In Daredevil: Born Again season 1, a convicted felon, Wilson Fisk, becomes New York City's Mayor. The Kingpin of Crime then uses his power to profit from his position and weaponises law enforcement against his enemies.
Comparisons have been made by fans and journalists to the current occupant of the White House, President Donald Trump. However, Charlie Cox echoed comments from Vincent D'Onofrio when asked about any real-life parallels.
"I think it's really, really important at this point to say that those similarities, if people see them, are purely coincidental. That really is the case," the actor told IGN. "If you think about it, Vincent D'Onofrio built that character in 2014. In 2014, if you just said the name of the president and the word president, you'd have been laughed at."
Bullseye actor Wilson Bethel was also on hand to say, "Season 1 of Born Again was written before our current president was president. So I mean, look, what the show clearly explores in some really profound, interesting ways are what can happen if too much power gets in the wrong hands."
"You can look into that how you will," he continued. "Certainly, there's been plenty of examples of that throughout history. But we may or may not be in one."
Cox then chimed in to say, "Every time you have a scene with Frank Castle in the 10 years we've been doing it, every time there's a scene, someone's going to say, 'It doesn't feel like it's a very good time to be shooting a hero who's got a gun.' You know what I mean?"
"I feel like it's really important to allow, and chuckle at, and enjoy some coincidences that may be there," the Daredevil: Born Again star added. "But it's also important to stipulate that they are entirely accidental."
In the Devil's Reign comic book, Fisk is eventually defeated and removed from political office. However, that only comes after he considered mounting a run for U.S. President, a storyline that D'Onofrio previously said we aren't likely to see in the MCU.
"I don’t think so. I don’t really think of him as a political person; I think of him as a corrupt person. I guess that could happen. I doubt seriously that he’ll take that path," he pointed out earlier this year. "I guess you’re saying that because of what’s going on in real life, and we’re not attaching the show to anything that’s going on in real life. So I don’t think that path is going to be taken."
If anything, it seems more likely that we'll see both Matt Murdock and Fisk behind bars, adapting Ed Brubaker's acclaimed Daredevil run in season 3.
Many fans are eager for Daredevil: Born Again to move on from the Man Without Fear's rivalry with The Kingpin. After all, there are plenty of great villains from the comics who we still haven't seen on screen.
Daredevil: Born Again season 2 will return to Disney+ early next year. The series has also been renewed for a third season.