Charlie Cox is open to playing Daredevil into his 60s — Marvel should let him

Give us 'Old Man Murdock'

Charlie Cox has been playing Daredevil for more than a decade now, and in a recent interview, he let it be known that he might be down for a couple more decades in the cowl. In the interview with Josh Horowitz for the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Cox was asked if he would be interested in playing Daredevil for another five or 10 years. In reply, Cox cited Charles Soule's recent Daredevil run called “Cold Day in Hell,” which depicts Daredevil in his late 60s to early 70s. Referring to the comic, Cox said, “That buys me another 20 years.”

While he said it with a laugh, Cox did seem sincere about sticking around as Daredevil for as long as possible. And if he really is interested in playing The Man Without Fear into his senior years, Marvel should do whatever it can to make that happen.

As a dedicated follower of comic book films for both DC and Marvel, I have always wanted to see an actor stick with a role long enough to portray the character at different phases in their own life and in the life of their respective superhero. This is particularly true of old age, which is very rarely seen in comic book films, despite the fact that some truly wonderful superhero stories take place with aged heroes, like Marvel’s Old Man Logan and DC’s The Dark Knight Returns.

The closest we’ve gotten to this so far has been Hugh Jackman’s take on Wolverine, which began 26 years ago and, thanks to his successful return to the role in Deadpool & Wolverine, seems like it will continue for at least a few more years. However, there are a couple of issues with that. Thanks to Wolverine’s healing factor, the character isn’t supposed to age all that much and while Hugh Jackman is aging beautifully, it’s not as though he’s not aging at all. Plus, 2017’s Logan already perfectly told the end of Wolverine’s story. While I already feel it’s been at least somewhat undermined by Jackman’s return, I’d hate to see the film further eroded by yet another Old Man Logan-type story.

Similarly, while elements of The Dark Knight Rises can be seen in both Christian Bale’s and Ben Affleck’s takes on the character, neither was truly old when they played him. Michael Keaton was up there when he returned for The Flash, but that movie wasted the opportunity to bring back the Batman '89 actor. I really would have liked to have seen the long-talked-about Batman Beyond film with Keaton as the Caped Crusader one last time, but James Gunn famously killed that when he came on as head of DC Studios — he personally never cared for Keaton's Batman.

With Keaton in Batman Beyond being a missed opportunity and Jackman being somewhat limited by the constraints of Wolverine’s superpowers, Daredevil and Charlie Cox may present a unique opportunity. While Charlie Cox is a wonderful actor, he hasn’t found a ton of success outside of Daredevil, or at least not the kind of success that seems to make some actors, like Scarlett Johansson, want to move on from franchise roles.

Daredevil would be especially interesting to see in his senior years, perhaps even with fading powers like he has in “Cold Day in Hell.” Unlike some of Marvel’s more operatic characters, Daredevil has been portrayed as an especially human hero in the MCU, and it could be really fascinating to see him presented with the same vulnerabilities — including loss of sight — that catch up to everyone in old age.

Cox will return as Daredevil/Matt Murdock in season 3 of Daredevil: Born Again, which is currently filming and expected to arrive in 2027.