Charlie Cox On Daredevil's Powers, Comic Research & Ben Affleck's 2003 Film

Charlie Cox recently chatted about his upcoming Netflix comic book television series Daredevil on E.J. Scott's Scratch The Surface Podcast.

So, what does the new Daredevil think of the old Daredevil? I'm referring to Ben Affleck's 2003 film, which was written and directed by Mark Steven Johnson ("Ghost Rider"). That is the last time we saw the character in live-action form. Thankfully, it won't be the last time. Cox pointed out what he liked and didn't like about the film. "I actually didn't dislike Ben Affleck in it," Cox told E.J. Scott. "I felt like tonally the movie was confused and I didn't feel like Ben Affleck and Colin Farrell were in the same movie. Ironically, I thought that Colin Farrell was closer to what the director was going for. Sometimes he would have en emotional response or a facial expression in a scene that was very representative of a comic panel. I thought it was fun at times, I just don't think to make that movie in that tone suits Daredevil. It doesn't really work for that character and that world."

When an actor snags a superhero role, it is wise to go back and read the comic books that the character is based on and that is what Cox did. "I started with #1, which I really really enjoyed and then the production [crew] sent me stuff that they wanted me to read, that they thought was relevant to what they were writing. So they sent me Daredevil Yellow, they sent me The Man without Fear, obviously. And then they sent me, it's called Daredevil Hardcore." Cox believes the comics that he read helped him understand the tone of Daredevil. And when he received a Marvel Unlimited account he devoured "Bendis/Maleev stuff" as well as "Bendis/Mack and End of Days."

How will Daredevil's powers be portrayed on the show. Cox insists that the following description is of a hypothetical scene and not one from the show itself, but he wanted to illustrated what fans will see. "I'm making this up so there are no spoilers here, there is a scene where I come into the room, and lets say there are guns all over the floor on one side of the room and drugs on the other side of the room," Cox explained. "Im just making this up, I promise I'm just making this up. So lets say that's the scene. I come into the room, and I [Daredevil] can pick up on those things, based on a combination of his senses, smell, gunpowder in the air, taste of cocaine in the air or whatever, he can sense those things. But you can't tell that story on camera without having a camera move that goes to them. Daredevil wouldn't need to look in that direction in order to sense those objects, but the camera needs to. So we had to come up with a way where he has to focus on things in order to kind of sense them, and by focusing he kind of cocks his head towards what it is he's trying to get a sense of, trying to kind of create an image in his mind of what it is, so we can tell that story."

(transcribed by MCU Exchange)

By the way, if you missed the official teaser, click here to check it out.

Daredevil debuts on Netflix, April 10th.