"New Yorkers are tough," Mayor Wilson Fisk declared in Daredevil: Born Again's second episode. "We know how to take care of ourselves. We don’t need a gun-toting vigilante who wears a skull on his chest, or a man who dresses in a spider outfit, or a guy who wears devil horns to save us..."
That vague reference is the closest we get to seeing Tom Holland's Spider-Man in the Disney+ series. Charlie Cox made his official MCU debut as Matt Murdock in 2021's Spider-Man: No Way Home, prompting speculation that Daredevil: Born Again might somehow return the favour.
Fans have long dreamed of seeing Spider-Man and Daredevil share the screen, and while Peter Parker's meeting with his "very good" lawyer was a nice nod to their shared history on the page, it wasn't enough.
So, why doesn't Spider-Man appear in Daredevil: Born Again? It comes down to complicated rights issues. While Marvel Studios can use the web-slinger in the MCU, it's at Sony's discretion, and that studio won't give the thumbs up to gratuitous cameos that don't benefit the franchise they own.
Spider-Man on television is also something of a tangled web. As Marvel Television boss Brad Winderbaum recently explained, "You know I’m not sure exactly what the rules are, but I think [Sony] have long-form television rights, I don’t know if that means he can show up. You can do like 30-minute animation I think."
Those long-form television rights explain why we got Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man from Marvel Animation. Sony and Amazon/MGM, meanwhile, are developing the upcoming live-action Spider-Noir series starring Nic Cage.
Daredevil: Born Again's creative overhaul won't have helped matters either, as there's only so much that could be done given the restrictions created by the previous creative team (who planned for this to be more legal procedural than superhero drama).
A full-blown team-up here was never overly likely for a multitude of reasons, though it's still strange to see nothing of how Spidey reacts to his vigilante activities being outlawed, especially when his last movie ended by making him a street-level superhero. There's always a chance Spider-Man: Brand New Day will touch on that, of course.
That happening hinges on the movie being a street-level adventure rather than another Multiversal tale set after Avengers: Doomsday.
Unfortunately, with Daredevil: Born Again telling its own self-contained story, it feels like Matt Murdock will remain in his own separate corner of the MCU for the foreseeable future. With any luck, he'll at least reunite with some fellow Defenders.
"A masterpiece of epic proportions, Daredevil: Born Again delivers a powerful, unmissable take on the Man Without Fear," we said in our review. "Putting street-level heroics on the map in a way that promises to change the MCU forever, the show is sublime superhero storytelling on a whole new level."
All episodes of Daredevil: Born Again are now streaming on Disney+.