Charlie Cox Talks Daredevil Season 3, Elektra vs. Karen and Twitter

Damn, I’m parched. I know you are too. That’s why, in ELLE.com’s Thirst Trap, we talk to the internet’s most thirsted-after celebrities—over a beverage of their choice. What’s it’s like to be a sexy oasis in the desert of life? Is it uncomfortable to be so hot? Is that a LaCroix? We ask the hard questions. Drink up! You’re welcome.

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It would be hubris to think one could show Daredevil—arguably New York’s biggest superhero—any of Gotham’s secrets. Daredevil, born Matt Murdock, knows the city inside out—with all his super-senses, apart from the sight that he’s missing. But drawing actor Charlie Cox into Patent Pending, a darkly atmospheric speakeasy hidden behind a NoMad coffee shop, feels like the closest to a superhero move that a civilian could make: showing something gorgeous beneath the quotidian surface.

Cox has anchored Marvel’s Daredevil for three seasons as the series’ stormy-minded, powerfully moral center. As the lawyer by day/vigilante fighter by night stepped up his fight against crime boss Wilson Fisk (Vincent D’Onofrio), both within the system and outside of it, his split identity became more and more untenable. And now, in season 3, broken by a almost deadly explosion, Daredevil is at rock bottom, wondering exactly who he is and how—or whether—he can truly overcome such a villain.

In the recesses of a New York secret gem, ELLE.com talked to Cox over a water (Cox) and whiskey (me) about which impossible superhero move was his own idea, the future of Marvel’s Daredevil, and possibly one of the most surprising facts about him, or anyone, ever: He only just discovered what LMAO means. (How on earth?)

At the end of season 3 we see Matt throwing back a whiskey. What is your drink of choice?

I don’t drink alcohol. So, my drink of choice…now I sound really boring! Coffee. I love coffee.

Are you a coffee nerd?

I would say no, because I know people who are real coffee nerds. Some of the crew members are real coffee nerds. I’m a coffee…snob.

Are there any English drinks that you miss from home, living in New York?

Ginger beer is harder to find than you think. And call me crazy, but English tea tastes different here. I don’t know why that is. That’s probably psychosomatic but…even if I make it at home! It tastes different.

Season 3 is a wild one to watch. How did it feel to see Matt so lost?

It was tiring, to be that…I don’t want to use the word moody, because it’s supposed to be a little bit more severe than that. But it’s tough to be that cynical all the time—you come to work and it doesn’t feel like a light day. He’s really broken at the beginning, and he’s broken in a new way—not just physically broken, he’s emotionally and spiritually broken, and that’s a new thing for him.

This season, Matt wants to leave “Matt Murdock” behind, and with the fake Daredevil around, too, he’s not completely Daredevil, either. Who is he?

I think he’s in an identity crisis. On top of questioning who he is fundamentally in his core, he’s worried that if he were able to answer his question, he may not like what he discovers about who he really is. When you play a superhero, ultimately you know he’s going to be the good guy somehow, some way. But I wanted to see how far we could push it in the direction, where you might believe that he discovers he’s actually not the good guy.

That must be very bizarre question to ask…if you’ve ever had a situation in your life where you’re like, “Am I totally wrong about this? Am I living a different reality to what I’m thinking about?”—I wanted to bring a sense of that. I read an article about a serial killer in the UK in the ’70s, who had a moment where he was like, “I’m a bad guy.” He thought he was doing God’s work, but he had a moment of, “Oh, I’m actually a monster,” in the middle of a spree.

Matt totally isolates himself and puts a lot into training. I read that you had never really been to the gym before you took this role. Did you have to train more this season?

No. The first season was probably the hardest because I’d never been to the gym, and my whole body was changing. And it’s probably changed for good now in a weird way. When you start going to the gym regularly, having never been, your muscles start to do things…I’d always been athletic, played sports and run, and I’ve done yoga for years. I continue to do all of that stuff; I just add a lot more weightlifting.

In one of the scenes where Matt is training, he does an insane handstand push-up.

That was my idea!

Were you like, What would be the craziest thing he could do?

There are so many training montages in movies. But we were limited—we didn’t have any equipment, because he’s living in a cellar. I didn’t want to do the standard push-ups and pull-ups, so when he’s doing push-ups it’s onto the bricks [demonstrates jumping push-ups]. Which is quite fun. And then the handstand push-up.

Did you ever think you’d become an action hero?

