Charlie Cox worried he dreamt the entire conversation.
It was June 2020 when his phone rang one afternoon, with Kevin Feige on the other end. The Marvel Studios boss asked if the actor had a few minutes to chat. At first, Cox thought there was a chance he was being put on. “You never know. It was wild,” says the Daredevil star of that moment.
The call was not a hoax — it was a tremendous opportunity. Matt Murdock was officially joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe. And his first appearance after the devastating 2018 Netflix cancellation of Daredevil would be Spider-Man: No Way Home. Cox was equal parts shocked and elated.
It’s been almost two months since the Sony-Marvel film swung into theaters and quickly became the highest-grossing picture of the pandemic era with $1.77 billion globally. Enough time has finally passed for Cox to reflect — publicly.
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“It was a pretty surreal moment, I’m not going to lie,” Cox says, taking it back to the June afternoon call. “Bear in mind that it’s been a few years. And I was pretty convinced it was over. Kevin said, ‘We’ve got some ideas, but I wanted to make sure that you, in principle, are interested.’ And I was like, ‘I’m very interested.’ And then I didn’t hear from anyone for two months. And I got to the point where I wondered if I dreamt it.”
The situation was very much a reality. And in the not-so-distant future, Cox found himself wrapped in a giant cloak (for secrecy purposes), making his way around the No Way Home set for a scene with stars Tom Holland and Marisa Tomei. The time had come. Matt Murdock had returned.
“I felt pretty comfortable being able to fit into that scene,” Cox says of the moment that takes place in the Parker home, in which Murdock advises his new client Peter (Holland) that while his legal woes have been quashed, his trial in the court of public opinion is only heating up.
“I played the character almost every day for four years. I feel like his essence is deep within me now,” says Cox. “I didn’t worry too much about it, but I was still pretty nervous on the day, which I haven’t been for a while.”
The Netflix Daredevil series ran for three seasons, concluding after an abrupt cancellation in 2018. A sizable fan movement to save the show launched, which was touching to Cox, fellow actors and crew. Still, it did not change the streamer’s mind. No Way Home, as Cox saw it, was that second chance.
“It’s a big moment, not just for me, but for the character. I felt a real sense of responsibility,” Cox explains. “If that scene works, if it’s cool, if it seems in place, then the sky’s the limit where this could go. And it would be great for me, naturally, but it would be great for Matt. I feel attached to him, even though that sounds a bit strange.”
Of course, Feige and No Way Home director Jon Watts knew Murdock’s return was going to elicit a massive response from audiences. And Watts shot the moment in anticipation of that raucous reaction.
“Jon said, ‘I have built in this moment where we reveal you, and no one speaks for a few beats because the audience will have a big reaction,” Cox recalls, chuckling. “I was a bit embarrassed, like, ‘Are you sure?’ I was going with the flow, but thinking, ‘I hope it’s not a letdown.’ But I got a lot of texts from friends who were at the premiere or saw it opening weekend, who told me there was a cool vocal reaction when that scene came on. It’s a strange feeling, but I am so grateful.”
Also in the scene was Jon Favreau, playing Happy Hogan. And it was not lost on either Cox or the Iron Man director that he, too, had a Daredevil connection, playing Foggy Nelson in the 2003 film starring Ben Affleck as the superhero. The duo could not help themselves and tried to sneak in a tiny nod to that film, Cox reveals.
“I don’t think they used it, but we added a little Easter egg where he goes, ‘Yeah, I’m a little foggy on how that happened,’ or something,” Cox says. “That was a cool moment for me to meet him and chat about all that stuff.”
Once filming was complete, the next stage of the gig began for Cox: the subterfuge. Almost immediately after the movie was announced, rumors were swirling concerning who was going to drop by. And Cox found himself smack dab in the middle of that fandom storm. In interview after interview for his other projects, such as Kin, Cox did a tremendous job deflecting Spidey queries.
“I hate lying,” Cox says earnestly. “But I really don’t want to ruin it for anyone. My feeling is, if someone asks you, and you say, ‘I don’t know … We’ll have to wait and see.’ That gives it away! It’s obvious! No one is going to say that if you’re not in it. I am relieved it’s over.”
Still, he and good pal Andrew Garfield, who returned to play a version of Spider-Man, found themselves in a bit of a precarious situation when they met one day for lunch while they were both in Atlanta, their No Way Home production days overlapping. “While we were sitting down, it occurred to both of us, ‘Oh, shit. If we’re filmed here together, that’s not a good sign.’ So we ended up sitting facing the wall, both of us,” Cox says, laughing.
Cox and his Daredevil co-star Vincent D’Onofrio (Kingpin) have remained close friends in the years since the series ended. And during its run, D’Onofrio told a nervous Cox, season after season, he was sure their time as the characters wasn’t over, even before the cancellation. As it happened, he was right, with D’Onofrio’s Kingpin introduced in the Disney+ series Hawkeye one day before No Way Home hit theaters. And with both their characters now officially in the MCU, the possibilities are thrilling — for the duo and fans.
“Look, I don’t have any idea what anyone’s plans are at this stage, but I presume there’s more for us to do,” Cox says, before confessing, “I know a little bit — not a huge amount — but a little bit. I am imagining, I am hoping, that our worlds will collide again because the stuff we’ve done in the past was tremendous fun to do, and he’s such an incredible actor. We have to start every conversation with, ‘What do you know?’ because you have to be careful. It’s really exciting.”
