- Charlie Cox said he thought Vincent D'Onofrio was 'delusional' for thinking Marvel would rehire them.
- Both actors gave iconic performances as the two leads in Netflix's "Daredevil," which was canceled in 2018.
Vincent D'Onofrio never gave up hope that he would return to 'Daredevil,' his costar Charlie Cox said.
D'Onofrio and Cox both starred in Netflix's Marvel series, an offshoot of Disney's Marvel Cinematic Universe that ran for four years and focused on street-level superheroes, including Daredevil and Jessica Jones.
"Daredevil" season one in 2015 marked the start of the collaboration between Disney and Marvel, which enabled both brands to capitalize on the growing audience for superhero content. Cox and D'Onofrio starred as beloved characters Daredevil and Kingpin in the show's three seasons.
But Disney and Netflix cut ties in 2018, leading to "Daredevil" and the other shows being canceled that year and the following. Fans hoped the shows would have a second chance in the main MCU as Disney planned to make their own streaming service to rival Netflix.
But Cox told People during the D23 event last week that he didn't expect to be asked to return to the role.
"I think that we stopped shooting the original show at the end of 2016, beginning of 2018 and found out it was canceled somewhere in that period. And then it wasn't until midway through 2020 that we got a phone call from Kevin saying that they were interested in bringing the characters back," Cox said, referring to Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige.
Cox said after this call, none of the cast heard back from Marvel, so he had "completely let go" of the possibility of a "Daredevil" reboot.
"I'd moved on and occasionally Vincent and I would chat and he would say things like, 'Oh, they're going to call. I think they're going to us, but they're going to call us,'" Cox said. "And I would get off the phone and be like, 'The guy's delusional! He's got to let it go. It's going to be 10 years and he's still going. It's over. It's definitely over."
D'Onofrio, who was also at the D23 event, added: "It became really pathetic in Charlie's eyes."
But D'Onofrio turned out to be right.
In November 2021, D'Onofrio reprised his role as Kingpin in the "Hawkeye" Disney+ series, and a few weeks later, Cox returned as Matt Murdoch, the lawyer underneath the Daredevil mask, in the "Spider-Man: No Way Home" movie.
In 2022, Marvel announced that Cox would get his own Disney+ show, "Daredevil: Born Again," and fans hoped the show would bring the grittiness of Netflix's Marvel universe to the MCU.
"He was right. I didn't see it. For me, it was shocking. Shocking. It was a great show and been silly for love," Cox said.
Reports from D23 suggest that the series, which premieres in March 2025, will follow on from the Netflix series. "Daredevil: Born Again" stars the main cast from the original show, including D'Onofrio, Jon Bernthal, Wilson Bethel, Elden Henson, and Deborah Ann Woll.