Daredevil's Charlie Cox reportedly seen on set of next Spider-Man movie

Aux Features Miles Morales
Daredevil's Charlie Cox reportedly seen on set of next Spider-Man movie
Photo: Dia Dipasupil

Having already pretty much conquered the hearts and minds of an entire movie-going planet, Marvel’s recent cinematic news has indicated a certain interest in trying to recapture the past, too. Hence recent moves like the announcement that the currently untitled third Tom Holland Spider-Man movie will be dipping back into the franchise’s “God, that’s too many damn Spider-movies” past, bringing in fondly remembered villains like Alfred Molina and Jamie Foxx for a bit of multiverse-spanning, “Hey, I remember that!” fun.

Now, though, it’s sounding like Spider-Man 3: Yes, There’s Now Another Spider-Man 3 might dip into slightly more recent MCU history, too. Specifically, Comicbook.com is reporting that Charlie Cox—who played Matt “Daredevil” Murdoch on Netflix’s Daredevil, back before the idea of Disney letting its biggest streaming rival play with its toys became patently ludicrous—was seen filming on the set of the movie, which is currently scheduled for a December 17 release. This is especially wild in light of the fact that Cox previously had to deny he had anything to do with the film back in early 2020, responding to rumors by stating that, “It’s certainly not with my Daredevil. I’m not involved in it. If that’s true, it’s not with me. It’s with another actor.”

Well: Maybe that was true at the time, maybe it’s still true now, and maybe Cox just didn’t want to pick up a reputation as Mark Ruffalo Mk. II, huh? This is all, obviously, still pretty sketchy, but there are factors in play that make the appearance of the Man Without Fear in the MCU proper slightly more likely. Most notably, there’s the fact that the Daredevil rights have now reverted from Netflix back to Disney, but also: Comments that MCU puppetmaster Kevin Feige made earlier this week, tied to the release of the first “real” MCU show, WandaVision, on Disney+. When asked by THR about the fate of the Netflix Marvel characters, Feige was typically let’s-not-rule-anything-out-y, saying, “Everything is on the board. That’s one of the fun things about the comics is that characters would appear and disappear and come and go. All of it is inspiration for the future. There are some great characters and actors from those shows.”

73 Comments

  • laserface1242-av says:

    And he was wearing such a perfect disguise…

  • smittywerbenjagermanjensen22-av says:

    Also hope the rumors Krysten Ritter will appear as Jessica Jones in the She-Hulk series with Tatiana Maslany are true

  • alliterator85-av says:

    The problem here is that, unless they rewrote the script just when the rights came back to Marvel and hurriedly brought Charlie Cox in, they couldn’t do anything with Daredevil before that. And the film was already in production then.There is a simple solution, however: Charlie Cox is in the film, but not as Daredevil. We know that the movie is going to be exploring the Multiverse (sort of), so it’s possible that Cox is merely portraying a different version of Matt Murdock, one whose rights weren’t held by Netflix. It would be pretty awesome if he was portraying Matt “Murderdock,” the Kingpin of Earth-65 or something similar. Cox as a villain would be terrifying.However, if they were able to bring in the regular Daredevil and have him in the film (hopefully to represent Peter Parker in his libel lawsuit against JJJ), that would be awesome.

    • dirtside-av says:

      Disney/Sony/whoever’s relevant here could also have secretly negotiated a deal with Netflix to let Daredevil appear in this one movie, even if it had no effect on the rest of the rights.

      • alliterator85-av says:

        That’s certainly possible, but then I think Marvel would be announced that. And before you say “But Marvel hates spoilers,” they hate some spoilers, but they generally like the buzz that comes from announcing actors/characters are going to be in a film. Hence why they announced Doctor Strange, Electro, and Doc Ock were all going to be in Spider-Man Homecoming 3 or Whatever It’s Called.

        • dirtside-av says:

          Sure, but they could just as easily rely on “actors A-F are appearing in the movie” while keeping actors G and H secret. They don’t need to announce everything.

        • yellowfoot-av says:

          Spider-Man 3: You Can’t Go Home Again

          • alliterator85-av says:

            Considering the plot probably involves multiverse-style shenanigans, I have a feeling that it will be called Spider-Man 3: No Place Like Home or something like that.

        • kleptrep-av says:

          Actually it’s The Amazing Spider-verse 3: Far From Coming.

    • busyman96-av says:

      That’s not a problem at all because they knew when the property would return and maybe worked in advance to have him in.

      • lhosc-av says:

        precisely. They had two scripts for Civil War just in case the Spidey deal fell through. It would have included a different set of sides:

    • greghyatt-av says:

      They knew the rights were reverting back at a specific date; all they had to do was wait until that date to start filming. Or it could be a release date issue. Either way, they’re covered.

      • alliterator85-av says:

        They couldn’t just start filming once the rights reverted — they had to wait to write the script if it included Daredevil or wait to cast him or wait for anyone related to Daredevil at all.

