Charlie Cox is aware that he is getting a second chance as Daredevil in Daredevil: Born Again. However, if things don’t go well for the mega 18-episode MCU series, then he thinks that could be the end of his run as the Marvel hero. Cox’s return in Spider-Man: No Way Home and She-Hulk: Attorney At Law have brought Matt Murdock into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, something that seemed just a fan dream at one point in time. However, taking the lead in his own series comes with a lot of baggage, which Cox is well aware of. He said to NME:
“This has to be a reincarnation, it has to be different, otherwise why are we doing it? My opinion is this character works best when he’s geared towards a slightly more mature audience. My instinct is that on Disney+ it will be dark but it probably won’t be as gory. I would say to those people [expecting a continuation of the Netflix series], we’ve done that. Let’s take the things that really worked, but can we broaden? Can we appeal to a slightly younger audience without losing what we’ve learned about what works? You said earlier that I could be busy for years, and I thought, ‘Yeah, maybe. Hopefully’, but if this show next year doesn’t hit the spot, then that might be it. Then it’s back to…””
When Daredevil was canceled on Netflix in 2019, it seemed that Charlie Cox’s time as the hero was done. The subsequent announcement that he, along with Daredevil co-star Vincent D’Onofrio, would be reprising his role in the MCU was well-received by fans. Still, many have worried about how the character will be handled in the family-friendly Disney franchise.
Daredevil Will Be The MCU’s Longest Series to Date
Daredevil: Born Again’s 18-episode count is considerably higher than the regular six or eight-episode runs that most series get, and this is something that even surprised Charlie Cox. During the same interview, he noted:
“I’m fascinated to discover why they’ve chosen to do 18. I’m imagining there’s going to be an element to it that is like the old-school procedural show. Not necessarily case-of-the-week, but something where we go really deep into Matt Murdock the lawyer and get to see what his life is like. If that’s done right and he really gets his hands dirty with that world… I think there’s something quite interesting about that, to spend a lot of time in a superhero’s day-to-day life and you really earn the moments when he suits up.”
Daredevil: Born Again is just one of the upcoming projects to feature Matt Murdock, with the character also expected to appear in the Hawkeye spin-off Echo and potentially future Spider-Man movies. It almost seems like there is too much riding on Daredevil: Born Again being a success for it to fail, but as we have seen with Thor: Love and Thunder, there is always a chance of a popular character failing to get it right.