With Daredevil making his first in-costume appearance in the MCU thanks to his guest role on She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, we finally have an idea of what the future of Daredevil will look like in the MCU. We did get that quick Matt Murdock cameo in Spider-Man: No Way Home, but this time around we get the Man Without Fear in his full-on superhero persona, complete with a hallway fight scene (well, almost).
Technically, Charlie Cox’s Daredevil has always been a part of the MCU, but his Netflix show was kept at arm’s length and he never got to meet the likes of the Avengers. With the rights to Daredevil now back at Marvel Studios and the new Daredevil: Born Again TV show coming to Disney+, the Man Without Fear is finally joining the MCU proper. But not without some changes! She-Hulk gave us a taste of what’s to come for MCU Daredevil, so here are three notbale ways the character has changed.
Daredevil’s New Costume
The most obvious change for Daredevil is his new costume. Though the yellow-and-red look is new for MCU viewers, comic book fans will recognize this as the original Daredevil costume from when he first debuted in 1964.
In the comics, Daredevil created the costume from his father’s boxing gear as a tribute to his dearly departed dad, but in the show, it’s superhero fashion designer Luke Jacobsen who creates the new duds. That said, we did see Battlin’ Jack Murdock sporting a red-and-gold robe in the Netflix series, so perhaps Matt asked Jacobsen to use his father’s colors as inspiration for the new suit. Or maybe he’s just a big fan of condiments, as Jen Walters pointed out with her ketchup-and-mustard joke.
The evolution of Daredevil’s costume was an important element of the hero’s story in the Netflix series, and that trend appears to be continuing in the MCU. We expect Matt’s superhero suit to continue to evolve as he continues his MCU journey. We know the character will next appear in the upcoming Disney+ series, Echo, and then feature in his own series. The logo for the new show is the horned hero’s iconic DD chest symbol, so we have a feeling the show will finally introduce that classic costume.
Daredevil’s New Attitude
Daredevil’s more colorful look not only serves to reference the character’s comic book roots but to coincide with his more lighthearted attitude now that he’s joined the MCU in earnest. The Netflix series was an appropriately dark take on the character, but while the MCU has its dramatic moments, it generally has a more upbeat tone and plenty of jokes. She-Hulk: Attorney at Law in particular is billed as a half-hour superhero legal comedy, so, not exactly the first place you may expect moody Matt Murdock to fit in. However, in the comics, Daredevil has a long history of being a more roguish superhero who smiles in the face of danger and indulges in quite a bit of romance, and that’s precisely the persona we saw in She-Hulk. Besides, having Marvel’s two superhero lawyers argue a case against each other was too good of an opportunity to pass up.
Matt doesn’t divulge much about his history to Jen Walters, leaving us in the dark as to what he’s been up to since the end of his Netflix series, but his change in attitude may imply that he’s had time to do some healing. Matt went through a lot of hardship in that show, so it’s possible that he’s finally reached a place where he can move on and start to enjoy the thrills that come with being a superhero. You can’t say he hasn’t earned it! That would certainly explain why the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen swung into the She-Hulk show as the Scarlet Swashbuckler.
Daredevil’s New Powers
Daredevil showed up on She-Hulk sporting the same classic powers we’re used to seeing. Yet there was a big upgrade in the way they depicted his athletic prowess. Namely, the stunt he pulls when he effortlessly parkours down the side of a parking garage. That impressive series of tumbles is far above anything we’ve ever seen him do on screen, and is perhaps a sign that Daredevil is getting a bit of a power boost to better align him with the other characters in the MCU.
Fans were surprised to see how Kingpin suddenly had wildly increased strength and a cartoonish amount of durability in Hawkeye, so it looks like there’s a concerted effort to take these characters from their more grounded depiction in the Netflix series and raise them to the more stylish and elevated level of the MCU. That could mean we’ll be seeing Daredevil take on more superpowered villains in the future.
If Daredevil is going to be a big part of the MCU going forward, and it certainly looks like he will be, then it wouldn’t be a stretch for him to eventually join the Avengers, like he’s done in the comics. Seeing how Earth’s Mightiest Heroes are slated to take on Kang the Conqueror at the end of Phase 6, well, Daredevil is definitely going to need every power boost he can get.
For more on She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, check out our review of She-Hulk Episode 8.
