The original Daredevil stuntman from the Netflix series has blasted the character's appearance in She-Hulk: Attorney at Law.
Coming from the dark, gritty, and violent Daredevil presented on Netflix, the MCU has changed up the character for his comeback under Marvel Studios so far.
Charlie Cox's return in She-Hulk faced particular criticism as the character was presented in a more comedic light to match the tone of the show, sparking plenty of backlash from fans of the acclaimed Netflix series.
Daredevil actor Cox weighed in on the backlash, noting how you "can't please all the people all the time." She-Hulk's Titania actress Jameela Jamil also joined in on the debate to defend the legal comedy's handling of Daredevil.
Daredevil Stuntman Blasts She-Hulk Comeback
Netflix's Daredevil stuntman Chris Brewster recently appeared on the Ikuzo Unscripted podcast where he shared called out the portrayal of the character in She-Hulk: Attorney at Law as "bad," comparing it to a "cartoon."
Although Chris Brewster served as the stunt double for Charlie Cox's Matt Murdock, aka Daredevil, in the three-season Netflix series, he was not brought back for the character's return under Marvel Studios, with Justin Eaton taking over his duties for She-Hulk, Echo, and Daredevil: Born Again.
The stuntman shared how he thinks Marvel Studios are "really, really hurting" Daredevil, going as far as to say the character in She-Hulk is "all animated and it looks bad:"
“I think that, now that the MCU has taken over the character, I think they are really, really hurting it. If you watch She-Hulk, they turned Daredevil into a cartoon. It’s all animated and it looks bad."
Brewster expressed how he supports using "CG to enhance real movement," but feels She-Hulk left Daredevil with "no weight" due to an overuse of CGI:
"You know, I love CG to enhance real movement, but if you don’t have any real movement, it just becomes a cartoon. It’s just CG, there’s no weight to it. And what always made the action on Daredevil so good is it was visceral. You felt what Charlie was feeling, between his performance and being in there, in the action."
He continued to explain how, when it came to Netflix's Daredevil, "anything that you saw, we really did," and that energy can't be matched with digital effects, calling She-Hulk's Man Without Fear "a massive step-down:"
"And anything that you saw, we really did. We had to put somebody on a wire, we needed something to enhance the movement. But it wasn’t a cartoon. It was live-action. And you will never match the energy that live-action has. So, I think that She-Hulk was a massive step-down as far as the movement goes and the action.”
Netflix's Daredevil showrunner Steven DeKnight had a very different opinion on the character's role in She-Hulk, even thanking the show's head writer Jessica Gao for "taking such fantastic care of the character:"
"LOVED [Jessica Gao] & company’s reintroduction of Daredevil into the MCU on 'She-Hulk.' Huge congrats! Thanks for taking such fantastic care of the character!"
Particularly loving at the acrobatics and movement which Chris Brewster revealed his issues with, DeKnight even stated, "If I had had the money, you bet your ass I would have had Daredevil doing crazy acrobatics too."
Why Fans Shouldn't Worry About Daredevil's MCU Future
The MCU's Daredevil has so far leaned more into the character's classic acrobatic movement and combat style than the Batman-esque fighting of the Netflix show, which has required some CGI assistance to create as Chris Brewster stated.
But these more comic book-esque styles go perfectly hand-in-hand with the more experienced Daredevil featured here, with roughly a six-year gap in-universe between Daredevil Season 3 and She-Hulk.
Obviously, with She-Hulk being a legal-focused series exploring the expansive Marvel universe, including Daredevil only made sense. But as Attorney at Law is specifically a legal comedy, Charlie Cox's Matt Murdock as he appears in his mature Netflix series would have felt rather out of place.
So, yes, as Daredevil continues to grow his role in the larger MCU, he will continue to have appearances such as this where his tone, style, and character are tweaked to match the project in question. But that doesn't mean fans need to be worried about Matt Murdock behaving in this manner all the time.
There have been reports Daredevil: Born Again may be TV-MA (the television equivalent to R-rated) with a darker and more mature tone, more akin to the original Netflix series, even if this is a "new beginning" for the character.
That's not to say Born Again will take things quite as far as the Netflix show - it would be surprising to see constant cursing and heads being slammed in car doors in a Marvel Studios Disney+ project.
But violence, language, and blood weren't the components that made Netflix's Daredevil arguably one of the best comic book TV shows ever made. That came down to the acting, storytelling, writing, and action, aided by the darker tone, all of which can be done within the confines of a slightly more accessible show.
Both Daredevil and She-Hulk are streaming now on Disney+.
