Charlie Cox Wants Daredevil To Meet The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Fan-driven mash-ups tend to be annoying for a variety of reasons. They're often as imaginative as a kid making his Star Wars action figures fight the Micronauts (sorry, I'm old), and utterly implausible because these properties are typically owned by competing studios/networks/streamers. But the seemingly silly team-up Charlie Cox floated at last week's FanExpo Dallas, while highly unlikely, was at least inspired by actual comic book lore.

Yes, a potential crossover event featuring Daredevil and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles isn't some out-of-the-blue flight of fan fiction. Though the characters exist in tonally different universes (especially if we're talking Frank Miller's take on The Man Without Fear), the essence of Daredevil, namely his origin story, can be found in the butt-kicking, pizza-fiending Heroes in a Half-Shell's DNA. Though I personally would have no interest in watching such an abomination, give Cox some credit: he knows his superhero history and his audience.

How would this work? I'll hand it over to the man who was Daredevil and shall be once more when "Daredevil: Born Again" hits Disney+ in 2024.

When asked by a convention attendee as to whether he was aware of Daredevil's influence on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles origin story, Cox flashed his nerd cred. Evidently, he learned of this connection a couple of years ago. As he told the fan:

"[A]pparently, the creators of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were big Daredevil fans of the comic. And so in Daredevil, the toxic spillage that blinded Matt Murdock in his origin story, it then went into the sewers, and it created the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Which is why in Daredevil, we have Stick, and then the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, they have Splinter. And then there's the Hand and the Foot. Anyway, I like that. I love that stuff. It's pretty cool."

Miller's early 1980s Daredevil run wasn't the only source of inspiration for TMNT creators Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird. When the first, independently published issues hit comic stores in 1984, fans embraced it as a parody of popular titles like "The Uncanny X-Men," "Teen Titans," "Howard the Duck" and, of course, the blind crimefighter. The series skewed a little older at that point, but eventually found its kiddie following via the animated series, and New Line's blockbuster 1990 feature.

Given the bruisingly violent nature of Cox's Netflix series, any episode involving the quip-happy quartet of reptiles would have to be a one-off parody. It would also require Marvel Studios and Paramount to reach a rights-sharing agreement that would be more trouble than it's worth.

Still, Cox left his audience with a sliver of hope.

"So you can't really answer that. Can I tell you why? Because every time you answer that question so publicly, it then becomes a news story, and then as soon as it becomes a news story, you can't do it. So I'm really hesitant to do that. What will never happen, which would be really cool – I can say this – it'd be really cool if the Ninja Turtles showed up in Daredevil."

So keep the faith, fans. I think an R-rated "Elektra 2" starring Jennifer Garner has a better chance of happening, but don't let me befoul your sewer of dreams.