Daredevil star Charlie Cox knows that Marvel fans want to see him back as the Man Without Fear – but he warns it might not be for the best.
During an interview with The Pop Culture Spotlight on SiriusXM, the 38-year-old Daredevil actor explained why suiting up as the Marvel hero again might not be such a good idea.
“You’ve got to be careful what you wish for,” he said. “You come back and it’s not as good or it doesn’t quite work or… too much time has passed, it doesn’t quite come together in the same way.”
Marvel’s Daredevil, which ran for three seasons on Netflix, received critical acclaim for its punchy fight scenes and the occasionally brutal tale of Matt Murdock’s story. Now, Charlie Cox is worried about letting fans of the show down.
“You don’t want to taint what you’ve already got,” he explained. “If we never come back, you’ve got these three great seasons — and our third season was our best-reviewed. So, the trajectory was up. I am tremendously proud and grateful for what we have.”
Despite this, Cox admits that he would consider returning as Daredevil – as long as it’s under the right circumstances. “If there was an opportunity for me to come back as Daredevil, whatever that would look like, I imagine it would be a reimagining of the character and the show,” he said. “If they choose me to do it, there are going to be some elements that are, of course, the same. Or they might choose someone else and reboot it all over again.”
Interestingly, the rights to Daredevil recently reverted to Marvel studios, making a return far more likely. But while there have been rumours that Charlie Cox would be back in the upcoming Spider-Man: No Way Home, the actor has previously stated that he won’t back: “It's certainly not with my Daredevil,” he said. “I'm not involved in it."
Whether or not Daredevil will return to the MCU remains to be seen – but it looks as though Charlie Cox’s time as the Man Without Fear may be over.
Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.