Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige opens up on the possibility of bringing Netflix's Marvel characters into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The streaming universe consisted of Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, The Punisher and Iron Fist and began with in 2015 with the Charlie Cox-starring series centered on the blind lawyer/vigilante. The show would later spawn the Jon Bernthal-led spin-off following the ruthless Frank Castle while Jessica Jones would introduce Mike Colter's Luke Cage to the screen before he went on to get his own series.
The group of heroes would eventually get a crossover miniseries, The Defenders, which saw generally positive reviews but became the lowest-rated of the streaming platform's Marvel series. After the majority of the shows received second and third seasons, Netflix would ultimately cancel all of the series by early 2019 as Marvel Television would be rolled into the larger Marvel Studios and their deal with the streaming platform would expire with Disney building their own service, Disney+. The Netflix Marvel characters have had to sit on the sideline for the past two years due to the contract stipulating that Marvel couldn't use them without the streamer for two years after the expiration of their deal, though with two years now up, audiences are eager to see the street-level heroes return.
While speaking exclusively with Screen Rant to discuss Spider-Man: No Way Home, Feige opened up about the possibility of bringing Netflix's Marvel characters to the main MCU. Though Feige wouldn't confirm any proper plans, he did tease that audiences could see these heroes on screen again in the near future and explained his process for bringing new and returning characters into the franchise. See what Feige said below:
"I always say that whenever a character comes back into the Marvel sandbox, it becomes another tool in the storytelling ability of the MCU. As I said before, the good news is, all will be revealed when people actually finally watch."
The debate over the return of Netflix's Marvel characters to the MCU has largely been regarding how their transition should be handled. The streaming shows were all technically connected to the MCU, with Daredevil referring to the battle against the Chitauri in The Avengers as "The Incident" while Luke Cage made multiple references to Thor and Iron Man in its first season alone. Though Feige's comments may be pretty secretive regarding these returns, his note of "good news" coming to audiences in the near future does seem to point towards the bridge between the two MCUs properly connecting.
This falls in line with Feige's recent confirmation that Charlie Cox will indeed return as Daredevil to the MCU, which also lines up with rumors that the character is set to appear in Spider-Man: No Way Home, an idea the actor has been carefully dodging for months. Jessica Jones' Krysten Ritter and The Punisher's Jon Bernthal have both expressed interest in returning to their roles, while the latest Disney+ MCU series Hawkeye has teased the possibility of Vincent D'Onofrio's Kingpin returning from Daredevil. Only time will tell as new episodes of Hawkeye air on Wednesdays while Spider-Man: No Way Home is set to hit theaters on December 17.