        • dkesserich-av says:

          they had to
          wait to write the script if it included Daredevil or wait to cast him or
          wait for anyone related to Daredevil at all.

          What? No they didn’t. The script for Civil War was written with Spider-Man in it well before the deal to use Spider-Man was hammered out with Sony.
          There’s no rule against writing a draft of a script that includes a character that you don’t yet have the rights to, or even going into production with that script, so long as by the time you’re putting somebody in a costume and them in front of a camera you actually DO have the rights to use them. The thing about movies is if something happens and you can’t use that character you can just not shoot those pages, or do a re-write to use a character that you can use. You can even shoot those pages and remove those scenes in the edit if the rights aren’t there (and that can be used by some directors to try and force the issue with the studio by putting together an edit with that character to demonstrate how much better the film works as a whole with them, so make a deal already because there’s more then enough money to be made this way). There’s a TON of leeway up until the point where you’re actually selling a finished product.

          • alliterator85-av says:

            What? No they didn’t. The script for Civil War was written with Spider-Man in it well before the deal to use Spider-Man was hammered out with Sony.The deal with Sony and the deal with Netflix are two entirely separate deals. It was my understanding that they couldn’t do anything with the Netflix characters – including include them in any scripts – before the rights reverted.The Spider-Man rights are completely different. Also, at one point, the Civil War writers did have to rewrite the script to not include Spider-Man because the contract fell through. (They were doing contract negotiation before Civil War was written.)

          • backwardass-av says:

            I’m sure a lot of articles that reported on it said things like Disney can’t touch the characters or Disney isn’t allowed anywhere near the characters, etc., but don’t confuse that with actual contract language. The only negotiated terms between Disney and Netflix would have been the window in which Disney could utilize the characters.What you have perhaps read in conjecture, is say Disney started prepping for a Daredevil project before the 2 year window was up, and the internet lit up with this news. Netflix could very well argue that even the news of this upcoming Daredevil project is diluting the value of their Netflix series, which per contract should exist without interference during this 2 year window. So because of that Disney may very well have been reticent, and disciplined, to not do any script, cast, plan, etc with the Netflix-Marvel projects until the window was up, or in this case, if they were to do it, to keep the news under very tight lipped control. But they wouldn’t have been strictly, or contractually, forbidden from writing scripts or making plans, just legally cautious from undertaking the task in a manner that would lead to any public disclosure of those plans.

          • dkesserich-av says:

            Yeah, the contract language was almost certainly something along the lines of ‘these characters may not appear in a non-Netflix produced live action film or television production for a period of no less than 24 months from the date of cancellation.’ Not ‘nobody is allowed to even think about using these characters in a live action film or television production for two years after cancellation.’
            It’s not like Netflix is going to audit every screenwriter employed by Disney’s computers to make sure they haven’t written anything with Daredevil in it in that two year period.Honestly, the weirdest thing about the whole post-cancellation exclusivity period clause is that it applied regardless of which party cancelled the show. A clause like that seems like it is intended to keep the licensor from pulling out and taking the license elsewhere immediately, but it was Netflix who made the decision to kill their Marvel shows, not Disney/Marvel, enabling them to block Disney from being able to exploit a portion of their own IP for two years.
            Guess it’s just another example of Ike Perlmutter’s Hollywood contract negotiating acumen.

    • nilus-av says:

      I read that as Matt “Murdercock” and was intrigued. 

    • doobie1-av says:

      Or it’s a quick, inevitably disappointing cameo and he’s not a major part of the plot, so he could theoretically have been slipped in as late as reshoots. They’re not perfectly analogous, but the CW’s crisis reportedly had a bunch of placeholder scenes to be filled in based on who said yes.

      • alliterator85-av says:

        True, that could happen, although I also think it would be disappointing.Although him having a cameo as, again, Peter Parker’s lawyer would be awesome.

        • bigal6ft6-av says:

          He could just be playing Peter’s Lawyer. Who happens to have a cane and wears red sunglasses. And at one point he just tilts his head and knows someone is lying. Probably not much potential for him to be actively Daredevil-ing but if Pete needs a lawyer (after Mysterio outed his ID, probably!) you cast Charlie Cox as unamed blind lawyer guy. We’ll all get it. 

      • mifrochi-av says:

        Ding ding ding. Also, what universe do we suddenly live in where a movie like this isn’t being constantly rewritten after production starts? 

    • shadowstaarr-av says:

      Wasn’t Holland’s Spider-Man written into Civil War before Marvel had any concrete deals with Sony?  I feel like it’s possible for them to have done something sneaky here with Charlie too.

      • alliterator85-av says:

        I believe Sony and Netflix had different deals, though. Netflix’s deal was that Marvel couldn’t do anything with the characters until two years after their last appearance. 

