Charlie Cox couldn’t openly discuss his return to the roles of Matt Murdock and Daredevil last year. Sony and Marvel tried to keep the Daredevil cameo secret despite all the Spider-Man: No Way Home leaks. That cameo implied the MCU will deliver a Daredevil reboot, and the superhero could join the Avengers in various stories down the road.
But Cox eventually had no choice but to start addressing the Daredevil cameo in No Way Home. He also had to field questions about the future of the Daredevil series, now that Marvel confirmed it wants to incorporate the franchise into the MCU.
We have one more significant interview featuring Cox, in which he explains how Marvel will handle the existing show and what the MCU’s Daredevil will be. Before we look at any of that, you should know that some spoilers might follow below.
The Daredevil cameos
The Daredevil show had plenty of MCU Easter eggs that fans recognized. Yet Marvel never linked the Netflix show to the larger Marvel universe. Moreover, Marvel canceled the show a few years ago, despite its massive popularity. We only learned later that Disney decided to can all the Defenders shows so that it could focus on bringing those kinds of stories to Disney Plus.
Fast-forward to 2022, and Netflix has lost the rights to its Marvel shows. Daredevil and the other Netflix Marvel shows are coming to Disney Plus in the next few days. Those stories will not see any edits, previous reports said.
As for the MCU’s new Daredevil, we have no idea when he’s getting its first standalone movie or show. After No Way Home, we expect to see Cox cameo in additional MCU projects. The first might be She-Hulk, which premieres later this year.
The MCU reboot
Cox has not detailed plans for the MCU Daredevil in any of his recent interviews. But he gave fans a hint of what they can expect from an eventual Daredevil reboot.
We’ve long speculated that the MCU’s Daredevil doesn’t have to pick up where Netflix’s season 3 ended. Instead, Marvel can deliver a soft reboot of sorts, where it tells a brand new Daredevil story. The studio can keep in place some of the progress made in the Netflix shows, and that’s where the multiverse comes in handy.
Maybe the Matt in the MCU and the Matt in the Netflix Marvel universe experienced almost identical realities. But the two realities don’t have to match perfectly. The MCU Matt might have experienced a slightly altered course of events. And the same goes for all the other returning Daredevil characters. That way, they’ll feel familiar, but they’ll also deliver new stories and character arcs.
Take the Loki (Tom Hiddleston) in the MCU until Endgame and the Loki in Loki. It’s the same actor, playing the same role. But we’re looking at two different versions of the character. They share a common past, but they develop differently.
The first Daredevil MCU reboot teasers
This brings us to Cox’s new comments from a panel at the Middle East Film and Comic Con 2022 in Abu Dhabi.
When asked what will happen to Daredevil now that he’s a part of the MCU, Cox said that he learned it’s better not to speculate out loud in public, “because that then becomes a headline.” As a result, fans start having expectations, and that sort of speculation might impact the creative process.
Instead, Cox said he wants to allow the creative forces behind the MCU shows to figure out what’s best for Daredevil, rather than putting ideas into their heads.
But Cox said that it doesn’t make sense to pick up Daredevil from where it left off in the Netflix shows. “I think in keeping with a lot of things in the MCU right now […] there’s this alternate reality kind of thing going on,” he said, referring to the multiverse. He specifically mentioned the Spider-verse animation and the No Way Home movie, where the multiverse theme is evident.
“It’s a good moment to have this… you know, there’s been a few years have passed and now… I don’t know, it’s Daredevil, but maybe it’s not quite him,” the actor said. “It’s reimagined, it’s slightly different.”
Daredevil has been “born again” for the MCU, the actor said, explaining that’s what he tells his friends about the character.
Reading between the lines here, it sounds like Cox is indeed confirming that the MCU Daredevil will get the reboot that has been rumored. But it’s a reboot that will retain some of the things fans loved about the original show.
Cox’s full interview follows below.
