I had never felt happier while sitting in front of a screen this year than watching She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, in the episode reintroducing Charlie Cox’s Matt Murdock, aka Daredevil. The last time we’d seen the beloved (and exceptionally violent) lawyer-meets-superhero was when Netflix abruptly canceled his series in November 2018, a month after the third season premiered to critical acclaim. But after a brief appearance in 2021’s Spider-Man: No Way Home confirmed that Cox’s take on the hero would be joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe, fan anticipation exploded.
We’ve finally gotten a fuller taste of what MCU’s Daredevil is like, and it’s not at all what we expected—or where. In the penultimate episode of the Disney+ show She-Hulk’s first season, we’re reacquainted with Cox’s Matt Murdock/Daredevil—a far more comedic, agile, and confident version than he was on Netflix. But instead of feeling like a major downgrade of the brooding superhero, his She-Hulk appearance was a breath of fresh air. Based on this one-episode cameo alone, Marvel Studios has convinced me that it will deliver the best version of Daredevil we’ll ever see on screen.
The MCU offers a remarkable evolution from what Cox brought to the table in the Netflix show, which was produced by a separate, now-gone TV entity of Marvel Studios. It never sacrifices the character development the series had brought, but his She-Hulk appearance also shows us a different side of the superhero (and lawyer) than we saw on Netflix.
In Daredevil, Matt Murdock lives in what might as well be an entirely different world. For one, he’s incredibly brutal: Daredevil, per Netflix’s telling, is a hero who willingly breaks his enemies’ bones and beats them to a bloody pulp in the name of justice. At the same time, Murdock struggles with his Catholic faith and how it aligns, or misaligns, with his path toward being a hero. He’s often angry and guilt-ridden as a result, blaming himself for the loss of his loved ones, like his father.
In the third and final season, he goes through a prolonged identity crisis, questioning his allegiance to God and the mantle he holds as the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen. But when he “beats” Kingpin (Vincent D’Onofrio) in a bloody altercation, he finally understands his place in the world as a hero in his own right. The show—and the team-up spinoff The Defenders—wasn’t afraid to challenge audiences by depicting a Daredevil unlike that of the comic books. Netflix stripped down the character to his weakest and most emotional, before he fully accepted his place in Hell’s Kitchen in Season 3.
When Murdock appears in She-Hulk, his first extended time on-screen since Daredevil ended, it comes as a shock in comparison. This is no longer the brooding, lonely man we fell for on Netflix several years ago. Instead, we first see him in Episode 8 when he shows up (late) in court to defend Luke Jacobson (Griffin Matthews) from a lawsuit by Eugene Patillo/Leapfrog (Brandon Stanley), who accuses the designer of making him a malfunctioning super-suit. Murdock ultimately wins the case for his client, using his heightened sense of smell to suss out the truth: Eugene didn’t tell his attorney, Jennifer Walters a.k.a. She-Hulk (Tatiana Maslany), that he used jet fuel in his boosters, when the guidelines told him not to.
What happens next may shock Daredevil fans: Leapfrog then kidnaps Jacobson, forcing Jacobson to design him a new suit, which leads She-Hulk to team up with Murdock (now suited up as Daredevil) to rescue him. Their chemistry is immediately off the charts, which leads to the two of them having sex (!!!) in the episode’s most surprising moment. And as if that wasn’t enough, Daredevil also does the walk of shame as he leaves Jennifer’s apartment in his full get-up the next morning.
It’s immediately clear that Cox’s take on Matt Murdock for Disney+ has changed from his Netflix days. He’s less absorbed in his self-loathing and personal strife, for one. Instead of allowing himself to feel wracked with guilt, this is a Murdock with a sense of deserved confidence. And with the amount of time that’s passed—both since the last time we really saw him, in 2018, and in the MCU, considering that big Endgame-induced time jump—he’s also a better fighter. Part of that is because of Marvel Studios’ much lighter touch than Netflix’s. Instead of mauling villains, this Daredevil can fight through a slew of bad guys without flinching or bloodletting. It’s not “gritty” in the way Daredevil was, but it’s a much more spectacular, comic book-accurate way to show the character.
