Daredevil star reveals big-screen MCU absence is because of rights issues

Fans were pleasantly surprised by Charlie Cox’s MCU debut as Matt Murdock, but the Kingpin isn’t slated for a big-screen debut or Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man cameo, and now we might know why.

The insight comes from comments made during Fan Expo Boston 2024, as reported by Comic Book. During the panel, Vincent D’Onofrio was asked if he would be joining Charlie Cox for any of his upcoming MCU appearances, like the animated series Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man.

Fans may have been hoping for a fairly straightforward answer from the two stars of Daredevil: Born Again. Instead, they learned the situation is far more complicated than expected.

(Conversation begins at 18:16)

“I’m going to transparently say this: You know the whole Marvel-Sony thing, right?” D’Onofrio told the crowd. “So there are characters — Marvel characters invented by Marvel, written by Marvel — that are caught in between Marvel and Sony. And so it takes a long time for them to figure out who is doing what.

“My character is in that kind of situation, unlike Charlie’s. So I don’t know, it’s part of the deal when it comes to playing Kingpin.”

The Marvel/Sony situation has long been a thorn in the side of the MCU. In the ’90s, Marvel sold the film rights for Spider-Man and several related characters to Sony. However, Marvel retained some rights, such as animation, which is why several Marvel-produced Spider-Man series have continued.

Daredevil suffered a similar issue, but that was seemingly solved when Disney outright bought Fox, who owned the film rights for Daredevil, Fantastic Four, and others. However, while agreements have been reached to use Spider-Man and related characters in the MCU, those film rights remain with Sony.

But it seems Kingpin, who is traditionally a mortal foe of both Daredevil and Spider-Man, may still be in that rights limbo. While Fox used Kingpin for their live-action Daredevil film, it’s not entirely clear where the character’s rights actually lie now. It’s entirely possible Marvel is only able to use Kingpin for television and animated series, but not films.

Regarding Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, it may be as simple as the show just not using Kingpin. The series is set in the early days of an alternate reality version of the MCU Spider-Man, for whom Norman Osborn is a mentor rather than Tony Stark.

When the series was announced in 2021, Charlie Cox was revealed to be reprising his role as Daredevil. Other MCU heroes and villains, such as Doctor Octopus, Doctor Strange, and Nico Minoru, will appear as well. A recent rumor hinted that D’Onofrio may appear, but nothing has been confirmed.

No release date for Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man has been announced. If you can’t wait, though, you can get your fix when both Cox and D’Onofrio reprise their roles for Daredevil: Born Again in 2025.

While you’re waiting for that show to release, you have time to catch up on every superhero movie and TV show coming in 2024, or you can read all about the best new movies on streaming and the best new shows on streaming this month.