I definitely did not. I think you can die happy knowing you have an action figure. I have a two-year-old daughter, and she saw it. She pointed to it and was like “What’s that?” so I showed it to her. She pulled the head off.

Matt has Wilson Fisk in his head a lot this season. What’s it like having Vincent D’Onofrio as the little birdie on your shoulder?

Uh, pretty scary. The truth is, it was just fun to work with Vincent. We don’t actually get that many scenes together. It was complicated because he was in my head, so geographically he was often quite far away. We couldn’t really hear each other, so we had ear pieces. You’ve got Vincent talking into your ear, and that just kind of does all of the work for you.

Did that seep into your dreams?

It did not.

Fans are nervous about season 4 because some of the other Marvel shows were cancelled. What do you think Matt would be doing in season 4?

Actually, someone came up to me in the street the other day and went, “What’s happening???” He was really panicking, like the world was ending.

Unfortunately, I’ve been asked not to speculate, because it gets picked up and people think that I know and I don’t. The truth is I have no idea! I think the challenge, as with any new season, is that we need that balance of staying the same—because if something is working you don’t want to change it but also being different. There was a cliffhanger at the end of season 3 with a certain character, so if that character could play more of a role in season 4 that would be great, but I genuinely have no idea. Here’s what I’ll say: Maybe it would be nice to see Matt not quite so depressed. Where he can be a little bit more cheerful about things.

You’re not on social media at all—but fan Twitter is very active. I’m going to show you some examples. This one is about an issue very close to the fans’ hearts.

What I’ve said in the past, and what I stand by is that if Matt is ever to find real happiness, it’s not going to be with Elektra. You know? That’s a lot of fun and really, really does not end well. I think if Matt was to ever find a true sense of calm and peace and real love, and have a family and stuff, it would be Karen. But people don’t always make the right choice. Karen feels like a more authentic real love. Not the fickle, exciting, crazy drama psycho love that lasts for a few months and then when things get mundane isn’t really there. That Karen love is potentially much more long-lasting.

The interesting paradox is that Karen doesn’t really know the truth about Matt until the end of season 2. But Elektra does. She knows him in a much more real way—she knows his secret, she knows what makes him tick. So that’s a fun conflict to play with.

I recently saw an interview with you where you learned what LMAO means.

I remember that!

So do you know what LOL is?

Yeah, laugh out loud. I knew that one! I’ve actually used LMAO, compared to “laugh out loud,” because most people write “laugh out loud” and they’re not.

You’d only use LMAO if you were literally laughing your ass off?

I was laughing my ass off! I’ll tell you why. I was asking my wife what was happening later, and she said, “I’ve got my retinal exam so I’m not going to be able to see, and I don’t know what the day is going to look like.” I thought it was the fucking funniest thing. Like, did you hear what you just said? You don’t know “what the day is going to look like“? It’s such a dad joke, but I was crying with laughter.

Speaking of figurines, here’s a nice one…

[Reads aloud] “When you realize Daredevil’s biggest fan is Charlie Cox himself.” [Pauses] Help me understand something here. That feels like they’ve stopped mid-sentence.

It’s a construction used online—you’re supposed to infer that the person feels happy because of that fact.

So you just say that part of the sentence? Okay. I think I kind of get it.

And the visual is the emotional punchline.

Okay, I get it. I genuinely was in a conversation a few years ago, and he went jokingly, “Hashtag humble,” and everyone laughed. I was like, “What on earth is he talking about?”

Did you know what a hashtag was?

No. I knew what a pound sign was, but to me it was like he was saying, “Shall we go to the park question mark?” I had to ask him, and they were trying to explain it to me. They actually explained it really well, that it sums up the intonation of the comment.

So what’s next for you?

I’m going to Daredevil around with the family for a little bit…

What does that mean? You’re going to fight each other?

…as soon as I said it, I was like…okay, no. I mean, I’m going to be with my family for a little bit. I recently got married, which is really exciting, and I might be doing a movie in January, so I’m waiting to find out about that. The nice thing about being on a show that has run consistently over a number of years is that you don’t have to panic so much when the season ends, because hopefully there will be another one. I love the job, I love the character, I love doing it.

Just keep doing those push-ups.

When we were doing that bit, one of the PAs was like, “I can do 25 pull-ups.” And I was like, “No, you can’t. I don’t know anyone who can do 25. I could maybe do 15 if I’m lucky.” So everyone was like, “Alright, let’s see it.” Four. He did four. He’d said it with such confidence.

Marvel’s Daredevil is streaming on Netflix now.

Shot on location at Patent Pending.