Netflix has confirmed that Daredevil, The Punisher and more, once believed to be a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, will no longer be available on the platform in the coming weeks.
All of the Marvel shows on Netflix -- including Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, The Defenders and The Punisher -- currently bear notices informing viewers that they will be leaving Netflix on March 1. It is unknown where the shows will be available to watch following their removal.
Marvel Studios and Netflix had a complicated relationship during the early stages of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Following the success of Avengers and its subsequent films, numerous television shows were launched to expand on the growing franchise including ABC's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D and Netflix's critically acclaimed Daredevil, among others.
Daredevil ran for three seasons between 2015 and 2018. In that time, it launched Punisher and Jessica Jones, which in turn launched Luke Cage, followed by Iron Fist. The latter four series culminated in a single season of the Defenders miniseries. Much like the other series supposedly set in the MCU, while Netflix's Marvel shows provided subtle acknowledgments of Marvel Studios' films, the films never provided any references to the events or characters of the Netflix series, resulting in uncertainty regarding their status within MCU canon.
In 2018, all of Netflix's Marvel series were canceled and ultimately removed from canon. While the exact details were never publicly revealed, it is widely believed that Marvel opted to cancel the shows in preparation for the launch of Disney+. Actor Vincent D'Onofrio, who played Kingpin, recently explained, "We understood what Marvel was doing because Disney+ [was] coming out... When you're in this business a long time like we have all been, it kind of made sense business-wise. What didn't make sense to us was why we wouldn't continue that show or the idea of how that worked and how well it worked.
That changed in 2021 with Disney+'s Hawkeye and Spider-Man: No Way Home, which re-introduced Kingpin and Daredevil to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, respectively, with actors D'Onofrio and Charlie Cox attached. This followed months of rumors concerning their involvement in numerous projects. However, there has been no news or announcements concerning fellow Netflix/Marvel characters Jessica Jones, Luke Cage or Iron Fist.
It was recently reported that Cox's appearance in No Way Home, as well as D'Onofrio's earlier return as Kingpin, resulted in a spike in viewership for Netflix's Daredevil. On the week of the film's release, the series placed eighth on Nielsen's SVOD list for original programs with 195 million viewership minutes across all three seasons.
Source: Netflix, via The Digital Fix