And the day has come. We have already seen the long-awaited debut of Daredevil (as such) in phase 4 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe via the eighth episode of ‘She-Hulk: Lawyer Hulka’. In it, the vigilante of New York’s Hell’s Kitchen travels to Los Angeles and we see him with a quite different aspect than we had seen him so far.
Specifically, the suit worn by the blind superhero is one yellow and red (mustard and ketchup as Jen Walters tells him), a uniform that comes directly from the early comics, designed by Bill Everett for the character’s debut in 1964.
In the name of the Father
This design lasted a year— well, six issues with a bimonthly release rate — and it has a very special symbolism for the superhero since They were the fighting colors of boxer Jack “The Fighter” Murdock.. Colors that his son Matt would welcome in tribute and revenge after the murder of his father.
While the design was relatively short-lived, it would be revived decades later to retell the character’s origin, and develop that story further in Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale’s ‘Daredevil: Amarillo’.
By the way, those colors are also worn by Daredevil’s father in the flashbacks of the television series. However, here the fiction of Netflix would be decided by follow more designs by Frank Miller and John Romita Jr., from the austere black suit and “handkerchief” on the head as the character’s first suit to later jump to the “lifelong” red.
An imposition for ‘She-Hulk’
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Don’t miss a brand new episode of Marvel Studios’ #SheHulk: Attorney at Law, streaming tomorrow on @DisneyPlus. pic.twitter.com/GIN1hmbRVq
— Daredevil (@Daredevil) October 5, 2022
The debut on the screen of this two-tone suit is an aesthetic bet that, in the words of Jessica Gao, showrunner from ‘She-Hulk’, was the only thing they didn’t let him choose when using the veteran superhero:
«Usually what they do is that they let us propose what we want to do instead of giving us directives. The first time we were told that [Daredevil] it was a possibility, we just didn’t believe it. And as we came up with the story and what we wanted him to do, the fact that they still didn’t say that wasn’t shocking. The only thing he had no control over was the suit. They knew exactly how they wanted him to wear the suit.”
This has not ceased to arouse some interest in the face of doubts on whether we are seeing the same old Murdock or if there really is a complete reboot of the character in his incorporation into Marvel Studios productions (remember that Netflix was produced by the defunct Marvel Television).
After the events of the series and the arrest of Melvin Potter does fit us that Daredevil was looking for a new tailor. The fact that this is in Los Angeles, instead of in New York, already enters the field of the strange convenience of the plans of Marvel Studios.
On the other hand, we also see that we find before a seasoned hero that some renown has. That might explain why he’s surprised She-Hulk has never heard of him. This could indicate that we are dealing with a Daredevil who faces a new era of his career with a new suit rather than a first-timer.
Something that is in tune with the end of the Netflix series. In the last episode Murdock reopened, along with Karen Page and Foggy Nelson, his law firm like a clean slate having had his reputation hit the ground courtesy of Wilson Fisk.
Also, as we see it in ‘She-Hulk’, we are dealing with a Daredevil with a somewhat different personality (and I don’t mean humor). Here is more “superhero” than “vigilante” or, at least, that’s what he suggests with his advice for the emerald colossus.
Road to ‘Born Again’
The doubt that the Netflix series (or at least not everything) is not taken into account is still there. Something that Charlie Cox himself also plays withwith some words somewhat open to interpretation about how ‘Daredevil: Born Again’ fits into the character’s chronology warning that the series on Disney + does not continue that of Netflix:
“It’s a first season, not a fourth season, so it’s something completely new. I think that is the way to go. If you’re going to do something again, do it differently.”
He also warned that there will be a difference in tone with the series
“Born Again is an iconic time in the Daredevil comics and it’s a great title for our series because we’re doing the series again in a new way. I think the series will be a bit different tonally—I still don’t know how—I haven’t read anything yet. We’re going to do 18 episodes, which tells me that the structure and the way we’re going to tell our story is going to be slightly different.”
The lack of information about the future series of the cuernecitos leaves us only with conjectures around how it all fits into the superhero’s chronology within the MCU. Let’s remember that, before in ‘She-Hulk’, Cox returned to embody the character in ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ and we will see him again (along with Kingpin) in ‘Echo’. That reunion will probably be the one that gives us the most clues about it.