Daredevil returned to the Marvel Cinematic Universe with his action-packed and saucy appearances in She-Hulk, and viewers are no doubt ready for the next chapter of Matt Murdock's saga. Thankfully, we’re guaranteed to get a lot more of the Man Without Fear eventually, as Daredevil: Born Again is coming to Disney+. Star Charlie Cox recently shared some thoughts on the series, specifically voicing some of the moments he hopes they can create within the MCU proper that just weren't possible to pull off with the original Netflix series.
Netflix’s Daredevil was an acclaimed superhero romp that is now currently available for anyone with a Disney+ subscription to binge now, making for easy comparisons to the superhero's more recent appearances. As great as the show was, it did have its share of shortcomings in regard to budget and scope. But Charlie Cox seems enthused by the fact that Disney and Marvel Studios will be able to foot a larger bill than what he was previously used to, and talked to GQ about changes he’d like to see that would ultimately make his Daredevil resemble the idealized Marvel Comics version a bit more:
I guess what I would say is: hopefully, on the Disney+ show, Born Again, we will be able to use—and I hope that we do it sparingly, I believe it should be used sparingly—but we'll hopefully be able to use a tiny bit more CGI in the action sequences. Just to emphasize his gymnastic abilities that have been basically impossible to do. It really should be sparingly. I don't believe there should be complete action sequences that are almost all computer-generated. Most of it should be stunt-coordinated and done by a stunt performer and myself or the other actors in a similar fashion to what we did before.
Charlie Cox doesn’t want Daredevil: Born Again to go full-tilt on injecting the show full of digital enemies and CGI-laden sequences, but he’d like the new show to be able to lean into portraying his character as being more acrobatic and agile. Presumably, he’s looking for something similar to how She-Hulk handled the character, which involved Matt Murdock descending a parking garage from the top floor with relative ease. (Not to mention dropping down into a perfect superhero pose, as if from nowhere.) Feats like that didn’t happen in the Netflix iteration of Daredevil, though in the context of it being a more grounded and realistic series, it might've been a bit strange to see, especially within the midst of the one-take fight sequences.
The actor continued with his thoughts on Daredevil: Born Again, and added another element to the character that the Netflix show wasn’t able to pull off. Specifically, he referred to the character’s baton throwing, which he’s hoping will be incorporated into the new series:
We can bookend it with these little moments. With the batons particularly, we could never really do anything in our show where Daredevil ricochets a baton off a wall and takes someone out because you can't physically do that. It's not safe and not possible…just these little moments would elevate scenes and be something that makes the show even more recognizable to the comics. That's the stuff that happens almost episodically when you read the issues.
Charlie Cox is all for Daredevil: Born Again utilizing CGI, provided it's done with moderation in mind. That sounds like a reasonable take considering the original series thrived in part because of its absolutely incredible action sequences. It also sounds like something that has a good chance of happening, considering that She-Hulk seemed to follow the formula Cox hopes his upcoming Disney+ series will emulate. At least where Daredevil is concerned, since there was clearly a ton of CGI used with Tatiana Maslany herself.
I guess we won’t know for sure until the series is actually here, which could be a while given it hasn’t even started filming yet. It does seem, though, that the momentum is building at a steady pace, considering Hawkeye introduced Vincent D’Onofrio’s Kingpin into the MCU. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to see the two collide in She-Hulk, but one would imagine they’ll link up sooner or later, and we can likely expect to see Fisk getting a baton smacked upside his bigass head.
Daredevil: Born Again is in development for Disney+, but anyone looking to see him right now can check out the original series there or watch She-Hulk. There’s also an Echo series on the way that Cox is reportedly involved in, so hopefully, we’ll see him soon.
