Charlie Cox’s reintegration into the Marvel Cinematic Universe stands as one of the franchise’s most celebrated course corrections. After a years-long absence following the cancellation of his critically acclaimed Netflix run, Cox re-emerged as Matt Murdock with a brief cameo in Spider-Man: No Way Home, followed by a supporting role in She-Hulk: Attorney at Law and a guest appearance in Echo. Those stepping stones culminated in Daredevil: Born Again, the Disney+ revival that officially absorbed the Defenders-era continuity into the MCU canon and gave the character a full-scale comeback. With Born Again‘s second season now days away from its premiere, and Spider-Man: Brand New Day scheduled for July, fans wonder whether the Man Without Fear will cross from the small screen to the big one.
“No. Now, if I were in the movie, I would also say no, to be clear. Right. But I’m not in the movie,” Cox said during a Jimmy Kimmel Live! appearance promoting Born Again Season 2. Kimmel pressed further, and Cox kept the deflections coming: “I’m definitely not in the movie,” before conceding, “But I could be lying.” The exchange carried the hallmarks of a classic Marvel denial, technically deniable, but entirely unconvincing to a fanbase that watched Andrew Garfield issue near-identical statements ahead of Spider-Man: No Way Home. The dynamic shifted noticeably, however, when Kimmel pivoted to Avengers: Doomsday. “I don’t think so. No… as far as I know, I’m not in the Avengers,” Cox stated, adding that “I sit by the phone waiting with bated breath.” That response carried a genuine note of resignation that his Brand New Day answers conspicuously lacked, and the contrast between the two exchanges is difficult to ignore.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day Has the Perfect Opportunity to Feature Daredevil
The narrative of Spider-Man: Brand New Day is built around the supporting pillars of Cox’s corner of the MCU. The first trailer all but confirmed the presence of the Hand, the ancient ninja organization that served as the central antagonist across multiple seasons of the original Netflix Daredevil series and the team-up event The Defenders. Their appearance in a major theatrical Spider-Man release is already a significant bridge between the television and film branches of the MCU, and Daredevil is the character with the most developed history against the ninjas. With Born Again Season 3 confirmed to be in development and Elodie Yung’s Elektra widely rumored to factor into that season, a Brand New Day sequence that reactivates the Hand within the main MCU timeline would serve as direct connective tissue for what Cox’s series is building toward.
Brand New Day is also set to feature Jon Bernthal’s Frank Castle, a character who exists within Daredevil’s orbit. The political context of the film reinforces that connection further. The Brand New Day trailer features Zabryna Guevara reprising her role as Sheila Rivera, the political advisor to Wilson Fisk (Vincent D’Onofrio) from Born Again, depicted handing Spider-Man the Key to the City. The scene teases the aftermath of Fisk’s mayoral tenure, a storyline that is expected to conclude on the upcoming second season of Born Again. That means the movie will somehow address the Mayor Fisk era of New York City’s politics.
On top of all this, eagle-eyed viewers have noted that a key sequence in the Brand New Day trailer showing Spider-Man confronting a group of red-clad Hand ninjas appears to have been digitally altered, with additional figures seemingly removed from the frame. Marvel has a documented history of editing allies out of trailer footage to preserve surprise appearances, most notably in Avengers: Infinity War and Spider-Man: No Way Home. The specific removal of characters from a Hand combat sequence is exactly the kind of edit that would be necessary if Daredevil appears alongside Peter Parker in a flashback or action set piece. Cox’s suspiciously playful denials, stacked against the volume of narrative hooks the film provides, suggest that the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen might return to theaters soon enough.
Daredevil: Born Again Season 2 premieres on Disney+ on March 25th. Spider-Man: Brand New Day is scheduled to be released in theaters on July 26th.
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