pop culture

Is Daredevil In The MCU? A Guide to His Appearances and Future in the Franchise

Screenshot 2023 06 21 at 12.48.10 PM 1 e1687366150242

Marvel Studios

Published Jun 21, 2023

With the Multiverse Saga now fully underway with a bunch of shows and movies under its belt, it can be a little hard for even the most hardcore Marvel fan to keep up with what’s considered canon or part of the MCU and what’s not, especially with older roles getting reprised and brought in. And with shows produced by Netflix in the fray as well, you might ask, is Daredevil in the MCU?

That’s the case with Charlie Cox’s portrayal of the iconic character, which first hit our screens nearly ten years ago with his Netflix show. Since its abrupt end, the character has made a return in a couple of different MCU projects and is expected to be a prominent part of the cinematic universe moving forward.

Daredevil is definitely in the MCU, but that raises questions about the past and future that we’ve answered below.

Daredevil’s MCU appearances

Marvel Studios

To date, Daredevil has appeared in two MCU projects; Spider-Man: No Way Home and She-Hulk: Attorney at Law. Neither of them were announced beforehand, but were highly speculated due to either leaks or the nature of the projects. In the former, he gave Peter Parker legal advice after Mysterio painted him as a murderer. In the latter, he represents Leap-Frog, eventually becoming a love interest for She-Hulk.

Is Netflix’s Daredevil part of the MCU?

Netflix

Of course, the fact that Charlie Cox’s Daredevil is now considered to be part of the MCU raises the question of what else from the Netflix show may be considered to be part of the MCU too. The only real answer to this is that as of now, the show happened outside of the MCU, but at any moment could be brought in as canon, with or without the explanation that it happened in a different universe to the one we know in the MCU. Right now, there are rumours that Marvel Studios is considering the entire show to be canon, but it’s tough to say until there’s a confirmation on or off screen.

That’s what makes the multiverse concept so great for Marvel Studios. At any moment they can make something canon with a very simple explanation. This leaves the door open for not only anything that happened in Netflix’s Daredevil to be part of the MCU, but The Defenders, Jessica Jones, The Punisher and more too.

What do we know about Daredevil: Born Again?

Coming up in Phase 5 is of course Daredevil: Born Again, which was announced to be out in spring of 2024 but will likely get pushed back due to some pacing issues that Kevin Feige admitted and the ongoing writer’s strike. Right now, most of what we know about Daredevil: Born Again comes from interviews with cast members and photos that have been snapped on set.

We know that the show will be eighteen episodes long, making it the longest MCU show to date, despite it being called a miniseries.

Charlie Cox and Vincent D’Onforio are confirmed to be reprising their roles as Daredevil and Kingpin, respectively. We got a sneak peek of Kingpin in Hawkeye but should see him a lot more in this show. Other cast members include Michael Gandolfini, Margarita Levieva, Sandrine Holt, Nikki M. James and Arty Froushan.

The show is reportedly also going to have a different tone to the Netflix show, which has some people worried. But with Marvel Studios getting a little racier recently with the horror beats in Multiverse of Madness, the show could easily still be dark and less goofy than some recent MCU projects have been known to be.

Daredevil’s role in the Multiverse Saga

Marvel Studios

It’s hard to say what Daredevil’s role in the Multiverse Saga will be until things play out over the next few years. As of now, Cox is confirmed to be appearing not only in Daredevil: Born Again, but the upcoming Disney+ series Echo and Spider-Man: Freshman Year.

We know that the two big films that will close out the Multiverse Saga are Avengers: Kang Dynasty and Avengers: Secret Wars and Daredevil doesn’t have a big role in either of the comic iterations of these stories, but things always change for the big screen too.

Could other iterations of Daredevil be part of the MCU?

Before Charlie Cox, Rex Smith and Ben Affleck both portrayed live action versions of Daredevil, to varying degrees of success amongst fans. With just how wacky things are going to get in the MCU moving forward, it’s not totally out of the question to ponder that we might see at least one other version of Daredevil on the big screen as part of the MCU, as fans suspect might happen with the Fox Studios X-Men cast moving forward. Anything is possible!