Since its 2015 premiere and throughout its entire three-season run, Netflix/Marvel's Daredevil established itself as one of Marvel Studios' best Marvel Cinematic Universe properties and among the best live-action superhero projects in general. Because of that, after the show's exceptional third season debut in 2018, fans were crushed to discover that Netflix would not be renewing it.
There have likely been corporate reasons behind this since Disney+ was set to debut and the quality of the show was high, but ever since, fans have been begging for a return. With the ending of Spider-Man: Far From Home, fans have been pleading for a return of Charlie Cox's Daredevil for obvious reasons. Here are five reasons why he needs to appear in Spider-Man 3, and five why season four must come first.
Spider-Man 3: Far From Home's Ending Begs Matt's Return
This is one of the most popular pleadings from fans in relation to Daredevil's potential future in the MCU. There's been fan art making the rounds on the Internet and Kevin Smith himself addressed the rumors about Charlie Cox's Matt Murdock/Daredevil making a return in the currently-untitled Spider-Man 3.
The ending of Far From Home saw Spider-Man's identity as Peter Parker get revealed to the public in a surprise contingency plan by Mysterio, with the help of J. Jonah Jameson. The popular fan opinion is that Matt Murdock should appear in the film and be Peter's lawyer. As far as fan stories go, this is actually an incredible way to bring him back.
Season 4: Loose Ends To Tie Up
While the Netflix Daredevil series was tragically cut short, fans can at least be thankful that the public was given three solid-to-exceptional seasons. Likewise, you can potentially make the argument that the majority of the overall series' story and the plot of season three specifically end on a great note.
However, the final scene of the season returns to Dex being operated on due to his spinal injury and paralysis due to Kingpin's attack. He suddenly awakens with his eye showing an ominous bull's-eye, foreshadowing an exciting season four that didn't come to be. Resolving this potential future plot thread would be a priority for fans to see first.
Spider-Man 3: Daredevil's First Good Movie
As the vast majority of fans of the Daredevil character/superhero would agree, he has only been given one excellent live-action adaptation--the Netflix series--and no good live-action movies. While the character featured in a made-for-TV film back in 1989 about Hulk and maybe that was good for the time, there's almost no way that still holds up now in any sense of the term.
More infamously was the 2003 Daredevil film. While Affleck is an exceptional actor, the writing and direction for that movie were far from impressive. Having Charlie Cox reprise the role in Spider-Man 3 alongside Tom Holland--and hopefully suit up--would give the character his first potential good movie, even if it's not focused on him.
Season 4: A Season Finale Teasing A Bigger MCU Film Future
In addition to needing to satiate fans' burning desire to know what happens after Dex/Bullseye recovers from his crippling injury and presumably come back for Daredevil--and perhaps even Wilson Fisk/Kingpin--a season four finale teasing an even bigger future in the MCU would be incredible as well. Seeing an 8-10 episode (at least) fourth season full of thrills would elate fans alone.
But then, in classic MCU-film fashion, including a foreshadowing post-credit scene teasing Daredevil's own future in solo-film outings, a crossover film with Spider-Man, or even both would send fans over the moon.
Spider-Man 3: Exposure To More Potential Fans
Daredevil as a character is one that is high-quality in comic books and on the show and has a solid amount of fans--even more so thanks to the fantastic show-- but he is not at the level of popularity of Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, and definitely not Spider-Man. But he certainly deserves that level of attention.
Building off the previous point on him featuring in a Spider-Man crossover would give him his first good movie, it would also expose him to more potential fans. Since Daredevil is set in the MCU but wasn't one of the movies, there are plenty who missed out on the show. This would build his fan base and get more people to come and check out the series.
Season 4: Continuing The Show Should Keep The Tone Of The Character
Not every superhero/comic book story needs to be dark, gritty, and serious in order to be good. Those tonal/thematic approaches should be reserved for stories and characters that have a noticeable background of being portrayed as such (i.e. Batman, Joker, Wolverine/Logan). Daredevil's most iconic comics, and even more recent runs, have established the character as being in gritty stories and the show definitely encapsulated that.
Because of the creative liberty to do that, the show excelled in portraying the character at his best. He could still be great in a lighter Spider-Man movie, but the show should keep the character's/show's core traits.
Spider-Man 3: Daredevil/Spider-Man Team-Ups Are Famous
Directly referencing the comic book history of both Daredevil and Spider-Man, this would seem like--potentially--a great example of fan service done right. In the comics, Daredevil and Spider-Man have teamed up on multiple occasions, leading to some great stories. These tales even stretched into the popular animated Spider-Man TV series.
In addition to just being a great combination of mixing two popular Marvel characters, it ties into the earlier point of bringing newfound popularity for Daredevil. Bringing a fantastic team-up between these two on the MCU's big screen would work wonders for Daredevil's future.
Season 4: Figuring Out How/When/Where It Will Return Is Crucial
With the primary topic of this article being Daredevil and his potential future and role in the MCU, figuring out the logistical issues of how, when, where the series will return is most important. A crossover event with Spider-Man in his third film could be incredible, but prioritizing Daredevil's individual future is more important since Spider-Man 3 doesn't need him for the movie to be good.
Disney/Marvel will need to also figure out when they're legally/contractually allowed to start production on the project and then whether to put it on Disney+ or Hulu, with the latter arguably being the best option.
Spider-Man 3: It Could Help Promote Daredevil Season 4
On the flip side of the earlier point in favor of prioritizing season four first, putting Charlie Cox's Matt Murdock/Daredevil in Spider-Man 3 set for July 2021 would be a fantastic way to announce and promote season four of Daredevil.
As mentioned already, Daredevil, while an incredible show and an overall success, surely hasn't reached the audience in terms of raw numbers/views because it wasn't an MCU movie. Having at least a mid-credits scene confirming and teasing season four would leave fans ecstatic for the return and pull new fans in.
Season 4: Focus On Bringing Back The Original Core Cast
Another thing to focus on before putting the character into a crossover film is, in this case, making sure Disney/Marvel can and will bring back the original core cast. Granted, they can at least start this by putting him in Spider-Man 3 first through securing Charlie Cox for the film, but getting everyone else will potentially need to be done by focusing on the logistics of preparing season four first.
If Disney/Marvel can't/won't get the original main cast back (Charlie Cox most importantly) then it would arguably be best to leave the franchise alone. Rebooting him again for no good reason and potentially giving us a poorly-written, watered-down, generic version of Daredevil would be insulting to fans.