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After years of confusion, the Netflix Marvel shows are finally canon to the larger Marvel Cinematic Universe. While the confirmation hasn't come directly from Marvel Studios, Netflix-made series' like Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, Punisher, and The Defenders have been added to the MCU timeline order on Disney+.
The Netflix Marvel shows were quite popular among fans, and they had been asking for a proper answer for a while. Considering that the Echo show, which features the Netflix version of Daredevil and Kingpin, just premiered on the streaming service, this might have prompted Marvel Studios to go ahead and quietly make the other shows canon as well.
Netflix Marvel shows Daredevil, Jessica Jones, and more added to the Disney+ MCU timeline
The Netflix Marvel shows first made a splash when the streaming service was given the reigns to a multitude of street-level heroes by the comic book company. One of the first to come out of it, and arguably the most popular of the batch, was Daredevil, starring Charlie Cox as Matt Murdock and Vincent D'Onofrio, which was said to be canon to the larger MCU.
Following the first season of that show, we got other spinoffs from it, like Jessica Jones and Luke Cage, while Daredevil went on to receive a second season. That particular season also introduced Jon Bernthal's Punisher, who would also receive his spinoff. The final hero in that lineup was Iron Fist, whose show would lead into a team-up series called The Defenders, featuring Daredevil and all the previously introduced heroes taking on the Hand together.
While the popularity of these shows kept rising, Netflix's deal with the company ended and wasn't renewed, which led to the shows getting canceled. Their final two outputs were Daredevil Season 3 and The Punisher Season 2, after which fans didn't know if they would ever get to see these characters again. This was followed by Netflix, who even removed those shows from their platform, but they were added to Disney+ later by Marvel.
That was until December of 2021 when Spider-Man: No Way Home saw Charlie Cox return as Daredevil, while Vincent D'Onofrio's Kingpin returned in the finale of Hawkeye. While fans were happy to see these specific actors play these characters again, they wondered whether they were still from the Netflix continuity or had been rebooted for the MCU.
Confusion only grew as Daredevil: Born Again was confirmed to be in production for Disney+, but it wasn't confirmed that it would pick up where season three of the Netflix show left out. Things then came to a head when actress Ayelet Zurer, who played Vanessa in the Netflix series, was replaced by Sandrine Holt for Born Again, and fans were furious as there was no confirmation whether Deborah Ann Woll and Elden Henson would be returning to play Karen Page and Foggy Nelson once more.
With the release of Echo, which features Daredevil and Wilson Fisk, it looks like we might have finally gotten the confirmation that those shows are indeed canon to the MCU, as they have been fit into the franchise's timeline on Disney+. They are put in right within Phase 2 of the MCU, signifying that's when the shows take place.
While this news is still yet to be properly confirmed by the studio, it surely comes as a major victory for fans who had been wondering exactly what their status was for years. You can check out the previous Netflix Marvel shows on Disney+ and Echo.
