The Big Picture
- Fans were disappointed when Charlie Cox reprised his role as Daredevil in She-Hulk: Attorney at Law and portrayed a quipping, happy vigilante instead of the gritty version from Netflix’s Daredevil series.
- Cox’s cameo in the MCU and his comments to the press about the upcoming Disney+ Daredevil show not being dark and gritty destroyed fans’ hopes for a grim version of the character and dampened excitement for the show.
- Marvel Studios’ formula of mixing PG-13 action, adventure, and comedy has been successful and profitable, so it’s unlikely they would completely change it for Daredevil. The new iteration of the character will likely adhere to the light and humorous tone of the MCU.
Netflix did the unthinkable with their corner of the Marvel universe by building mature superhero stories that seemed to happen in the real world. So, when Marvel Studios brought Charlie Cox back as Matt Murdock for Spider-Man: No Way Home, some fans hoped to see the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen return to his gritty ways, just like in Netflix’s Daredevil show. As a result, people were disappointed when Cox showed up as a quipping, happy vigilante in She-Hulk: Attorney at Law.
Cox’s latest Marvel Cinematic Universe cameo also put a damper on the upcoming Disney+ series Daredevil: Born Again, as fans no longer believed the vigilante’s solo series could be as dark and bloody as before. Furthermore, Cox told the press the upcoming Disney+ show wouldn’t bring the grim version of the character back, destroying some fans’ hopes for the character. However, while it’s easy to understand why we wanted the old Matt Murdock back, we were just deluded into thinking Marvel Studios would follow that path. That’s because a Disney+ Daredevil show would never be dark and gritty.
Perhaps that’s one of the reasons Marvel recently scrapped the series, and decided to start again from scratch.
Marvel Won’t Throw Away Its Formula Just for Daredevil
While the first Iron Man still had its fair share of mature elements, the MCU has changed a lot since 2008. Over the years, Marvel Studios catered their movies to meet the public’s expectations and created a formula that could perform well at the box office. The MCU formula turns out to be a mix between PG-13 action and adventure, with a good dose of comedy to keep things light in the face of danger. It’s no wonder Marvel’s most serious characters, such as Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo), have also joined the crowd of quick-witted superheroes who throw one-liners in between punches.
Phase 4 of the MCU showed how people get tired of every Marvel production feeling the same. Still, the MCU formula remains a huge success. And even if the box office results are not as impressive as they were during the “Infinity Saga,” Marvel Studios productions keep turning a profit. There’s no reason to change the formula completely when it’s making money, so any hopes of Daredevil being ultraviolent and realistic were nothing but a dream.
That doesn’t mean Daredevil: Born Again will betray the character. Fortunately, we have many examples of movies and TV shows that stick to the MCU formula but can still tell stories with high emotional stakes. While Thor: Ragnarok turned the God of Thunder into a funny character, the movie is still the best installment of the Thor franchise, and all the jokes don’t prevent it from making fans shed some tears. And with Hawkeye, Marvel Studios proved it could handle street-level vigilantism in an exciting way, even if the connectivity with the bigger MCU means we are still far from a realistic approach. Phase 4 also proved there can still be creativity inside Marvel Studios’ constraints, with Werewolf by Night making a full-blown horror movie that still sticks to the lighter tone of the MCU.
It might be a bummer for some that Marvel is changing Daredevil’s direction for Born Again. Nevertheless, there was no way Marvel Studios would simply throw away a formula they’ve been perfecting for over a decade. Thinking otherwise is just naive.
A New Daredevil Who Fits the MCU Canon
Netflix’s Daredevil was released in 2015, kickstarting the Defenders universe at the streamer. Unfortunately, with Marvel Studios and Marvel Television existing as such separate entities, there were many inconsistencies with the MCU in the Defenders universe, which ended in 2019 with the release of Season 3 of Jessica Jones. At the time, Disney was preparing to launch Disney+ as a direct competitor of Netflix, which meant cutting ties with the streamer. Disney also decided to shut down Marvel Television and give Marvel Studios the task of uniting movies and TV shows under the same coherent storyline. It appeared as though Disney+ would represent a fresh start for the MCU, and everything that came before was to be pushed to the side in favor of a new creative direction.
While it’s easy to understand the commercial strategy, that decision gave Marvel Studios the impossible task of salvaging what worked under the gaze of Marvel Television while still ensuring only their TV productions would be considered hard canon. Thanks to the Multiverse, Marvel Studios got the tool it needed to bring back beloved actors and characters while still keeping the canon clean. That’s the case with Cox’s Daredevil and Vincent D’Onofrio’s Kingpin.
While Marvel Studios is bringing back heroes and villains from a past era, they cannot shove them into the MCU without hurting canon. The closing of Marvel Television sent a clear message that the MCU should remain cohesive in the future, and previous productions were canon-adjacent in the best cases. So, even if Cox is returning as Matt Murdock, Marvel Studios can’t directly follow Netflix’s Daredevil series. And to avoid any confusion caused by the actor’s presence, they must come up with a different take on the character, recognizable enough to please fans, but capable of standing on its own.
That’s why Daredevil now wears a yellow suit and has superhuman agility beyond what we’ve seen in the Defenders universe. Daredevil: Born Again must echo the character’s appearance in No Way Home and She-Hulk to keep the MCU coherent, and these recent productions are more important to canon than Netflix’s Defenders universe. The reason behind it is that Marvel Studios needs a new Daredevil in the MCU, which means the character could never be the same dark and gritty vigilante fans love.
As much as we might love Netflix’s version of the street-level Marvel characters, they would never come back in the same way as before. All we can hope is that this new version of Daredevil – and hopefully all the Defenders – does justice to the character while still fitting the MCU formula. Also, please, Marvel Studios, bring back the practical effects and the brilliant fighting choreography.
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Khushi Patel is a science fiction author who lives in Austin, Texas. She has published three novels, and her work has been praised for its originality and imagination. Khushi is a graduate of Rice University, and she has worked as a software engineer. She is a member of the Science Fiction Writers of America, and her books have been nominated for several awards.
