To the delight of many, Charlie Cox's Matt Murdock returned to screens last year in Spider-Man: No Way Home, three years after his Netflix series came to a tragic end. In the same week, Hawkeye viewers were elated to see Vincent D'Onofrio's Kingpin similarly reprise his role as he was revealed as the surprise antagonist of the Disney+ series.
In spite of this, many continue to debate whether Daredevil, Agents of SHIELD, and other Marvel TV series are canon to the MCU. After all, in the age of the Multiverse, Marvel Studios could easily pass these off as Variants of their television selves and move on to new stories of their own in the canon MCU.
As new evidence continues to push the argument back and forth in either direction, fans recently got their strongest proof yet that these series take place in the MCU. The official Marvel site was updated to list Matt Murdock's Spider-Man: No Way Home role as taking place "sometime later" than the final moments of his Netflix series.
While this seemed like fans had finally got their answer, all mention of No Way Home has now been removed from Daredevil's character bio.
Marvel Removes Spider-Man Events from Daredevil Bio
The Marvel site was updated to remove Matt Murdock's Spider-Man: No Way Home appearance from Daredevil's official on-screen history report.
The "On-Screen Full Report" previously described the three-season Netflix series and The Defenders team-up, before referring to Murdock becoming Peter Parker's lawyer "sometime later" after Season 3's events. The report now ends with the description of Daredevil's series finale, with all mention of Peter Parker and Spider-Man: No Way Home removed completely.
Here's the section that got removed:
"Sometime later, Matt was hired as an attorney to defend Peter Parker, as Peter had been publicly outed as Spider-Man and accused of Mysterio’s murder. Though Peter was legally cleared of any wrongdoing, Matt warned him he’d still have to face the court of public opinion and advised Harold “Happy” Hogan to hire a good lawyer. As if on cue, a protestor threw a brick through the window of the Parkers’ apartment in support of Mysterio. Fortunately, due to his heightened senses, Matt was able to catch the brick before it hurt anyone inside. When Peter asked him how he was able to do that, Matt claimed it was because he was a really good lawyer and left it at that."
Kingpin's "On-Screen Full Report" never mentioned his role in Hawkeye or history with Alaqua Cox's Maya Lopez, but it did include a picture of him in the Disney+ series which remains present on the page.
Marvel Backtracks on Daredevil Canon Confirmation
Just one day after Marvel offered the strongest proof yet that Daredevil is canon to the MCU, they have now quickly stripped that away after it circulated on social media. Why exactly Marvel would remove Matt Murdock's Spider-Man: No Way Home appearance from his on-screen bio is unclear.
Obviously, Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige isn't personally overseeing the publisher's site, and whoever writes these character reports probably doesn't have much in the way of inside knowledge. So the inclusion may have simply been an oversight by the writer who simply assumed it to be the same Matt Murdock.
This may be an indication that the blind lawyer who assisted Peter Parker may be a Variant of the one who fans grew familiar with on Netflix. Or perhaps Marvel wants to wait until future Charlie Cox appearances fill in the gap between Daredevil and No Way Home, instead of simply saying the events take place "sometime later."
After all, Daredevil Season 3 concluded in 2018, six years before Spider-Man: No Way Home's 2024 events. Within this gap there were no doubt plenty of major events in Matt Murdock's life, his law firm could have grown tremendously in that time, he will no doubt have become a far more seasoned crime fighter, and who knows whether he blipped.
Murdock will reportedly return once again in She-Hulk, Echo, and possibly even Armor Wars. All of these ought to offer more clues whether this is the same Daredevil who appeared on Netflix or a Multiversal Variant. But the smoking gun ought to come in his heavily rumored Disney+ series when audiences get to spend an extended period of time with the original cast of characters.
All three seasons of Daredevil are streaming now, exclusively on Disney+.
