It sounds like the Daredevil: Born Again creators are hoping to get a major Thunderbolts star into the show!
Daredevil: Born Again is about to launch season 2 on Disney+ with major stakes. The key plot will be Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox) facing off against Mayor Wilson Fisk (Vincent D'Onofrio), who's consolidating control of New York, including going after vigilantes.
Speaking to MovieWeb, showrunner Dario Scardapane touched on how season 2 will utilize the mysterious Mr. Charles (Matthew Lillard), who appears to be moving in wide political circles. That may be a tie-in to Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), the CIA black-ops master, last seen commandeering the Thunderbolts to make them the New Avengers.
Scardapane stated that because of this connection, they would love to have the Emmy-winning TV veteran reprise her role as Val in Born Again, but it may be out of their hands.
“So, building Mr. Charles as somebody who lives in the Val world, we wanted to make that connection. So, that's why that's on the other end of the phone call. For me, personally, away from everything MCU, I would love her 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."
Executive producer Sana Amanat added that they would love to have “that connective tissue, because you never know.” That would be an intriguing turn as Val being part of this endeavor isn’t as crazy as it sounds.
Why Val would work in Daredevil: Born Again
First introduced in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Val is an arrogant, conniving black ops political master who first recruited a band of misfits like Yelena, John Walker, and Ghost into her own team. She tried to have them killed off while allowing the unstable Bob (Lewis Pullman) to become the all-powerful Sentry.
When the Sentry went wild, it was up to the Thunderbolts to defeat him. Before she could be exposed, the conniving Val pulled a smart move by announcing to the media that the team was the New Avengers. She’s now running them to keep her own skin intact.
Despite her supposedly running a team of heroes, Val is always about herself and gaining more power. Working with Fisk would be fitting, as the New Avengers have to play nice with the mayor of New York. The New Avengers may need to jump through some hoops to not be affected by the anti-vigilante laws and the possibility they could even be forced to hunt down Daredevil and other costumed heroes.
It doesn’t even have to be a major plot point, just Val popping into Fisk’s office for some repartee. It’d be a good way to connect the threads of the MCU and a reminder of how the movies still have ramifications for the Disney+ shows.
This may be a pipe dream for now, but it would be fun to get Val onto Born Again, as Daredevil’s fight for the future of New York may have wider implications for the MCU.