Daredevil: Born Again Episode 5 Gave Us A Ms. Marvel Update — Is She Recruiting Another Young Avenger?

Two weeks after having Wilson Fisk refer to "a man who dresses in a spider outfit" — akin to how Netflix's Marvel shows would awkwardly refer to "the big green dude" and "the flag-waver" — Disney+'s Daredevil: Born Again actually name-dropped a fellow MCU hero.

The revival-of-sort's fifth episode (of Season 1's nine) saw Matt Murdock (played by Charlie Cox) making a mild-mannered trip to New York Mutual bank, to follow up on Murdock & McDuffie's loan application.

The assistant bank manager that Matt interacted with was no less than Yusuf Khan aka Kamala "Ms. Marvel" Khan's father, again played by Moran Kapoor (of Ms. Marvel and its big-screen follow-up The Marvels).

Though Yusuf is sad to report that the types of cases that Murdock & McDuffie take on make it problematic to approve their loan request, he and Matt wind up bonding some — after Yusuf checks his phone messages, being a bit anxious with his teenage daughter out of town.

"My daughter, Kamala, she's in California, visiting some friends there...," Yusuf shared.

Yusuf went on to boast of how li'l old Jersey City now has "our very own superhero, Ms. Marvel." He then pointed out a "custom-designed" Funko Pop! figure of said supe, that he keeps on his desk.

Daredevil: Born Again EP Sana Amanat told Screen Rant that it was "a fun challenge" to weave in the character of Yusuf and, with it, "some of that comedic energy that the MCU is known for."

But because "we're not living in the Ms. Marvel world or corner, we're living in the Daredevil corner," the trick was "making sure that the tone [of the scenes] compliments Matt Murdock," Amanat said. In the end, "There are a couple of cool moments that we got in there that were a bit of a wink to Ms. Marvel, so hopefully, people are going to really enjoy that episode."

The detail that Yusuf shared — "in California, visiting some friends" — seems too specific and unsolicited to be arbitrary. And I doubt they included that line to account for why Ms. Marvel isn't around to help Daredevil with whatever season-ending drama is coming up.

So, why California?

Ms. Marvel lead Iman Vellani last reprised the character in 2023's The Marvels, the big-screen follow-up to her own show as well as 2019's Captain Marvel and Disney+'s WandaVision. In a mid-credits scene, we saw Kamala hop over to New York City to pay a surprise, Nick Fury-like, emerge-from-the-shadows visit to one Kate Bishop (Hawkeye's Hailee Steinfeld). Brandishing one of the clear "iPads" she had marveled at earlier in the film, displaying S.H.I.E.L.D.'s file on Clint Barton's apprentice, Kamala proposed that she and Kate form a team — and maybe recruit Ant-Man's daughter, as well!

Ant-Man's daughter is of course Cassie Lang, who lives in San Francisco (and was most recently played by Big Little Lies' Kathryn Newton). So it's possible that Kamala, perhaps with Kate in tow, was following through on her plan to form a team. Newton is among those rumored (by Patreon-based reporter Daniel Richtman) to be joining Vellani and Steinfeld in a Champions Marvel team-up series for Disney+. The other characters rumored to be involved — Joe Locke's Wiccan, Dominique Thorne's Ironheart and Xochitl Gomez's America Chavez — meanwhile, are all East Coast-based.

Kamala may also be scouting out Jennifer Walters, who lives in Los Angeles, though She-Hulk is generally not associated with Young Avengers or the like.

Or, she's simply spending her spring break visiting with best friend Bruno Carrelli, who per Ms. Marvel would be attending Caltech.

Want scoop on Daredevil: Born Again, or for any other Marvel TV show? Shoot an email to InsideLine@tvline.com, and your question may be answered via Matt's Inside Line!