Charlie Cox’s Surprising Confession: A Daredevil Who Never Read a Comic Book

We’re just about a week away from the much-anticipated comeback of Daredevil to our screens with Daredevil: Born Again debuting on Disney Plus on March 4. To coincide with the new series, Marvel has recently reissued the original Born Again storyline in a Premier Edition trade paperback, featuring a foreword by Matt Murdock actor Charlie Cox.

In his foreword (published in full by Collider), Cox confesses to having had an “almost complete ignorance of the vast Marvel universe” prior to being cast in the role, stating, “I had never actually read a comic book, and so great was my lack of knowledge about the character that during my first audition, I failed to depict him as blind – thinking ‘Daredevil’ was simply a term for a skydiver or mountaineer.” However, that changed when he received a Marvel Unlimited subscription and a reading list of titles to help him prepare for the series ahead of filming the initial season of the Netflix show.

Cox went on to mention some of the pivotal comics he read while preparing for the original Netflix series. “I made my way through numerous Daredevil issues, hooked from the very start. I began with all of Frank Miller’s work, then dived back into the character’s origins with Stan Lee and Bill Everett. I’m reluctant to single any out – but alongside Born Again and Man Without Fear, I enjoyed Daredevil: Yellow, Guardian Devil, End of Days, and of course, the captivating run from Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev in the early 2000s.”

Cox’s full foreword is worth a read and reveals his insights on the original arc and how it influences Daredevil. “By stripping Matt Murdock of everything in Born Again, we are shown a view of our hero reduced to his essence. Mirrored thousands of miles away by his greatest love, Karen Page, they literally struggle to take each step. In these breathtaking early pages, Mazzucchelli’s frail Matt is often depicted curled up in the fetal position, contrasted with the imposing figure of Wilson Fisk. The imagery conjured in our minds is just as powerful as Miller’s portrayal of the sinister forces that tear apart Matt’s life. This interplay between the Visual Monster and the unseen malevolence is as haunting and suffocating as it gets!”

The new Premium Edition trade paperback of Daredevil: Born Again is available now from Marvel Comics.

Where does Born Again rank on our list of the best Daredevil comics of all time?