Tom Holland might not necessarily be reprising his famous MCU role in upcoming Disney+ animated series Spider-Man: Freshman Year—a cartoon recounting of the first year the MCU’s Peter Parker spent slinging webs—but that doesn’t mean it’ll be devoid of live-action talent. Specifically, Marvel revealed at its (first) San Diego Comic-Con panel this week (covering its animated projects; the big live-action MCU panel is tomorrow) that Charlie Cox will appear on the series, reprising his role as costumed vigilante Daredevil.
This is, of course, not the first time Cox has returned to the part of lawyer/ass-kicker Matt Murdock since his old Netflix Marvel show got limbo’d out of existence by friction between the two streamers a few years back; he made a surprise cameo in last year’s Spider-Man: No Way Home in his civilian guise, confirming that some version of Daredevil still existed in the mainstream MCU.
Cox has never been shy about expressing his desire to return to the role, expressing his disappointment when Marvel’s Daredevil was abruptly ended after its third season, and sounding positively gleeful any time the chance to take back up Murdock’s little hitting-people-sticks came up.
In addition to the Daredevil reveal, the Freshman Year panel also revealed a few other things about the show, including the fact that Peter Parker’s never-ending quest for Science Daddys started early and often, with the villainous Norman Osborn (a.k.a. The Green Goblin) appearing early on. (We seem to recall Peter being unfamiliar with Willem Dafoe’s version of Norman in No Way Home, but it’s not like Marvel’s retcon abilities aren’t potent by now.)
The panel also revealed some of the other Marvel teen characters Spidey will be bouncing off of in the series, including Norman’s son Harry, Hulk fanboy and super-genius Amadeus Cho, and Runaways’ Nico Minoru. (No word yet on whether Lyrica Okana, who played Nico on Hulu’s Runaways show, and who’s apparently set to reprise the role for the upcoming Marvel’s Midnight Suns video game, will be playing her here.)
Freshman Year was announced last year; no word yet on when it’ll arrive on Disney+ (beyond “2024"), or who’ll be playing Peter when it does.