When Spider-Man: No Way Home came out, it was an immediate smash, scoring the biggest opening of the pandemic era and quickly becoming the highest-grossing movie of 2021 by a wide margin. This was clearly a hit with both critics and fans. One of the terms that was most often used to describe No Way Home was “fan service.” But was that a good or bad thing?
Blindsided Appearance
While it was a brief scene toward the beginning of the movie, one of the biggest examples of fan service was the first appearance in the Marvel Cinematic Universe of Charlie Cox as lawyer Matt Murdock, the alter ego of Daredevil. Cox had previously starred on Netflix’s Daredevil series for three seasons and on the crossover miniseries Defenders. But those are generally not considered canon in the MCU as they were produced by a separate Disney subsidiary, Marvel Entertainment. Be that as it may, fans genuinely liked these shows and the actors starring in them, so bringing Cox back as Murdock in the MCU proper, and based on reactions from audiences, seems to be a positive thing.
Will we see more of Charlie Cox in future MCU projects? Cox hopes so. Now that the movie has been out for over two months, the actor can finally open up about filming that cameo and his potential future as Daredevil.
Tell the Truth, The Whole Truth, And Nothing But The Truth
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Cox stated, “I hate lying.” He described the discomfort about having to keep his cameo under wraps. “I am relieved it’s over.”
He discussed a phone call he received from Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige when the movie was still in development and then not hearing anything more for two months. “And I got to the point where I wondered if I dreamt it.”
Cox revealed that he had to travel to set in a cloak to keep his presence a secret. But once there, slipping back into the role of Matt Murdock was no sweat.
“I felt pretty comfortable being able to fit into that scene… I played the character almost every day for four years. I feel like his essence is deep within me now. I didn’t worry too much about it, but I was still pretty nervous on the day, which I haven’t been for a while.”
Cox was also nervous about his collaboration with director Jon Watts:
“Jon said, ‘I have built in this moment where we reveal you, and no one speaks for a few beats because the audience will have a big reaction. I was a bit embarrassed, like, ‘Are you sure?’ I was going with the flow, but thinking, ‘I hope it’s not a letdown.’ But I got a lot of texts from friends who were at the premiere or saw it opening weekend, who told me there was a cool vocal reaction when that scene came on. It’s a strange feeling, but I am so grateful.”
A Missed Opportunity
Fans would have probably been even more enthusiastic if one ad-lib had made it into the finished film. Cox shared his scene with most of the main cast of No Way Home including Jon Favreau, who many may have forgotten, acted in the pre-MCU Daredevil movie as Foggy Nelson.
Cox and Favreau shared an unscripted exchange which Cox described:
“I don’t think they used it, but we added a little Easter egg where he goes, ‘Yeah, I’m a little foggy on how that happened’ or something. That was a cool moment for me to meet him and chat about all that stuff.”
Now that Matt Murdock and (maybe) Vincent D’Onofrio’s Wilson Fisk are firmly established in the MCU, what can fans look forward to? Well, Charlie Cox hates lying, so it’s pretty believable when he says he is mostly clueless.
“Look, I don’t have any idea what anyone’s plans are at this stage, but I presume there’s more for us to do. I know a little bit — not a huge amount — but a little bit. I am imagining, I am hoping, that our worlds will collide again because the stuff we’ve done in the past was tremendous fun to do, and he’s such an incredible actor. We have to start every conversation with, ‘What do you know?’ because you have to be careful. It’s really exciting.”
RUMOR has it, fans can look forward to seeing Cox’s Matt Murdock again in the upcoming She-Hulk series, which is known to be a legal comedy, and since Murdock is a lawyer, that sounds like a perfect fit. But surely Marvel has more in store for this legendary character and the fan-favorite actor that plays him.
What would you like to see Marvel do with Cox’s Daredevil? Give him his own Disney+ show? Put him in the movies? Make him an Avenger?
