We all know that the Marvel Cinematic Universe loves to hide references or easter eggs about one character in the solo project of a completely different hero. In the best-case scenario, we even get to watch mind-blowing team-ups come to fruition on the big or small screen after years of build-up and set-ups. However, the street-level stories have remained mostly isolated from the rest of the world-ending, multiversal events, and Daredevil is a perfect example.
When the original Netflix Daredevil series was released, we'd see little nods to the events of The Avengers here and there, but Matt Murdock never crossed paths with Earth's Mightiest Heroes. Furthermore, while Wilson Fisk directly called out Spider-Man's actions in Daredevil: Born Again Season 1, the wall-crawler hasn't properly joined forces with the man without fear just yet. However, Season 2 just made an unexpected MCU reference that may (finally) lead to a bigger storyline.
Daredevil: Born Again Season 2 Episode 1 hides a Thunderbolts* reference
At this point, MCU fans are no strangers to Julia Louis-Dreyfus' Valentina Allegra de Fontaine. The shady CIA director has appeared in no shortage of projects, including The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Black Widow, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, and most notably, Thunderbolts*, where she proclaimed herself the founder of the New Avengers. But despite having a trustworthy public image, Valentina is anything but a good person, and she just doubled down on that point once again.
Daredevil: Born Again Season 2 Episode 1 introduced the world to Matthew Lillard's Mr. Charles, a completely original character that isn't present in comic book pages. Mr. Charles wants to help Fisk cover and fix the Northern Star fiasco, but he isn't working alone. Instead, he's the employee of an unnamed "agency" that is implied to be the CIA. After all, Mr. Charles' boss appears to be none other than Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, who is name-dropped in the episode.
See, the New York City General Attorney Steverud tells Wilson Fisk that there will be a lot of "oversight" moving forward, as the mayor's Anti-Vigilante Task Force is doing whatever it wants without any repercussions. At that moment, Mr. Charles makes an entrance and suggests that the General Attorney should answer his cell phone, which coincidentally starts ringing. While audiences don't hear who is on the other side of the phone, Steverud does mention a name: "Miss de Fontaine".
After the call, General Attorney Steverud seems to have a "change of heart", as he mentions that there will be no "oversight" for Fisk and that his office will fully support him. That's right, Valentina Allegra de Fontaine still has a lot of power in the MCU.
During an interview with MovieWeb, Daredevil: Born Again Season 2 showrunner Dario Scardapane revealed that Mr. Charles was written to be "somebody who lives in the Val world". Furthermore, he teased that his connection could lead to a potential future storyline that could directly involve Valentina:
"I would love [for Val] to be part of our world. There's a story in the back of my head I would love to tell you, but I don't know, those choices aren't mine (...) it's always nice to have that connective tissue, because you never know. So yes, as fans, we would love it."
It seems like Valentina was using Fisk's Red Hook port to import illegal weapons, and now that things have gone sideways thanks to Daredevil, she sent Mr. Charles to aid the mayor in retrieving all the lost cargo. With that in mind, it wouldn't be far-fetched to assume that Valentina could make a brief cameo during the second half of Daredevil: Born Again Season 2. After all, the connection is already there, and it's up to Marvel to make the most out of it.
Daredevil: Born Again Season 2 is now streaming on Disney+.