A ‘Hawkeye’ character we never thought we’d see again is confirmed to return in ‘Daredevil: Born Again’

It’s easy to be cynical about the Marvel Cinematic Universe these days. With creative rehaul after despairing creative rehaul giving us the likes of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and now the equally-dreadful Captain America: Brave New World, time may have already run out for the Feigeverse.

Nevertheless, the street-level MCU fare may yet prove to be the harder-boiled foil that the multiversal proceedings are so desperately in need of, especially if Daredevil: Born Again lives up to its sizeable hype and history. And now, it’s scored another win ahead of its premiere in the form of one of the most interesting MCU characters to have debuted in the last decade.

Tony Dalton will return as The Swordsman in ‘DAREDEVIL BORN AGAIN’

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Per Variety, Tony Dalton’s Jack Duquesne (aka Swordsman) has been confirmed to return to the MCU after his refreshingly twisty arc in 2021’s Hawkeye — another street-level MCU show that stood out as some of the stronger fare of the Multiverse Saga.

Introduced as the fiancé of Eleanor Bishop — the mother of Hailee Steinfeld’s Kate Bishop — Jack seemed all but teed up to be Clint Barton’s next headache, only for the show’s finale to reveal that Swordsman was actually one of the good guys, using his fencing talents to aid Barton when the Kingpin-shaped shoe dropped.

Exactly how he’ll get involved in the Born Again narrative is anyone’s guess at this point, although it stands to reason that he’ll have some sort of business to attend to with Kingpin, who put a hit out on Eleanor after she framed Duquesne for the murder of his uncle Armand. This business might be friendly, and it also might not be — we mustn’t forget that while Duquesne ended Hawkeye as a good guy, none of the characters he formed an allegiance with then seem to be here in Born Again (yet). His character could well and truly go in any direction.

Also among Born Again‘s familiar faces are Deborah Ann Woll and Elden Henson as Karen Page and Foggy Nelson, who took up those mantles in Daredevil’s Netflix heyday. Also in the mix is Jon Bernthal’s Punisher, who also had a stint on the original Daredevil show before getting an eponymous Netflix series of his own. And he’s only a glimpse of the world that this street-level MCU arena has at its fingertips.

Indeed, who’s to say that we won’t link back over to Jessica Jones? Luke Cage? Iron Fist? Cloak & Dagger? This setting has everything it needs to be just as rich and expansive as the premise of a multiverse, all without putting itself at too much risk of getting lost in the CGI sauce. Still, Marvel has a lot to prove after last week’s clown fiesta of a theatrical release, and if Born Again can’t confidently carry us to Thunderbolts*, it probably won’t be long before James Gunn’s DC Universe quickly becomes the new top dog of the blockbuster scene.

Daredevil: Born Again will premiere its first two episodes exclusively on Disney Plus on March 4.