IIt almost comes as a shock, in the age of Disney + and crowds of superheroes finding their way to streaming from the Shangri-La mouse house, to remember that shows like WandaVision and the next Loki will not be the first occasions we’ve seen Marvel’s costumed crime fighters on the small screen. Once upon a time, ABC’s Agents of Shield and a quintet of Netflix shows set in New York, Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Iron Fist and The Punisher, were getting headlines.
The first was recently canceled after seven seasons, while Netflix shows ended in 2018 after an average crossover event titled The Defenders. Despite the occasional weaknesses – Iron Fist almost alone revived the painfully outdated “white savior” motif, while Luke Cage and The Punisher struggled to maintain interest after openings of bravery – there was a lot to like about this slightly more robust and adult version of the Marvel universe. The problems faced by Matt Murdock, Cage and Jones on the streets of Manhattan were generally more down-to-earth than those of their big screen colleagues: corrupt criminals or kung fu gangs rather than alien invasion or manic super robots.
This made more sense for the modest budgets Marvel Television had to work with: it is much cheaper to choreograph endless martial arts battles in New York depots than it is to portray costumed titans battling the latest interdimensional intruder or fleeing to other worlds. (Interestingly, this is a problem that Disney + is already starting to face: the first episodes of WandaVision already suggest that the program will take a less ambitious approach than we were used to when watching Scarlet Witch and Vision in multiplexes.)
And yet, if Marvel is already so eager to pick up the best heroes and villains from Spider-Man films from another studio (films led by Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield from Sony), there should be a place for the characters chosen from Netflix programs to join the MCU? Rumors this week suggest this may be happening: Charlie Cox, aka Matt Murdock / Daredevil, was apparently seen on the set of Tom Holland’s third Spider-Man movie, sparking a wave of speculation about whether the blind New York lawyer if it turned the crimefighter may be coming back.
Daredevil has always been the most likely “street level” superhero to jump into more illustrious territory: Cox was a class heavyweight on paper and the series was probably the best of Netflix shows (with the possible exception of Jessica Jones’ excellent first season). Furthermore, Daredevil is not a secondary actor in the comics – for many British fans, his adventures were the first Marvel stories we encountered in the 1980s – alongside lost classics like Captain Britain – and he regularly interacts with Tony Stark et al in major American print titles. If it weren’t for the abject failure of the Daredevil film led by Ben Affleck in 2003, the superhero would probably have already made an appearance in the Avengers films.
Murdock’s arrival in Spider-Man 3 also makes sense because the webslinger is the most everyday, most mundane Marvel superhero: dealing with being an ordinary New York teenager. Murdock is also used to providing relief to the needy through his courtroom skills, although you wonder how he will help Parker survive being publicly exposed as Spider-Man by Jake Gyllenhaal’s fake Mysterio in Far From Home.
If Murdock shows up, chances are he is a virtual cameo. There are many rumors that the next Spider-Man film deals with the multiverse, with the possible appearance of Maguire and Garfield as alternative versions of the joke wall tracker, a la the Oscar-winning animated hit, Spider-Man: In the Spider-Verse. Daredevil is not going to be the right guy to help Parker navigate such confusing and distant territory, so we can assume that he will make a fleeting appearance.
Still, Murdock’s debut would be a good nod to those of us who have continued with Netflix shows in all their ups and downs. And the Daredevil belongs to this sacred company. Perhaps there will be a place in the MCU for Jones, Cage and Iron Fist too, at some point. Vincent D’Onofrio’s return as Kingpin would be most welcome, especially after the oversized supervillain illuminated Sony’s Into the Spider verse.
Of course, we really have to draw the line somewhere. Just don’t – please – go crazy and bring back Colin Farrell’s bloody Bullseye, OK Marvel? Despite the studio’s apparent willingness to rehabilitate and revive virtually all the supervillains under the sun, no matter where they started, there are still some older adaptations that really should be overlooked.