'She-Hulk' Finally Gave Marvel Fans What They Wanted
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The following story contains spoilers for She-Hulk: Attorney at Law Episode 8, titled "Ribbit and Rip It."
OK, everyone, are you happy? After She-Hulk: Attorney at Law revealed in an early trailer that Charlie Cox would be appearing in the show as Daredevil (after his cameo return as Matt Murdock last year in Spider-Man: No Way Home), then hinting at him little by little, and even teasing his new red and yellow suit at the end of Episode 5, the show finally gave Marvel fans what they wanted in Episode 8, in an episode titled "Ribbit and Rip It."
The episode, named for the motto of bumbling "superhero" Leap-Frog, focuses on Jen (Tatiana Maslany) having to take Eugene Patilio/Leap-Frog (Brandon Stanley) as a client after he got deep burns on his legs from a seemingly-dysfunctional supersuit made by none other than Jen's super tailor, Luke Jacobson. Eugene seems like a dolt, but his father is an important client for GLK&H, and Jen has taken on bigger conflicts of interest before (in Emil Blonsky's parole case), so she doesn't exactly have an excuse not to.
And so we go to court, and who's representing Luke but someone we learned a few weeks ago is one of his star clients: Matt Murdock. After Matt quickly proves in the court of law that Luke is not responsible for Eugene's injuries and that Eugene is the idiot we all clearly saw him as, he and Jen link up for a drink at their local bar of choice, Legal Ease. And the chemistry is real! The rest of the episode goes in a direction we all see coming, as the two Marvel heroes have a pretty self-contained—and super fun—adventure that was well worth the wait.
Charlie Cox finally appears as Matt Murdock/Daredevil in Episode 8 of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law
When Jen and Matt are having a drink, things are going well. They clearly get along, and Matt explains that he's out west helping Luke out in exchange for the new supersuit we saw getting prepped a few weeks ago. Matt mostly does pro bono work at his NYC practice in Hell's Kitchen, he explains to Jen, but every so often he'll need to take some bigger cases to pay the bills. Jen is charmed, by this delightful and smart blind man—until he has to go for "work" purposes. Jen, too, is called away for "work," dealing with the weirdo Todd (Jon Bass) for something that will probably tie into a sinister plot in next week's finale.
But Matt's "work," it turns out, is chasing down Eugene after he—again, an idiot—has taken Luke Jacobson hostage, forcing him to make him a new and working supersuit. Jen finds Matt—in his Daredevil suit—and the two duke it out briefly before she realizes who he is. It's at this point that their team-up goes full-speed ahead.
It's also at this point that the Marvel Cinematic Universe, for the first time, fully recognizes that Matt has history—even if it's not necessarily in this MCU. As Matt explains his whole deal, the theme song from the three-season Daredevil series that Cox starred on alongside Vincent D'Onofrio as Kingpin—which first was produced for Netflix but now lives on Disney+—plays.
This is not totally different from what has happened in the MCU so far with it's two X-Men references; both when Professor Charles Xavier entered in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and when Kamala was told of her "mutation" in Ms. Marvel, a musical que of the "X-Men '97 Theme" has played.It's not entirely clear if this makes the shows canon, but it's pointing in an interesting direction.
She-Hulk and Daredevil have romantic chemistry, which has roots in the Marvel Comics
Given that they're basically the two best and most prominent (superhero) lawyers in the Marvel universe, Matt Murdock and Jen Walters (and Daredevil and She-Hulk) cross paths fairly frequently—and also have been romantically involved fairly frequently too, as we saw happen in the show.
In the show, Matt and Jen basically are flirting nonstop throughout their Leap-Frog adventure, and by the end of the episode we see them connect post-thwarting Leap-Frog, and head back to Jen's place for a nightcap, if you catch my drift. Hilariously, She-Hulk gives us a scene of Daredevil leaving Jen's house on the morning after, barefoot with his boots held over his shoulder, on a Walk of Shame still in full costume. Nikki runs into him on her way to Jen's place and it's all very funny.
She-Hulk and Daredevil's comic history puts them usually on the same side—and in the House of M world, they're romantically together. Sometimes they're fighting, but like basically always in comics, it's constantly changing. But for one of the best She-Hulk and Daredevil connections in the comics, we recommend reading writer Charles Soule's run—Soule himself was a lawyer, and so his legal background make the story between these two quite fun, and quite compelling.
We'll see Daredevil again in Echo in 2023
If this episode got you excited to see more Daredevil action in the MCU... mission accomplished! Charlie Cox will next play the character again in next year's Echo series, alongside Alaqua Cox (no relation), who will be reprising the titular role she debuted in 2021's Hawkeye. Vincent D'Onofrio will also return in Echo as Kingpin, the famous Marvel villain who has deep connections to both Echo and Daredevil.
It's not clear whether Daredevil or Kingpin's roles in Echo will be as part of the main cast or closer to supporting roles or cameos, but it's worth noting that Echo's origin story comes from a late '90s run of Daredevil comics written by Brian Michael Bendis, and that her ending in Hawkeye—with her holding Kingpin at gunpoint—was essentially word for word, scene for scene, taken from that comic run.
So it wouldn't be a surprise if Echo is a key showcase for all three characters.
And again in Daredevil: Born Again in 2024
The biggest draw for Daredevil fans, though, has got to be Daredevil: Born Again, which is scheduled to be an 18-part series that will debut on Disney+ in 2024. Charlie Cox and Vincent D'Onofrio were confirmed to star (as Daredevil and Kingpin, of course) at the D23 expo last month.
The title—Daredevil: Born Again—is an interesting choice, considering that's also the title of one of the character's most famous arcs, written in 1986 by Frank Milller with art drawn by David Mazzucchelli. This comic is dark, and deals with mature themes like addiction and abuse—so if Marvel feels like going there to the extent that the Netflix series did, this is an arc to adapt. But it could also just be taking the name! At this point, we don't know.
Again, it's not entirely clear whether or not the Daredevil series that aired on Netflix for three seasons is considered canon to the MCU or not—but the Born Again series will certainly give fans their best look yet at the character who will make his name in the world of Steve Rogers, Tony Stark, and all your other favorites.
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