Fans loved actor Charlie Cox as Matt Murdock. The star brought the Hell’s Kitchen superhero Daredevil to vibrant life in the Netflix Marvel series for three seasons as well as appearing in shows like The Defenders on the streaming platform. But sadly, the Netflix Marvel-verse abruptly went away despite fans loving the performances of Cox, Krysten Ritter as Jessica Jones, Mike Colter as Luke Cage, and Jon Bernthal as Frank Castle. Daredevil’s production—creatives, actors, crew members—seemed the most surprised and disheartened, as the show’s third season had been very well-received.

With the cancelation of the shows, it seemed as if we might never seen Cox and company back in their Marvel roles, though it has long been rumored that they could show up in the mainstream MCU movies. And now that the Marvel Cinematic Universe is growing by leaps and bounds, fans want to see the return of Charlie Cox and the rest of the Netflix actors head to Disney+ and the big screen. Does that mean that it will work for the actors, though?

In an interview with Jessica Shaw on SiriusXM, Charlie Cox opened up about what a potential return to the role would even look like given what was already established in the Netflix world.

“What happens in the comics is a writer and an artist will team up for a run of a comic, so they’ll do 10 issues, 20 issues,” Cox said. “If there was an opportunity for me to come back as Daredevil, whatever that would look like, I imagine it would be a reimagining of the character and the show. If they choose me to do it, there are going to be some elements that are of course the same. Or they might choose someone else and reboot it all over again.”

Cox went on to talk about how the situation is a double-edged sword. And he’s right. Many of us would love to see Charlie Cox again, thinking about how much we enjoyed the Netflix version of the character. But what if the character is different or Cox as Murdock doesn’t work in the overall MCU? (Frenzied speculation has, of course, put Cox as Murdock in Spider-Man: No Way Home—fans went so far as to compare arm hair on an unknown character in the trailer with Cox’s—but we’ve had no actual confirmation of any involvement.)

“You’ve got to be careful what you wish for,” Cox told Shaw. “You come back and it’s not as good or it doesn’t quite work or it’s too much time has passed. It doesn’t quite come together in the same way. You don’t want to taint what you’ve already got. If we never come back, you’ve got these three great seasons and our third season was our best-reviewed. So, the trajectory was up. I am tremendously proud and grateful for what we have.”

You can see the full interview here:

But it also has been a long time coming for Marvel Entertainment to let Kevin Feige and Marvel Studios use characters like Matt Murdock in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. According to ComicBook.com, there’s a new book titled The Story of Marvel Studios: The Making of the Marvel Cinematic Universe where it is revealed that initially, Marvel Entertainment didn’t want Daredevil, Ghost Rider, Punisher, and other characters in the big-screen MCU because they wanted them to be used for another TV empire separate from the overarching themes of the films (and now adjacent Disney+ series).

In an excerpt from the book, we learn that the film side of things did not have control over the characters in the Netflix/Hulu world.

“While many observers assumed that this entire stable of characters would go directly into Marvel Studios’ movie development process, it was decided by Marvel Entertainment’s higher-ups that because the movie side was already deeply committed to their successful Avengers characters, and the impending Guardians of the Galaxy characters, that the returnees would instead help build a planned TV empire under the direct control of Marvel Entertainment (entirely separate from Marvel Studios). The film side had no control over those characters, despite their interest in developing them. Instead, they all went to Marvel Entertainment. Ghost Rider appeared in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D, and the others were placed in different streaming series.”

Personally, I’d be over the moon to see Charlie Cox come back as Matt Murdock. He was incredible, he mastered the character, and I think the Marvel Cinematic Universe could use the Defenders once again. Hopefully that happens, because Cox deserves it! And hopefully, Marvel Studios could make it work out so having Matt Murdock gels with the overall franchise. Because having Charlie Cox back is one thing, but having it radically alter his Matt Murdock? No one wants that!

(via Hollywood Reporter, ComicBook.com, image: Netflix)

Want more stories like this? Become a subscriber and support the site! 

 —The Mary Sue has a strict comment policy that forbids, but is not limited to, personal insults toward anyone, hate speech, and trolling.—

The post Could We See Charlie Cox as Matt Murdock Again in the Marvel Cinematic Universe? first appeared on The Mary Sue.