While speaking during Disney+’s virtual press tour for the Television Critics Association, Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige offered a noticeably optimistic hint about the fate of Marvel’s Netflix characters along with some clarifications. While Netflix famously canceled the darker, more edgier titles that included Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, and The Punisher as Disney began to make aggressive plans for its own streaming services, there’s always been a fuzziness about how Marvel could use the characters once the rights eventually reverted back to them.
Granted, the shows were theoretically set in the MCU, but that connection was always one-way and tenuous at best, so it would make sense if Marvel just rebooted the characters. However, according to Feige, we could see some interesting movement on that front based on his answer to whether or not properties like The Punisher and Jessica Jones could return on Disney+. Via Deadline:
“I think we probably could do it, I think a lot of that stuff comes back to us. There’s always rumors online about things reverting, sometimes that’s true, sometimes it’s not, but I’m not exactly sure of the exact contracts but perhaps someday.”
The rumors that Feige is referencing include reports that Charlie Cox has allegedly been spotted on the set of Spider-Man: No Way Home and will be making his first, 100% official appearance as Daredevil in the MCU. Obviously, if the reports are true, the notoriously secretive Feige would like to keep that under wraps, which is why he’s being purposefully vague about when the Netflix rights expire. We’re talking about a guy who personally approves scenes in WandaVision. He almost certainly knows which Marvel characters are back in play, and which ones aren’t. Yet.
(Via Deadline)