Daredevil: Born Again star Charlie Cox recently appeared at Motor City Comic Con, where he opened up a major stunt scene that was cut from the Season 2 premiere, "The Northern Star."
The sequence in question was going to feature the Man Without Fear taking a leap of faith, though the second season did dial back on scenes with the hero swinging through Hell's Kitchen. The few featured in Season 1 received a mixed response; some fans loved seeing those moments from the comics recreated on screen, while others argued that they didn't fit such a grounded series.
That might explain why Daredevil jumping from a bridge onto a boat below wasn't included in the premiere, despite it once being planned as a thrilling introduction for 'ol Hornhead.
According to Cox (via ScreenRant), despite spending weeks planning and rehearsing this scene—which required him to jump from an indoor, albeit still very high platform—it was ultimately left on the cutting room floor.
While frustrating for the actor, he acknowledged that these things happen sometimes and admitted it was likely for the best.
"They had me do a stunt last year that I hate. It took a lot of courage. I was genuinely really nervous, the most nervous I've ever been. It took a lot of preparation. I had to go in and practice it over and over and over again to get it right, and then they cut it out of the show.
"Right at the beginning of season two, right before you see the suit for the first time, you see the boat, the Northern Star, goes under a bridge, and then you see a little figure drop from the bridge onto it, right at the beginning of the show, right? So they had devised a more iconic moment for that, where you saw a close-up of me on the bridge. You saw the DD's for the first time, and then the camera is really close, and then the camera pulled away. I stand. I turn, and then I do - You guys know what a trust fall is? Yes, I had to do a trust fall off, and it wasn't on the bridge, we built it in the studio, but it was still 25-30 feet off the ground, and there's no mats. I like said to them, 'Where are the mats?' And they were like, no, you're wired. I'm like, 'Right, but...' And they were like, 'Those mats aren't going to help you. We'll put them there, but the mats are probably gonna make it more dangerous for you.'"
"So I had to do the craziest trust fall you've ever done, up 25 feet in the air, and I would fly back backwards as well, right? And then I fly down, and then the ropes, we have an amazing rigging team, the stunt rigging team. They're incredible. I trust them implicitly. I was still hurling my pants. They cut it out and when I found out, I was like, 'What?' I was like, 'I need to have that footage.'"
"To be fair to them, this is a good example...There's an expression, you've heard the expression, 'Kill your darlings'? It's when you've got something that you become emotionally attached to, and you can't bring yourself to let it go, but it's better for the piece of art if you let it go, and this is an example of that. It didn't tell the story succinctly enough, and it wasn't the best opening. If we lived in a world with DVD extras, you guys would get to see it, but we don't anymore. That was very fun to do, and terrifying."
Funnily enough, footage of the scene does exist. While we don't see the jump itself, the VFX reel below shows Daredevil perched on a bridge moments before taking the leap Cox is referring to.
Daredevil: Born Again Season 2 is now streaming on Disney+.