Daredevil: Born Again has a deep cut to the Infinity Stones

Some seven years after Netflix’s acclaimed Daredevil series was unceremoniously axed, the Man Without Fear is back and making himself at home in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. While Daredevil and the rest of the Defender-centric shows lived in their own MCU purgatory, Marvel Studios is finally free to do what it wants with its street-level heroes and villains. With it, Daredevil: Born Again has already planted itself firmly in the MCU with nods to the wider world.

Charlie Cox’s Matt Murdock already stopped by for brief cameos in Echo, She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, and Spider-Man: No Way Home, while Vincent D’Onforio’s Wilson Fisk/Kingpin survived a run-in with a bullet in Hawkeye and popped up in the Echo miniseries, too. Despite D’Onofrio repeatedly saying Kingpin won’t be the big bad of the upcoming Spider-Man 4, and no Born Again cast members appeared in that achingly long Avengers: Doomsday roll call, it surely won’t be long until these characters leave the confines of Hell’s Kitchen behind. 

As we approach the end of the Multiverse Saga with the multiversal madness of Doomsday and Secret Wars, it seems the MCU can’t escape the shadow of a certain Mad Titan. Despite being dusted back in Avengers: Endgame, Josh Brolin’s Thanos looms large over the franchise. Then again, with the Infinity Saga encompassing the first 11 years of the MCU and delivering us some of the best comic book movies of all time, it’s no surprise there’s still the odd throwback to the big-chinned villain’s quest to gather the Infinity Stones.

Daredevil: Born Again's Infinity Stone nod

Daredevil: Born Again’s fifth episode included an unexpected cameo from Mohan Kapur’s Yusuf Khan, and while Iman Vellani herself didn’t appear, we assume she’s off forming the Young Avengers. “With Interest” veered away from the previous courtroom dramas of Born Again and played out like a TV version of Inside Man. It didn’t take long for eagle-eyed viewers to spot some interesting imagery that honor Thanos and the Infinity Stones. During the bank heist, a group of five robbers burst into the bank where Yusuf works, with each of them sporting a different colored mask to conceal their identities.

The robbers have red, blue, green, purple, and yellow masks, seemingly referring to the Reality Stone, Space Stone, Time Stone, Power Stone, and Mind Stone. Before you remind us that Thanos collected six Infinity Stones for his gauntlet, there’s the big reveal that the robbers are targeting the bank to try and steal an orange-colored gem – representing the Soul Stone. If this wasn’t enough, we even got our own stand-in Thanos in the form of the customer who was in on the ruse and could be seen wearing a purple coat. 

This is likely just a visual throwback, but taking it one step further, some think the focus on the orange gem (Soul Stone) could be hinting at the return of Elden Henson’s Foggy Nelson. While Foggy kicked the bucket in Born Again’s bloody opening scene, there’s plenty of confusion considering he’s confirmed to appear in season 2. Even though it’s most likely that Foggy will simply appear in flashback form to fill in the gaps of what the Nelson and Murdock law team have been up to for the past seven years, some are clinging onto hope that he’s just chilling in the Soulworld with Katherine Langford’s axed version of Morgan Stark.

If the MCU’s Soul Stone is anything like its comic book counterpart, it could be used to bring someone back from the dead. There are several problems with this, like Chris Evans’ Captain America supposedly returning the Infinity Stones to their respective universes. Also, no offense to Foggy, but if we were Kevin Feige, we’d probably be using the Soul Stone to bring back someone like Scarlet Johansson’s Natasha Romanoff.

Ultimately, Born Again’s Infinity Stone wink is likely just that. Others have noted that Agatha All Along did a similar thing with the colors of the Witches’ Road. Sure, the Mad Titan might be gone, but he’s definitely not forgotten. It’s true that the Secret Wars comic arc focused on the Soul Stone and how it can house multiple universes, which could come in handy for the Russo Brothers’ 2027 ensemble. As for Thanos, Marvel Studios has hinted that there are (somehow) some more cast announcements coming to Doomsday. With the entire Multiverse at our disposal, don’t be too surprised if a Thanos variant ‘snaps’ to it in the next Avengers movie.