If there was ever a doubt that Matt Murdock was going to return to the MCU after the transfer of Netflix’s original Marvel series to Disney+, as well as Charlie Cox’s brief appearance in Spider-Man: No Way Home, toss those right out the window. The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed that Cox and Daredevil co-star Vincent D’Onofrio are both set to make their return to the MCU proper in Disney+’s upcoming series Echo, which follows the titular Deaf superheroine played by Alaqua Cox, the adoptive daughter of D’Onofrio’s Wilson Fisk and ally to Cox’s Murdock.
D’Onofrio already appeared in Disney+ canon of the MCU back in December, when he played a pivotal role in Hawkeye, the series where Alaqua Cox’s Maya Lopez made her first appearance. Initially an ally of the Kingpin himself, Maya eventually turned on her “uncle”, shooting him in the final moments of the show’s finale episode — but, as the MCU has proven again and again, if you don’t see a body, it’s likely that the character in question isn’t actually dead. That seems to be the case for D’Onofrio, who will likely play into Echo as one of its main antagonists. (I mean, I’d be pretty pissed if my adoptive kid shot me too.)
Echo, however, will be Charlie Cox’s first real introduction into the MCU as it exists today, after making a cameo in No Way Home that didn’t amount to much of anything beyond saving Peter Parker from a jail sentence. This will be the first time Cox has returned to play Matt Murdock on-screen since the cancellation of Daredevil, though whether any of the events of the Netflix-turned-Disney+ series will be considered canon has yet to be confirmed. We’re hoping they will be, because what’s Matt Murdock without Foggy Nelson or Karen Page?
Echo is set to premiere on Disney+ in 2023, with production having begun back in May. Alongside Alaqua Cox and the two Daredevil alums, the series is also set to be a landmark production for Native representation in the MCU, also starring Devery Jacobs, Graham Greene, Chaske Spencer, Tantoo Cardinal, Cody Lightning, and Zahn McClarnon. Plot details are being kept tightly under wraps, though with the return of Cox and D’Onofrio, the series is likely set to draw inspiration from many of Echo’s most iconic comics, where she teams up with Daredevil, another disabled superhero.
Echo has not yet announced a release date.