top of page
Writer's pictureNicholas E. Lauer

Cox Justifies Daredevil's Lightheartedness in "She-Hulk"

 

While fans were over-the-moon when it was announced Charlie Cox would continue playing Daredevil in the MCU following the cancellation of the Netflix/Marvel shows, they were divided on his first full appearance in She-Hulk: Attorney at Law which saw a more relaxed and funnier version of the Devil of Hell's Kitchen. Some found it fit the show he was in tonally but others felt it was an affront to the gritty and mature version that fans had fallen in love with for three seasons on Netflix. However, Cox may have just reassured people that the lighthearted take on Daredevil was only due to the story circumstances of his appearance in She-Hulk, as shown in the following quote from a recent interview with Marvel.com, namely that because Matt Murdock found himself in California he saw the trip as a vacation:

"I talked a little bit to Marvel Studios about where does he come from? Where's his headspace at? What's going on? I don't think we really knew what was going to happen next. When we were shooting it, I certainly didn't know about a new Daredevil show, I think [Marvel Studios] was figuring out what's the next right thing for this character.
So the way that I like to think of it was that no matter what's going on in his world in Hell's Kitchen, when he comes out to do this little job, which is defending, representing Luke Jacobson in this trial, he kind of sees it almost as like a little bit of a holiday. So his frame of mind is that he's just out of sight, out of mind from all the stuff that — whatever is going on in New York right now, he's away from that for a few days while he takes care of his case.
While he's there he feels a weight lifted, and he's able just to put that to one side mentally and just enjoy himself. Then there's this kind of fun little romance going on, and then he gets roped into all this stuff with Leap-Frog as we see the episode kind of develop. I kind of saw it as a different side to Matt but maybe not because he's different from who he has been in the past or will be in the future, but mainly because it's kind of Matt Murdock on holiday a little bit."

In a strange way, it makes sense. Matt Murdock, despite not choosing the devil moniker of his superhero persona, chooses to be a consistently dark and brutal presence in Hell's Kitchen. He has to as it's where he lives. But going to California meant he didn't have to keep himself dreary. Plus, one can argue that with season 3 of Daredevil ending with Matt finding a healthy balance between his practice with Foggy and Karen and being a superhero, he simply was narratively in a better place to enjoy the wild team-up (and romance) with Jennifer Walters/She-Hulk. We'll have to see if Matt returns to the shadows in his upcoming soft reboot series Daredevil: Born Again which is still said to be in continuity with the original Netflix series. Stay tuned!

11 views3 comments

3 Comments


Durand Simon
Durand Simon
Oct 24, 2022

Maybe it wasn't the right character from all the Marvl panel.

Like

jafinbham
jafinbham
Oct 22, 2022

He's a pro so he's selling the latest piece of shit they stuck him in. Got it.

Like

Rambo
Rambo
Oct 21, 2022

yada yada yada i had a good time getting a paycheck.


lovely, now fucking do season 4 of daredevil

Like
bottom of page