Daredevil Season 2's Biggest Easter Eggs

Whether you've already binged your way through the second season of Marvel's Daredevil on Netflix or you're savoring it slowly like a fine meal, you've probably noticed these 13 episodes are stuffed with references to other MCU releases and Daredevil's comics adventures. Here's an overview of the biggest and best Easter eggs in Daredevil Season Two. And of course, beware of spoilers!

For comics readers, watching adaptations can be a little like peering into a funhouse mirror: things sort of look the same, but they're also weirdly different. Case in point for Daredevil's second season is the character of Grotto, who surfaced in the books as one of Kingpin's henchmen but appears on the show as a member of the Irish mob who survives Punisher's attack and tries to play on Foggy and Matt's sympathies. Grotto's comics buddy Turk also appears, and is reportedly set to resurface in Luke Cage.

The Punisher made his Marvel Comics debut in 1974, a time when the twin specters of violent crime and urban blight seemed to loom over the American landscape. Perhaps not coincidentally, that was also the year that Charles Bronson starred in Death Wish, the first in a series of films about one man's quest for justice, urban vigilante-style. Punisher's roots in that era of fear and paranoia are reinforced during Daredevil Season Two with a Death Wish reference, as well as a nod to real-life vigilante Bernard Goetz, who shot four would-be muggers in 1984.

The character of Elektra is so beloved among diehard Daredevil fans that they're even willing to forget Jennifer Garner's Elektra movie, and they're still likely to be amused by nods to her comics incarnation, like the ride she and Daredevil go on in Season Two. That little adventure mirrors their meeting in the comics, during which Elektra takes Matt out for a spin in a stolen Ferrari.

Frank Castle is too nasty to have any real friends, per se, but in Punisher War Journal #37, he picked up a canine pal named Max, a guard dog who displayed his dedication to his masters after he chased their murderers across town, killing most of them along the way, and ending up trapped under the rubble of a collapsed building for his troubles. Max's origin is totally different during Daredevil Season Two, but the bottom line is the same: a vigilante and his dog.

Just like on the show, Daredevil and Punisher have a long history of butting heads over their differing approaches to crimefighting, an argument that's reflected in a standoff during which Punisher tries to force Daredevil to either kill him or watch him murder an enemy. That showdown is basically copied during a Daredevil Season Two sequence involving Grotto, Punisher, and the Man Without Fear.

Daredevil Season Two sees the arrival of Finn Cooley, an enforcer brought in to bring Punisher to heel after his assault on the Irish mob. Aside from his name and occupation, he doesn't have a lot in common with his comics counterpart, but that could easily change in Season Three, especially if producers are going where we think they're going after Finn's apparent demise.

Melvin Potter, the guy who built Daredevil's new and improved costume at the end of Season One, reappears in Season Two when Matt needs a new cowl. This time around, Melvin shows off some body armor of his own, and the design will be familiar to comics readers who remember his alter ego, Gladiator. Whether Daredevil gives us Gladiator in later seasons remains to be seen, but the producers offer a nod to the character when Melvin grabs a buzzsaw in anger.

In the comics, Punisher patrols the city in a tricked-out Battle Van, and although his wheels in Daredevil Season Two are nowhere near as fancy as the comics, the fact that he's driving a van seems like a pretty clear nod to the past.

While we'll probably never see a full-on crossover between Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and any of the Netflix shows, they're definitely part of the same cinematic universe, and we get a brief nod to Agent Coulson's adventures when a member of the biker gang Dogs of Hell shows up. As S.H.I.E.L.D. viewers may recall, Coulson is drawn into a fight against the Dogs by the Asgardian Lorelei during one episode.

Elsewhere in Season Two, during Karen's visit to the New York Bulletin, you can see a framed headline on the wall that makes reference to the company Cybertek, which S.H.I.E.L.D. fans will remember as the HYDRA-run company responsible for creating Deathlok.

It's just about impossible to watch Marvel anything without seeing a Roxxon mention or two. The villainous megacorporation has been spotted in a whole bunch of MCU releases, including the Iron Man movies, Agent Carter, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., and Season One of Daredevil. After largely lurking in the background all this time, they're a major player in Season Two.

Even Daredevil couldn't get far without a few friends in high places, and Daredevil viewers get their first look at one of his most useful comics allies in Season Two. Assistant DA Blake Tower starts out as a stooge for the District Attorney, but he undergoes an evolution over the course of the season, and ends up looking more like the staunch ally he's been in print.

During Season One, Wilson Fisk was definitely a kingpin, but no one called him by his better-known name from the comics. That starts to change during Season Two, as Fisk's rise to power from prison earns him a brand new (and very familiar) nickname.

In pitting Daredevil against Punisher, Marvel gave itself a nice early forum for arguing the issues at the heart of their upcoming Captain America: Civil War. What are the responsibilities of a superhero, and how should government handle their presence in society? And how far is too far when it comes to dealing with violent criminals? Those questions are all addressed to some extent during Daredevil Season Two, and it's no accident that they lead right into Cap and Iron Man's head-to-head on May 6.

Nobu, the lethal ninja who nearly defeated Daredevil in Season One, is brought back from the grave in Season Two, and gifted with a new set of powers that may seem very familiar to Daredevil readers. The name and the circumstances are very different, but in many respects, Nobu's resurrection looks a lot like the story of Kirigi, a nearly immortal assassin on a mission to murder Elektra.

In his original comics incarnation, Frank Castle was a military vet who did tours of duty in Vietnam. Too much time has passed for that to still be the case during Daredevil Season Two, and Castle's origin has been updated accordingly, putting him in the Middle East instead, but we still get a nod to his previous past. During a conversation Castle has with an older man about their military service, the man mentions he was with the 3rd Marine Company in Vietnam, which just so happens to match the original Punisher story.

We don't see either of Daredevil's Netflix neighbors during Season Two, but there are a number of passing references to Luke Cage and Jessica Jones, as well as a significant appearance by Jessica's associate Jeri Hogarth. Slowly but surely, the showrunners are obviously stitching together a framework for the crossover Defenders series, and we get our next taste in the brief Luke Cage teaser buried after the finale's credits.

It may not lead anywhere, but during Matt's visions of his past at St. Agnes Orphanage, he remembers getting particularly tender care from a young nun. Comics readers know there's a very important connection between the two, and while it's a piece of Matt's history that may never be explored on the show, it's well worth noting.