Marvel’s attempt at edgier, more adult fare for Netflix started with a bang and ended with a whimper, as the initial promise of shows like Daredevil, Jessica Jones and Luke Cage fizzled in subsequent seasons. But the early promise of those characters and the actors behind them remains, and it sure sounds like Marvel Studios head honcho Kevin Feige is bringing at least a few of them back — starting with Charlie Cox’s Matt Murdock, a blind lawyer who suits up as Daredevil by night to tangle with both the criminal underworld and his own spiritual demons.
“If you were to see Daredevil in upcoming things, Charlie Cox, yes, would be the actor playing Daredevil,” Feige told Cinemablend. “Where we see that, how we see that, when we see that, remains to be seen.”
Well, we have at least a few ideas of where and how he might pop up. Rumors have swirled that Cox will be returning to the role in the upcoming Spider-Man: No Way Home and (SPOILERS for Hawkeye) early episodes of Disney Plus’ Hawkeye series have very strongly hinted that the villainous Kingpin is pulling the strings behind the scenes. In Daredevil, Vincent D’onofrio’s Kingpin performance was one of the show’s most memorable features.
Whatever happens, Cox’s Daredevil would be a welcome return. In the comics, Daredevil is tortured by Catholic guilt, believing that God has called him to punish bad guys but needled by the moral lines he has to cross along the way. The Netflix show handled this tension with spiritual intelligence, giving Matt a spiritual mentor in Father Lantom (Peter McRobbie), a priest who councils him through his descent into questions of good and evil, God and the devil and what it’s all about. Their conversations could be every bit as thrilling as the show’s signature one-take hallway fight scenes. As we noted in our 2018 review of season three, “Daredevil brings its religious acumen to the fore and the show is stronger for it.”
If Daredevil is indeed making a return to Marvel Studios, let’s hope they keep Matt’s faith edge. Every cinematic universe needs a little spiritual tension.
