With Daredevil: Born Again getting ready to go into production this February, Charlie Cox has teased some new details about how Matt Murdock’s character might change when he enters the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Speaking with NME, Cox said that “This [new series] has to be a reincarnation, it has to be different, otherwise why are we doing it?”
After the end of Daredevil’s three-season run on Netflix, Cox’s beloved character disappeared from the screen for awhile, but he’s now slowly making his way back into the Marvel world. Daredevil had a surprise cameo in Spider-Man: No Way Home last year, and a longer guest appearance on last summer’s She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, in which Matt and Jen Walters (Tatiana Maslany) started dating. Matt was noticeably more lighthearted in She-Hulk, and Cox tells NME that so far, the MCU’s version of Matt is “quick-witted and funny and charismatic and carefree at times.” By contrast, the Matt Murdock of Netflix’s Daredevil was known for being darker and more brooding.
Cox’s appearance on She-Hulk was a massive hit, although some haters took to Twitter to complain about the new direction for the character, claiming that the real Matt Murdock would never make a joke, or display any hint of a sense of humor. (He does, in fact, make jokes in the Netflix series, but you can’t reason with these people.) The tone of the MCU is more family-friendly than the Netflix Marvel shows, so it makes sense that Matt’s character would be adjusted to match that tone.
Although Netflix’s Daredevil is known for its scenes in which characters get beaten to bloody, quivering puddles, Cox says there won’t be as much graphic violence in Daredevil: Born Again. At the same time, though, Daredevil’s exploits in Hell’s Kitchen, New York lend themselves to a darker tone, and Cox explains that the new series will honor that aspect of his character. “My opinion is this character works best when he’s geared towards a slightly more mature audience,” Cox told NME. “My instinct is that on Disney+ it will be dark but it probably won’t be as gory.”
Daredevil: Born Again comes out in 2024, and NME reports that filming will go from February to December 2023. The series will have 18 episodes, making it the longest of any of Marvel’s Disney+ series.
(featured image: Jesse Grant/Getty Images for Disney)
