Forget Avengers: Doomsday and Secret Wars, there’s a new MCU event rumored to be on the way that could deliver a crossover over a decade in the making. If Marvel does bring the Devil’s Reign event from the comics onto the big screen, then you’re going to be in for a treat with both Daredevil and Spider-Man.
The rumor comes ahead of Daredevil: Born Again Season 2, which starts streaming on Disney+ from March 23, and will pick up from the end of the first season where Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox) goes on the run when Wilson Fisk/Kingpin (Vincent D’Onofrio) outlaws vigilantes and declares martial law in New York.
Before we get into it, it’s important to note that Marvel has always cherrypicked from the comics to make certain storylines fit the ongoing narratives within the MCU. For example, Daredevil: Born Again isn’t an adaptation of the comics of the same name, it just borrows elements from it and is a playful reference about Daredevil being back under Marvel Studios’ control after being at Netflix.
But the show has already started adapting the events surrounding the Devil’s Reign storyline, and it would make sense if Marvel is planning an event movie around it with Daredevil, Spider-Man, and other costumed heroes. Here’s what happens in Devil’s Reign, and why it’s plausible that the MCU could include it.
What is Devil’s Reign?
Just like in Daredevil: Born Again, Kingpin was elected Mayor of New York City in the Marvel comics in Charles Soule’s 2018 “Mayor Fisk” story arc. Although the villain used his new role to further his own ends, it wasn’t until 2021’s Devil’s Reign that he really caused chaos.
The 2021 book by writer Chip Zdarsky and artist Marco Checchetto starts with Kingpin discovering that he once knew Daredevil’s real identity, but that the hero had managed to erase the villain’s mind using the children of the Purple Man, aka Kilgrave. (David Tennant played him in the Jessica Jones TV series!)
Because of this, Kingpin decides to completely outlaw superheroes in the city, and uses a squad of “reformed” supervillains called the Thunderbolts as his own private police force, including the likes of Doctor Octopus, Rhino, US Agent, and more.
There’s plenty of chaos that unfolds around this, but one of the most important elements in the story is that Luke Cage decides to legitimately run for Mayor against Kingpin. Meanwhile the rest of the New York based heroes, like Daredevil, Spider-Man, Jessica Jones, Iron Fist, Captain America, and Moon Knight rally together to fight the villain and his forces in the streets.
Eventually, Daredevil gets the upper hand over Fisk using a gem that contained some of the Purple Man’s powers, causing Kingpin to stop momentarily during their fight. While Daredevil briefly attempts to kill Fisk, he’s persuaded to leave him alive for the authorities by Elektra. With Fisk apprehended, Luke Cage is elected as the new Mayor of New York.
Now that we’ve got some comicsplaining out of the way, we can already hear you wondering how this will play out in a movie… Well, it is remarkably simple: A big old team-up combining the street-level Marvel heroes against Kingpin and his Anti-Vigilante Task Force.
Devil’s Reign in the MCU could be a streamlined version of the comics
Remember what we said earlier: Marvel always picks and chooses elements from the comics rather than adapting them in a 100% faithful way, and it seems like Devil’s Reign would be the same.
Notable scoopers The Cosmic Circus reported that the event movie will serve as an ending to the return of Kingpin in the MCU that started with Hawkeye back in 2021, and will continue through Born Again Season 2 and Spider-Man: Brand New Day.
Hopefully, that means no mystical/superpowered shenanigans of wiping Daredevil’s secret identity from Kingpin’s mind. Not only would it be too similar to Spider-Man: No Way Home, it would also make an already crazy storyline too busy.
By trimming that out of the plot, the MCU Devil’s Reign would see the heroes in New York team-up in a fairly straightforward crossover to stop Kingpin. The end of Born Again Season 1 saw Matt make it clear that he’s forming an underground resistance with Karen Page (Deborah Ann Woll) and the few cops that aren’t corrupt, so it would make sense that he starts recruiting superheroes next.
Of course, we know from the Season 2 trailer that Jessica Jones (Krysten Ritter) is making a return to the MCU to give Daredevil some much-needed backup, so it would make sense if Luke Cage (Mike Colter) and Danny Rand/Iron Fist (Finn Jones) also reprise their roles in the future too.
It would be interesting to see Matt try to recruit Spider-Man though, since Peter’s identity was erased at the end of No Way Home… But who better to confide in than a religious, crime-fighting blind lawyer who follows God’s plan?
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