Charlie Cox Wants David Tennant’s Purple Man To Return To the MCU

MCU star Charlie Cox expressed his hope to see David Tennant's villainous Kilgrave, aka Purple Man, get another chance at MCU glory. Kilgrave has not been seen in the MCU since Season 3 of Jessica Jones, even as other past Netflix villains like Vincent D'Onofrio's Kingpin have made their returns under Marvel Studios' watch. With Cox now helping lead the efforts for the former Defenders Saga heroes and villains to be further integrated into the MCU, he appears to have his sights set on Tennant, who played one of the saga's most popular villains.

Charlie Cox addressed a major Daredevil comic storyline while discussing the Daredevil: Born Again Season 2 finale. In Daredevil (Vol. 5) #20 (2017), a group called the Purple Children use their powers to make the world forget that Matt Murdock is Daredevil by hooking their father, Purple Man/Kilgrave, up to a machine that amplifies their abilities, restoring Matt's secret identity and allowing him to choose who knows the truth. Speaking with Empire, Cox said he hopes Born Again does not go in that direction. He did, however, express support for bringing back David Tennant to reprise his role as Kevin Thompson/Zebediah Kilgrave from Netflix's Jessica Jones:

"I think Purple Man’s children in effect do Daredevil a solid and wipe the memories of New York or something. I don't want to do that, although I'd be a huge advocate of having David Tennant on the show."

Additionally, Brad Winderbaum (Head of Marvel Television, Animation, Comics & Franchise at Marvel Studios) and Born Again showrunner Dario Scardapane discussed the possibility of a Purple Man return with IGN. Winderbaum praised Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige and co-president Louis D'Esposito as "amazing storytellers," noting how easy it is with them to go to the comics and make arguments for what should happen in the MCU:

"Kevin and Lou are amazing storytellers, you don't build the MCU if you're not some of the greatest of all time, and very quickly they saw it was where the story needed to go," said Marvel TV boss Brad Winderbaum. "And, of course, we could point to the comics. So as soon as you could point to the source material and show how it plays out and all the stories that are able to be told after the reveal of the identity, it becomes an easier argument to make."

Scardapane said the story likely will not go to "Purple Man doing mass brainwashing of an entire city," which happened in the comics. Now that Matt's identity is known, it will help change the storytelling for Season 3 "in such a cool way:"

"But we're probably not going to be doing Purple Man doing mass brainwashing of an entire city to buy it back. We're not doing buybacks. If you're taking that step, now everyone in the city knows Matt is Daredevil, which changes the storytelling in Season 3 in such a cool way."

Continuing, Scardapane addressed the issue of how the team changes things around after the Netflix shows, explaining how Marvel "has been really good about not reiterating" things that have happened in previous seasons:

"Having been in and around the Netflix show, the thing everyone was talking about was, 'How do we change things up next time?' And I feel that Marvel has been really good about not reiterating. Season 1 is one thing. Season 2 is another. Season 3 is another. And the type of storytelling and where the characters are at is radically different every time."

David Tennant was previously featured in all but two episodes of Jessica Jones Season 1 on Netflix, later reprising the role of Purple Man/Kilgrave in episodes of Season 2 and Season 3. Kilgrave was experimented on as a child to treat a neurological disease, but the treatment gave him the ability to control people's minds by giving them verbal commands. 

After exerting his command over multiple people on a dock, including Jessica's best friend, Trish Walker (played by Rachael Taylor), Jessica grabs him by the neck and kills him. As of writing, there have been no signs pointing to Marvel bringing Tennant back to reprise the role after Jessica killed Kilgrave in the Jessica Jones Season 1 finale.

Could Kilgrave Return to the MCU After Dying in Netflix's Jessica Jones?

As the saying goes, outside of a few exceptions, nobody is ever truly dead in a comic book movie or TV show. In the MCU alone, Tom Hiddleston's Loki has been killed and brought back multiple times, Clark Gregg's Phil Coulson was brought back after his Avengers death in Agents of SHIELD, and an alternate-timeline version of Gamora took over for her original variant after Avengers: Infinity War.

That being said, after Scardapane's comments, the chances of David Tennant coming back to the MCU as Kilgrave seem slim after the villain met such a definitive end in Jessica Jones Season 1. While the MCU could have him return as a vision in Jessica's head in future projects, as he did in Seasons 2 and 3, that may make the MCU feel slightly repetitive.

Jessica Jones is also likely returning to the MCU for Born Again Season 3 after appearing in Season 2, setting a pathway for a would-be reunion with Kilgrave if he were to somehow come back into the mix. Given Jessica's new status as a mother and the popularity she and Kilgrave still have, many wonder if and when the MCU will revisit their rivalry.