By George & Josh Bate
WARNING: The following contains light spoilers for Episode 1 of Daredevil: Born Again
The Man Without Fear has officially returned. The release of Daredevil: Born Again has been greatly anticipated for years and, finally, the show has arrived on Disney+. After receiving glowing initial reactions from press, including ourselves, the new MCU series will be viewed by millions of fans around the world, who may or may not spot a couple of interesting connections we noticed.
The end of the first episode of Daredevil: Born Again sees Matt Murdock (played once again by Charlie Cox) in the streets of New York City in the immediate aftermath of Wilson Fisk’s election as Mayor of the city. An epic needle-drop introduces a song that plays as Matt walks in slow-motion through the crowd and fog, committing to keep an eye on Fisk if he reverts back to his old criminal ways now that he has assumed such a position of official power.
The song that plays as Matt makes his way through the crowd is “Staring at the Sun” by TV on the Radio. Released in 2004, “Staring at the Sun” was the debut single of the indie rock band TV on the Radio and serves as a fitting backdrop to the epic ending of Daredevil: Born Again episode 1. Listen to the song below….
The founding member and co-lead singer of TV on the Radio is Tunde Adebimpe, a man who has a connection to another recent Disney+ project. In addition to being a musician, Adebimpe is also an actor, appearing in films like Twisters and Spider-Man: Homecoming. Most recently though, Adebimpe played Wim’s father Wendle in the Star Wars series Skeleton Crew. After playing a largely background role in the show, Wendle became more prominent in the eighth and final episode, and was arguably one of the finale’s standout elements. It’s interesting to see Adebimpe play relatively small yet impactful roles in two consecutive high-profile Disney+ shows.
Now, how does Daredevil: Born Again connect to Breaking Bad? Well, in addition to having a song play of theirs play at the end of Daredevil: Born Again episode 1, TV on the Radio also have a song that plays in the critically acclaimed series Breaking Bad. One of the series’ most iconic moments is the “Stay out of my territory” scene in which Bryan Cranston’s Walter White embraces his Heisenberg persona and scares off a couple of aspiring meth cooks with reputation and cold looks alone. This means that Tunde Adebimpe’s incredible voice is the epic backdrop to the endings of two amazing television episodes.
But there’s another Star Wars connection in Daredevil: Born Again….
Matt’s new love interest Dr. Heather Glenn is played by actress Margarita Levieva, who previously played Mother Koril in the Star Wars series The Acolyte.
This would be easy to miss given Levieva is covered in elaborate makeup and costume for The Acolyte, but this is indeed the same actress who plays Dr. Glenn in the new MCU series.
Stay tuned to The HoloFiles and Marvel Tesseract for continued coverage of Daredevil: Born Again!