For all the talk of returning MCU stars like Krysten Ritter’s Jessica Jones, one of Daredevil: Born Again‘s most compelling characters arrives in the form of Matthew Lillard’s Mr. Charles. He’s an explosive presence without showing any violence; a villain who never gets anywhere near the action in the first episode. And his name is almost certainly fake, as Vanessa Fisk shrewdly realizes when the pair come into contact. But who is Mr. Charles, and is he from Marvel Comics? At the very least, he has a link to the MCU’s new Avengers team. Warning: This article contains SPOILERS for Daredevil: Born Again Season 1, Episode 1.
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Lillard’s new character isn’t so much an enigma as he is a charismatic curiosity: a man willing to ignore the usual reverence Kingpin is held in, and who wields enough power that Wilson seemingly quietly respects him. Or – more shockingly – fears what he represents. In the opening episode, we learn several things about Mr. Charles: he is an almost perpetual eater (this comes up a lot later too); he works for the CIA; he’s apparently a fixer of sorts; and he has enough power to challenge Fisk without retribution. He’s also chillingly willing to order men to their death, and coldly matter-of-fact about the clean-up. As he says, he’s mostly a logistics man. He’s also further representative of how the MCU has portrayed parts of the American government as the enemy.
Who is Mr. Charles & How Is He Connected to the New Avengers?
In an easy-to-miss moment, when Mr. Charles arrives in New York and meets Fisk in the aftermath of the Northern Star’s sinking, we get confirmation that Mr. Charles answers to the Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine. When Fisk is threatened by the governor’s office, Val calls the representative and gets him to back down, at Mr. Charles’ apparent behest. Since Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, we’ve known Val (played by Julia Louis-Dreyfus, of course) as the director of the CIA, and while she faced impeachment at the end of Thunderbolts* her reveal of the New Avengers clearly worked to keep her in her position. That effectively means that Mr. Charles and the New Avengers operate as different arms of the same system, and Val has very definitely not turned over a new leaf and gone straight.
Val’s oversight of the CIA, and her involvement in the shady Sentry programme with OXE continues the MCU’s portrayal of the US government as the enemy of heroes. General Ross was always the arrowhead of that particular offensive, and before him, we had the HYDRA-infiltrated Senator Stern, but now Val appears to have taken on the role as “government bad apple”. Only, if the CIA works with figures like Kingpin, is it really right to call her just a “bad apple”?
As for Mr. Charles’ Marvel Comics history: there isn’t anything direct. There are actually very few prominent CIA characters in Marvel Comics, and even fewer corrupt officials (though Mr. Charles would presumably argue he’s above the law). There were Rosten and Trenton Sanders who attempted to frame Silver Sable, but they’re too minor to be an influence. So it seems Mr. Charles is indeed a new character. And a great one at that.
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