Tom Holland’s Spider-Man: No Way Home had an insane amount of audience-pleasing moments. Everyone knows the feeling; those scenes where the entire theater is clapping, cheering, and potentially even out of their seats with excitement. A majority of these came thanks to the entrances and continued stay of both Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Men.
They were far from the only cameos in the film. One of the other massive surprises was the return of Charlie Cox, who plays the blind vigilante of Hell’s Kitchen, Daredevil.
Prior to that, the character hadn’t been seen since Netflix's Daredevil cancelation in 2018. Many fans assumed they’d never see the actor in the role again, so when he appeared in that chair next to Holland, cheers were heard across the world.
However, not only was the cheering not the case for Cox’s in-theater viewing, but his personal disappointment was even greater thanks in part to Loki’s Tom Hiddleston.
The Accidental Hiddleston Disappointment
In an interview with ComicBook.com, Daredevil’s Charlie Cox talked about a previous story he had told about him going to a theater to see Spider-Man: No Way Home and receiving a silent reaction from the audience during his appearance in it.
The star set the scene by revealing how “one of [his] first phone calls” after learning he’d return as Matt Murdock was to Loki’s Tom Hiddleston:
“One of my first phone calls, when I found out I was coming back, even though I was trying not to tell anyone, I was living in fear for two years of it being leaked, it was this big surprise. When I was on the set, I was wearing the thing everywhere, blah, blah. One of my first phone calls, and I knew I could tell him because I also knew he knew, was Tom Hiddleston, he’s one of my best friends.”
One of the first things Hiddleston said to Cox was: “whatever you do when the film comes out, you’ve got to sneak into the back of a theater:”
“He said to me, and he was shooting Loki at the time, so he’d spoken to those guys, and he knew, and they knew we were friends, and all that stuff, so he knew about it. I spoke to him, and he said to me, ‘Whatever you do when the film comes out, you’ve got to sneak into the back of a theater because it will go crazy.’ And I remember thinking, no, it won’t. It’ll be nice to be there, but I think he’s thinking what it would be like for Loki to appear in that moment, where the Loki fan base is unlike anything I’ve ever seen in my life.”
The Daredevil star admitted that he “didn’t really believe it,” even though friends of his attending the film’s official premiere raved to him about how his scene got a “huge reaction:”
“But it was nice him to say, but I didn’t really believe it. When we were shooting the scene, the creative decision was made, they were going to build in a moment for the fans to react before any lines were said. We had this shot with the cane, and then the camera comes around before I say anything. I remember them talking about it on set, and I’m like, ‘I hope it’s worth it, this is dead silent.’ Anyway, the movie’s coming out, and obviously, I’m not at the premiere because I’m a secret all this kind of stuff. But I have friends at the premier who texted me and called me, and they were like, “Oh my God, it was a huge reaction.”
While the star initially held off on going to the theater because of COVID-19 concerns, he and his wife ended up going to “a big IMAX near our house.”
Cox went on to say that his “wife was going to record [his] reaction,” however, when the big moment came, “the theater… was dead quiet:”
“My cousins get to go and see the movie in the first weekend, and they filmed it, and there’s this big reaction, and there are a few on YouTube that people have sent me. I’m getting loads of emails and texts, and I knew I was going anyway, but I just wasn’t sure when, and I was traveling, I was worried about COVID and being in a movie theater and all of those kind of things. My wife and I were like, ‘We’re going.’ I’m not going to say where, but we went through a big IMAX near our house. I’m not on social media, but I was vaguely thinking about, my wife was going to record my reaction to the reaction, and maybe it would be a nice thing, and I could then give that footage to Marvel or Sony and have them release it as a nice little moment. For whatever reason, the theater I was in was dead quiet, it was tumbleweed. I think I heard one person go, one person went, ‘Oh,’ and that was it.”
The actor admitted how “it was a real letdown,” but it all did make for “a funny story:”
“It was a real letdown, it was a shame. You can go online, you can go on YouTube, you can type in, ‘Spiderman reaction to Daredevil entrance,’ and there are some amazing reactions. I did not get that experience. It’s kind of a funny story.”
But does the video of this crushing disappointment still exist? Cox noted that it’s “on [his] wife’s phone,” but that he did share the story with Hiddleston, who "thought it was very, very funny":
“Yeah. On my wife’s phone… It literally ends with me going, 'Shut it off'… I shared that story with Tom and he thought it was very, very funny. He was both right and wrong about that.”
Everyone Cheer for Charlie Cox
Some fans may find it disheartening to hear how this was the case the first time Charlie Cox talked about it. To many, the character deserved every last clap, hoot, and holler.
It is funny, though, how Tom Hiddleston’s genuine hype for Cox ended up falling flat on its face. At least it gave the two a good laugh. The Loki actor probably has never seen such a silent theater reaction to any of his appearances as the God of Mischief, so he likely didn’t even think such a downer response was in the cards.
Though, it is partially on Cox himself. From the sounds of it, he didn’t go to an opening weekend showing. Any later than that, and many fans may know how their chances of such an excitable theater experience will lessen dramatically the further away from those first few days.
There simply isn’t a world where the actor was going to witness the same reaction that occurred during the film’s premiere night, provided it was days after the project’s release.
Spider-Man: No Way Home will be available for home release on March 22, 2022.
