, but it has also firmly established its existence within the Marvel Cinematic Universe - something that the original series could only loosely reference.
With that, we have already had a reference to Spider-Man, one of the MCU's most beloved heroes, as the Kingin referenced a man in a spider outfit. It was a major moment, particularly as it confirmed that the sequel series - and, by extension, its predecessor - exists in the MCU continuity. And it's particularly game-changing when the Spider-Man reference was made in the same sentence as The Punisher reference, tying an MCU character and a Netflix Marvel character together in a way that made fans very, very happy.
The fourth episode of Daredevil: Born Again made a somewhat more subtle to the wider MCU sandbox, and it's a pretty fun one at that.
Daredevil: Born Again namedrops the Skrulls in episode 4
The fourth episode of Daredevil: Born Again features a reference to the Skrulls. Unlikely, right? But very true, as it took place when Matt Murdock paid a visit to the jail to represent a client by the name of Leroy Bradford, who had been convicted of petty larceny. At first, Leroy attempted to convince Matt that he didn't do the crime, but Mr. Murdock reminded him that police have CCTV footage of him committing it. Without anything else to ask, Leroy asks if it could have been a Skrull impersonating him. Matt isn't buying it, and simply responds "No.".
Now there is no doubt that this moment will have longtime MCU fans sitting up in their seats like that Leonardo DiCaprio meme, for the Skrulls are an important part of the Marvel Comics lore. An alien race with the ability to shapeshift, they were first introduced into the MCU in 2019's Captain Marvel, which showcased the rivalry between the Skrulls and the Kree. Although it initially portrayed the Skrulls as the villains of the story, the film soon revealed that it was the Kree who were the real oppressors.
The Brie Larson-led film also featured Samuel L. Jackson, who reprised his role as Nick Fury. The MCU veteran who founded The Avengers formed a friendship with one of the film's primary Skrulls, Talos, and the pair worked on a plan to rehome the race of aliens - on either a new planet or on Earth itself. That plan didn't come to fruition in the way that Fury hoped, and it launched the all-out war by radical Skrull Gravik in Secret Invasion.
The Skrulls have become a big part of the MCU lore in just the most recent decade, so the mere mention of them is a major win for fans of them. The fact that it comes in a series as grounded as Daredevil: Born Again is just a bonus, and it goes to show how committed the creatives are when it comes to integrating the world of The Devil of Hell's Kitchen into the wider MCU.
Although there were subtle nods and references to the wider MCU in the original series, it couldn't outright confirm its placement in the franchise. That somewhat added to the gritty nature of the series, as it was hard to believe that some of the more ambitious or colorful properties within the franchise existed within that world. But they did - aliens really did invade New York, space gods are real, and Thanos did snap half the universe out of existence - and now Born Again is here to confirm that for us.
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