    • dp4m-av says:

      I’m wondering if this is also possibly a “read the fine print” scenario — and you’re right, he’s just playing Matt Murdock (the lawyer) and not Daredevil (the superhero). The rights might be just that they can’t use Daredevil — because who in their right mind would just use the non-superhero portion!

    • shindean-av says:

      If Netflix wants to fight Disney on the accuracy of time that Cox was filming, they’re going to have a hell of a time doing it when their proof is only just word of mouth.
      “Your honor, twitter user capnohcapn143 says he saw Charlie Cox on set of Spiderman!”
      “Who is capnohcapn…?”
      “We don’t know, his mother said he couldn’t come out for trials during little league practice and…”
      “Case dismissed.”

    • tvs_frank-av says:

      Could just be the script has an attorney working with Peter to clear his name as Spider-man which could be easily changed to Murdock with some tweaks.

    • davids12183-av says:

      I read somewhere – probably here – that the rights to each of the Netflix Marvel shows would revert to Marvel/Disney two years after the last season was released. Season 3 of Daredevil was released in November 2018, so Disney should have the rights back now.However, they did not have the rights back in early 2020 when Charlie Cox denied he was going to be part of the movie. Now it’s possible that they “unofficially” talked to him back then to gauge his interest in being in the movie once the rights were straightened out. But they couldn’t actually sign him, or start him working on anything until then. So he couldn’t afford to let anything slip, or Disney might have changed their minds. They wouldn’t even need to fire him since he wasn’t actually signed yet.It’s also possible that Disney was waiting for the clock to run out to approach him, and so he really didn’t know when he was asked about the rumor.

    • deeeeznutz-av says:

      Isn’t the “rights” issue focused on when a movie would be released, not during production? It seems weird to say they can’t even have a working script with a character until a certain date.

  • cariocalondoner-av says:

    Daredevil’s Charlie Cox reportedly seen on set of next Spider-Man movieI wouldn’t read too much into this.One swallow does not a summer make.

    • hardscience-av says:

      Someone didn’t get a summer camp BJ.

      • cariocalondoner-av says:

        Um, quite.I was actually quoting Charlie Cox, who delivered that particularly filthy but efficient double entendre in the first ever episode of Downton Abbey, making audiences around the world collectively clutch their pearls! I guess you could say he was a 1900s fuck boi.(The other shocker I recall from that premiere was “Don’t worry, afterwards you’ll still be a virgin for your future husband” … I was like “what in the hell kind of period drama is this?”)

        • deeeeznutz-av says:

          Hold up, Charlie Cox was in Downton Abbey? So they had both Daredevil and Legion on that show? Who knew they were a Marvel feeder school.

  • cscurrie-av says:

    If this is true, I hope the other Netflix actors are brought in gradually, in a more matter-of-fact way, rather than coming up with some elaborate time-warp-quantum-field stuff.  They’re heroes, they’ve been around. That’s all you need to know.Luke Cage needs to team up with Blade, now. Blessings to Chadwick Boseman, it would have been fire, for him to team up with Cage.

    • davdaddy-av says:

      OMG I can picture LK staring closely at Blade and telling him.“You know?  You look a lot like somebody I just can’t put my finger on who?”

    • ruefulcountenance-av says:

      Is Blade now played by Luke Cage’s first nemesis? That could prove a tad awkward. 

  • argiebargie-av says:

    It’s a rumor… . . . . . . . . . . . . OF COX! 

  • adamtrevorjackson-av says:

    dude is gonna smile and nod for 20 seconds and there will be 20 different, 2 hour youtube videos about what it means.

  • nilus-av says:

    The big twist of this story is he was there, just as the new janitor 🙂

  • refinedbean-av says:

    I am very much here for the MCU folk deciding to scratch where it itches. This isn’t hard – and you’re gonna make so many fans happy.You can do that AND give the reins of your Eternals movie to a hot new indie director with no blockbuster experience. It’s such a great way of doing things.

  • randomnamegenerator5000-av says:

    I wonder if this is an indication that Peter Parker is going to be searching for a lawyer following the end credits scene of Far From Home.

  • kleptrep-av says:

    Someone should check on the Timex Social Club, see how they’re dealing what with everyone spreadin’ rumours an’ all.

  • haodraws-av says:

    Comments that MCU puppetmaster Kevin Feige made earlier this week, tied to the release of the first “real” MCU show, WandaVision, on Disney+. When asked by , Feige was typically let’s-not-rule-anything-out-y, saying, “Everything is on the board. That’s one of the fun things about the comics is that characters would appear and disappear and come and go. All of it is inspiration for the future. There are some great characters and actors from those shows.”So basically, throw out the shows from canon, but retain the casting whenever applicable. Sounds like the best we could wish for, really.

  • hornacek37-av says:

    Charlie Cox is going to be in SM3, but not as Matt Murdock. He will be playing Matt’s twin brother, Mike.

  • mykinjaa-av says:

    He’s about to be a big cox on campus.

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