This article contains spoilers for Spider-Man: No Way Home.Prior to its release,Spider-Man: No Way Homegenerated tons of buzz about who would appear in the film and how significant of a role they would play. The returns of villains like Green Goblin, Doc Ock, Electro, Sandman, and the Lizard were riveting on their own, but the rumors around other stars joining the mix helped make the newest Marvel film one of the most popular movies of the year.
As Tom Holland geared up forSpider-Man: No Way Home, his third solo film, he was joined by former Spider-Man stars Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield. The speculation of their return had gone on for months and fans have finally gotten an answer. Of course, Maguire and Garfield weren’t the only stars that were rumored to appear inNo Way Home. As it turns out, fans were also right aboutthe return of Charlie Cox’s Matt Murdock. Despite the triumphant returns of Maguire, Garfield, and the assortment of villains, Cox’s cameo may be the most significant.
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InNo Way Home, Cox arguably had the most surprising return to the screen. While Garfield and Maguire had somewhat of a lead-in for fans to guess what may happen, Cox appeared very suddenly at the beginning of the film. In his scene,he sits at the kitchen tablewith Peter Parker, Happy Hogan, and Aunt May as they discuss the legal troubles Peter is currently facing. None of these characters know that Matt Murdock is a lawyer by day and a crime-fighting vigilante by night, though they certainly have reasons to suspect that he has something else going on.
Once a brick is hurled through the window of the apartment, Matt catches it in his hand before Peter has a chance to get his own hand up. In a world of superheroes with heightened senses,this may not be a shocking sight. However, given that Matt is a blind lawyer who had his back to the window in question, his ability to register and catch the brick is even more alarming to Peter, Happy, and May. When asked about the incident, Matt merely brushes off the question by insisting he’s simply a very good lawyer.
From 2015-2018, Cox appeared in the Netflix seriesDaredevil, which received largely positive reviews. The series kickstarted the Netflix trend of Marvel series which includeJessica Jones, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, The Defenders,andThe Punisher. Unfortunately, all six of these series would go on to be canceled by Netflix. BothDaredevilandJessica Jonesran for three seasons before being canceled, whileLuke Cage, Iron Fist, andThe Punisheronly ran for two.After being canceled by Netflix, the characters in these series would have to wait two years before they could appear in any Marvel creation unattached to the Netflix brand. With the waiting period now up, Marvel has begun to integrate Cox and Vincent D’Onofrio’sDaredevilcharacters into the Marvel Universe.
Marvel’s newest Disney Plus series,Hawkeye, has introduced D’Onofrio’sDaredevilcharacter into the mix. In the Netflix series, D’Onofrio played Wilson Fisk, the intimidating mobster of Hell’s Kitchen who gains the name, Kingpin. OverDaredevil’sthree seasons, D’Onofrio and Cox have squared off against one another more than once and now that they have both been brought into the MCU, it’s unlikely that anyone has seen the last of their intense battles. Now that Marvel has begun tointroduce characters like Kingpinand Daredevil into the mix, there is hope that other Marvel characters fromDaredeviland other Marvel series will return.
Given the success of Marvel’s series on Disney Plus, characters like Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, the Punisher, and even otherDaredevilcharacters may receive reprisals on the streaming service. Marvel Television, which produced these series, was folded into Marvel Studios in 2019 following the cancelation of all the Marvel Netflix shows. Despite the loss of those Netflix shows, Marvel has found immense success with television series.WandaVision,The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Loki, What If…?, andHawkeye, have all experienced tremendous success on Disney Plus, earning both Emmy and Golden Globe nominations.
Cox’sDaredevilled other Marvel series once before and it’s impossible that he will do it again. Now that he and Kingpin have been introduced in an official Marvel capacity, Krysten Ritter, Mike Colter, Finn Jones, Jon Bernthal, and many others from the Netflix shows may also return to the Marvel Universe in a much bigger role this time. With Marvel set to release new series on Disney Plus in 2022 includingShe-Hulk, Moon Knight, andMs. Marvel, some ofthese Netflix characters may appear in them, much like Kingpin inHawkeye.
She-Hulk’sfocal character is Jennifer Walters, a Los Angeles-trained lawyer who relocates to New York. She harbors a secret much like Matt Murdock, meaning the two characters could cross paths in the Disney Plus Series in more ways than one. Given her lawyer status, she could also cross paths with Matt’s associates Foggy Nelson and Karen Page. If not them, there is also the potential that Jennifer may require the assistance of Alias Investigations,run by none other than Jessica Jones. Should the Disney Plus series borrow anything from Netflix, Claire Temple could reunite the heroes once again through her strange way of attracting and caring for the gifted individuals.
In an interview with Screen Rant, Feige was asked about the potential ofThe Defenderscharacters entering the MCU. “I always say that whenever a character comes back into the Marvel sandbox, it becomesanother tool in the storytelling abilityof the MCU,” Feige said. “As I said before, the good news is, all will be revealed when people actually finally watch.” Following Matt Murdock’s reveal inNo Way Homeand Kingpin’s arrival inHawkeye, it seems Feige has a plan for these characters and others just like them.
Spider-Man: No Way Homeis now in theaters.
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