The MCU doesn’t just give the existing on-screen version of Daredevil a nice boost, bettering the connection between his powers and his personality. It also shows an entirely new side of him. For the first time in his superheroic career, he’s having fun! There’s never a moment in the Netflix show where, as Daredevil, Murdock enjoys the job of a hero. It always felt like a burden to him, a responsibility he couldn’t get out of because of his newfound powers. On She-Hulk, much like everyone else on the show, Murdock is actually enjoying himself fighting both against She-Hulk and then fighting with She-Hulk to free Jacobson from the clutches of Leapfrog. He’s even allowed to crack jokes—take the scene where Daredevil jumps out of a parking lot after saying, "My ass remains unwhooped.”
We’re now seeing a superhero on the other side of fighting with himself. Now that he’s worked through his self-acceptance issues on his Netflix show, Murdock can finally enjoy a balance between lawyerly activities and superhero action. He now lives a perfect double-life, instead of pondering what to do with balancing his life as a lawyer and vigilante. Combined with his impressively powered-up abilities, this Daredevil is a fun addition to the MCU’s cast of characters.
That said, Daredevil and “fun” were never thought to be connected before, which may make this seem like a jarring change. But this shift in tone isn’t surprising. Not only is the MCU much more family-friendly than any of the shows from the long-over Netflix-Marvel collaboration, but it’s also got a strict blueprint that Matt Murdock must now fit into. It was clear that when Vincent D'Onofrio returned as Daredevil’s his arch-nemesis Wilson Fisk/Kingpin in Hawkeye that the Daredevil characters would return with a Disney-fied sheen to them. While D’Onofrio’s Fisk was as chilling as ever in his Hawkeye appearance, his character overall felt more in line with how the comics painted him. He was bigger and much stronger than in the Netflix show, but in an absurd, cartoon-y way; he was capable of defeating Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld) with his bare hands if he wanted, but we’d never have to worry about seeing her blood shed or hearing her bones crack. It was a massive departure from the more realistically gruesome approach to the character on Netflix.
Even so, some fans have taken issue with the MCU’s less realistic, more cartoon-y take on the Daredevil characters. But there are just as many who are loving the change.
Yes, his show offered a more adult take on the superhero world than we see in Marvel movies and shows anymore; She-Hulk, for instance, is a fairly innocent series that’s as much about superheroics as it is slice-of-life comedy. But the added levity alludes more to his comic book origins—he wears his iconic yellow suit from the comics on She-Hulk, something that would never fit in with the Netflix series’ aesthetic—and is, most importantly, in keeping with how the MCU operates. He fits well into this new, brighter world by tamping down the colder, less empathetic traits he exhibited in his Netflix show. Plus, it’s nice to know that he can have sex and enjoy himself. He deserves it!
For Daredevil fans, whether it be those who come via Netflix, the comics, or both, his She-Hulk appearance really offers the best of both worlds. We get to enjoy another impeccable performance from Charlie Cox, who immediately steals the spotlight away from Tatiana Maslany during its courtroom scenes. And we also get to see Cox as Daredevil actually enjoy himself, his superhero status, and the other superheroes around him—a far cry from the tenor of the Netflix Marvel Universe.
In She-Hulk, Daredevil is, literally and figuratively, born again. He’s still a flawed individual, as he will always be, but his skills as a hero only foreshadow that we will be getting the definitive version of the character on the big and small screen. Add the fact that he’s having fun as a hero, and not a vigilante, for the first time, and it’s clear that we have a lovingly re-rendered Daredevil on our hands. Upcoming series Daredevil: Born Again and Echo, both on Disney+, will give the character much more screen time in the future. Based on this single episode guest spot, I can’t wait to see more of him—a happier version of him, no less.
