She-Hulk Creator Confirming Daredevil Being Toned Down for MCU is Proof Marvel isn’t Ready for Gritty R-Rated Juggernauts Like The Punisher

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Daredevil has been quite a few iterations over the years through movies and films. And while the Ben Affleck starrer 2003 movie wasn’t much of a success, the 2015 Netflix series more than made up for it. But in 2018, when Netflix canceled one of their most popular shows, fans were left upset by this sudden turn of events.

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Daredevil
She-Hulk to have a toned-down version of Daredevil

It took a couple of years, and a lot of begging from the fandom, before rumors about Daredevil started surfacing again. This time it was not Netflix but under the direct leadership of Marvel Studios and Disney. And the best part about the rumor was that Charlie Cox would be reprising the role of The Man Without Fear.

We finally saw Cox’s Matt Murdock back on our screens when Daredevil made a cameo in Spider-Man: No Way Home in 2021. It was a little different shade of Matt than what we were used to, but fans were excited to just have him back finally. And now Matt Murdock will be back on our screens, but more on the lawyer front than the superhero front, if sources are to be believed.

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Also Read: ‘We Get To See a Lighter Side of That Character’: She-Hulk Show Creator Confirms our Worst Fears – Daredevil Won’t Be as “Dramatic and Action-Oriented” as Netflix Version

Cox’s Matt Murdock/ Daredevil will be next seen in the Disney+ series She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, which will premiere this month on the Disney+ streaming service. And it seems like the version of Daredevil we will be getting in the new series will be a little (or a lot) different from what we are usually used to.

Netflix's Daredevil
A still of Charlie Cox from Netflix’s Daredevil

In a recent interview, She-Hulk showrunner Jessica Gao spoke on how excited they were to get to play with such an amazing character, especially given the character already has such a loyal and massive fanbase.

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Gao noted how she and the writing team were “shocked that we were able to use him.” But she was also full of praises for Cox for being “a wonderful actor, and a wonderful human being.”

” What was so fun about bringing him and Daredevil into our world is that people have already seen a Daredevil who is very dramatic, little bit on the heavy side, very dark, brooding.”

But this very moment in the interview was what gave a pause to the fans. The creator of the show continued by saying, how it will bring out a lighter, maybe funnier side of the dark and brooding hero of Hell’s Kitchen. I mean, a Daredevil, whose language consists of something other than growls, sass, and threats, what Daredevil even is that? Not any like we know, that’s for sure.

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Charlie Cox
Charlie Cox as Matt Murdock

Don’t get us wrong, we have full faith in Cox’s acting abilities, it is the demeanor of the character we are more worried about. If even Daredevil comes with a PG-13 rating, will that not take away from the character itself? And what will that mean for the future of characters like the Punisher, or the other Defenders?

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When Disney acquired rights for the rest of the Marvel properties like the X-Men and Defenders, fans were happy to have everyone under one umbrella. But at the same time, many expressed concerns about what it would mean for the more graphic, X-rated shows and movies – like Daredevil and Deadpool. Or even Punisher, if that ever comes to be in the future.

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Coming back to She-Hulk, the only thing fans can now hope for is, given the climate of the show itself, which is much lighter than Netflix’s Daredevil, it’s not a definite take on Matt Murdock. And that when Echo, or Daredevil: Born Again comes to our screens, we will get back our brooding vigilante, and not some watered-down version of him.

Daredevil in She-Hulk
The new Daredevil costume is much more colorful

Daredevil will only have a cameo in the upcoming Disney+ series, and mostly on the lawyer side of things than the vigilante. The pop of yellow in the newly updated Daredevil suit we glimpsed in the She-Hulk trailer, could also be telling of the character’s more toned and colorful version. Which is what we will probably get to see if Gao has anything to say about it.

“It was so fun to be able to do–and we do this with every character cameo from the MCU–is we take them from the environment that you know them from, which is a much more dramatic and action-oriented role, much more on the serious side, and we bring them into our world and they get to play in the tone of She-Hulk. And they got to explore and we get to see a lighter side of that character.”

Also Read: She-Hulk Episode 1 Reportedly Just 35 Minutes Long, Making it Second Shortest MCU Premiere Episode After WandaVision

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Even if this will be different from what we are used to, one can only hope that there will be some development in the next projects. And the lighter side of the character will not take away from their darker roots in the future. As of now, we are just excited to be able to see Cox don the red suit once more, and jump down building, taking down one bad guy at a time.

Charlie Cox’s Matt Murdock aka Daredevil will be next seen in She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, which will premiere exclusively on Disney+ on 18th August 2022.

Swagata Das

Written by Swagata Das

Articles Published: 223

Swagata works as a Senior Features Editor at FandomWire. Having previously worked as a Content Writer, her passion for everything pop culture became her true calling as she now works with a global team of writers to brainstorm unique, groundbreaking ideas. Having done her Masters in English Literature, Swagata is a self-professed K-Pop addict with an affinity to work her charms on unsuspecting friends to induct them into the fandom cult.