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Daredevil's Charlie Cox Once Considered for Superman

Before Warner Bros cast Henry Cavill, things looked bleak before and after the lackluster box office performance of Superman Returns (2006). Filmmakers like Kevin Smith, Tim Burton, and George Miller had developing plans for the Last Son of Krypton. Smith and Burton's Superman Lives featured Nicolas Cage in the title role. Miller eyed D.J. Cotrona as the Man of Steel partnering with Arnie Hammer's Batman in Justice League: Mortal. A third project emerged that never came to light with Matthew Vaughn and Mark Millar in discussions to front the film for Warner Bros in 2008. Among the names tossed around was Charlie Cox long before he became Marvel's Daredevil. Millar spoke with the Aspiring Kryptonian about the process. "Matthew Vaughn and I had talked about doing a Superman film, years ago," he said. "It was around the time Kick-Ass was coming out, and it's funny, I've seen so many people say, 'Millar's pitch.' I never wrote a pitch. I had an idea of what it could be, but I never really told Matthew what it was, and Matthew never told DC what it was because he didn't know. [He] and I had a lot of chats about who could play Superman. We never really talked about story. Weirdly, his idea was really interesting, which was Charlie Cox, the guy who played Daredevil."

How Charlie Cox Would Fit as Superman

One of Millar's most renowned comics was "Superman: Red Son" (2003), which tweaked Kal-El's landing on earth. Instead of his ship crashing in Kansas, he ended up in the Soviet Union. The inspiration behind Cox as a possibility came from Vaughn's time working with the actor on Stardust (2007). Coincidentally, Cavill was his co-star in the film. Cox's physical stature came up in Vaughn and Millar's conversation. "Matthew had just worked with Charlie on Stardust a year or two before," he said. "He's like, 'There's just something really likable about him.' And he said, 'I know he's not big, and Superman's always big' — Charlie's only about 5'8", 5'9" or something — He says, 'But he looks a bit like the Golden Age Superman when he's a bit more like a regular person.'" If WB cast Cox as Superman, would he agree to the role of Daredevil later? As far as hypotheticals go, we could only imagine. After all, there are plenty of actors who hand their hands in both DC and Marvel's pies. Among them include Djimon Hounsou who plays Korath in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the wizard in DC's Shazam! (2019). While Korath made his MCU debut in Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), he reprised the role in Captain Marvel (2019) released the same year as Shazam. Zachary Levi, who played the title role in Shazam!, was previously MCU's Fandral, who met a grisly end at the ends of Hela (Cate Blanchett) in Thor: Ragnarok (2017). Even though Vaughn and Millar didn't get to make their Superman film, they made out just fine working other comic film projects like Kick-Ass 2 (2013). Vaughn reinvigorated the X-Men franchise with First Class (2011) and the Kingsman franchise. With Cavill's uncertainty with the DC Extended Universe and Daredevil canceled, do you see Cox getting a real shot playing Superman? How do you think it would turn out? You can watch the interview below.

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