Claire Temple (Marvel Cinematic Universe)

• 1. Introduction

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  Claire Temple pulls Matt Murdock out of a dumpster in the first season of Daredevil. She does not yet know that he prowls Hell's Kitchen in a mask at night.

  Rosario Dawson plays her, a nurse built in 2015 to patch up vigilantes nobody else in the show can trust with a hospital visit. Temple does not stay inside Daredevil's story for long. Marvel brings her back across Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Iron Fist and The Defenders, one nurse stitched through four different casts.

  She started as a stand-in for a name Marvel could not use. What was that name, and what made one performance convincing enough to carry a single character across five separate productions?

• 2. A Nurse To Three Heroes

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  The mafia kidnaps Temple soon after, using her as bait to draw Daredevil into a trap. Murdock saves her, but the two agree the risk is too high for a relationship, despite an obvious spark between them. She keeps treating his injuries anyway, and he leans on her access to Metro-General Hospital whenever he needs it.

  At Metro-General, in Jessica Jones, Temple is on duty the night a badly hurt Luke Cage arrives, and she nurses him on Jessica Jones's behalf. In Daredevil's second season, Temple quits her hospital job after administrators try to cover up a coworker's death following an attack by The Hand. She leaves Hell's Kitchen for Harlem, where her mother keeps a diner, and reconnects with Cage in his own series. She helps him defend the neighborhood and falls for him, but he is arrested before they can act on it.

  Temple later starts training at Colleen Wing's dojo, and it is through Wing that she meets Danny Rand in Iron Fist. She helps Rand in his fight against The Hand, the same group that drove her from her old job.

  By The Defenders, Cage is let out of jail early because of Foggy Nelson, and Temple resumes their relationship before introducing him to Rand.

  In Luke Cage's second season, Temple grows wary of Cage's unresolved issues with his father and his approach to justice. After an argument, she asks for a break. By the season's end, Cage has moved on completely. When Temple tries to enter Harlem's Paradise to see him, she is turned away at the door.

• 3. Building The Night Nurse

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  Rosario Dawson joins Daredevil's cast in June 2014, though Marvel does not reveal she will play Temple until that October. Daredevil showrunner Steven S. DeKnight later said the role was first meant to be the actual Night Nurse from the comics. Word came back that it was possible "the feature side" would use her and "had plans for her down the road," DeKnight explained. That forced the show to rename her Claire Temple, a more obscure character from the comics.

  In May 2015, Dawson signed an exclusive TV deal with Marvel. It let her return for Daredevil's second season and appear in any other Marvel Netflix series. She said she signs on for a year at a time, for a set number of episodes. She only learns which show they belong to closer to filming. That July, Jessica Jones showrunner Melissa Rosenberg confirmed Dawson would be "dropping in," giving her a guest spot in the season finale. Before Jessica Jones premiered that November, Marvel released a tie-in comic prequel featuring Daredevil and Jessica Jones characters, including Temple. The comic was meant to explore "the connective tissue that will build between the series."

  Marvel announced in September 2015 that Dawson would join Luke Cage, a part Cage actor Mike Colter called a "significant part." Colter noted that the comics version of Claire Temple was originally introduced as a love interest for Cage. Colter also said the show gives Claire "a large storyline... she helps out a lot." The show also gave Temple a mother, played by Sonia Braga. It nodded to her comic-book role as Night Nurse too, when Sean Ringgold's character Sugar calls her "the night nurse" with open scorn.

  Marvel Television head Jeph Loeb explained why Temple spreads across so many shows, a role compared to how Nick Fury threads through the MCU films. He said it came down to one thing. "It wasn't just that Claire fit so well in those worlds, it's that Rosario fit so well in those worlds," Loeb said. When Temple first turns up in Daredevil's second season, she carries "a cut in her eyebrow." Daredevil actor Charlie Cox said the detail came from another series. He explained that "the timeline had been thought through and worked out" to connect all of Dawson's appearances.

  In July 2016, Dawson could not promote Luke Cage because she was, in her words, "back in New York... filming something else for Marvel TV." That project was confirmed that October to be Iron Fist, with her appearance set up at the end of Luke Cage. A month after that October confirmation, Marvel revealed she would also reprise the role in the crossover miniseries The Defenders. Dawson said she wanted a cameo in The Punisher too, a Daredevil spin-off, but a scheduling conflict ruled it out.

  After finishing Luke Cage's second season, Dawson admitted she had grown reluctant to keep adding appearances. Each New York shoot pulled her away from her family. She still said she would return to Luke Cage if it was renewed. She repeated her interest in The Punisher too, "just so I can feel like I've done every show." Dawson also revealed she had asked Luke Cage showrunner Cheo Hodari Coker to let her help write Temple's final scene of the season. She considered that scene the culmination of three years of work. She felt the scene, which ends Temple's relationship with Cage in an argument, had initially leaned too heavily on his perspective. Coker praised the balance she pushed the writing toward instead.

• 4. A Skeptical Eye

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  In April 2015, Dawson described Temple as someone who "throws herself into the fray." She said Temple has "had made it her life mission to help, even if that means risking her own life." She added, "My character is a stand-in for the audience." "She's not a love interest. She's this skeptical eye looking at this strange situation."

  Dawson said, "The show explores how necessary it is for two people to finally have their masks off with each other." She added, "For Matt Murdock, this is the first person he has that's going to be able to see that transition for him." "But she gets confronted with the question: How far will you go?" "What does it mean if you're helping someone who is maybe going to hurt other people?"

  Dawson explained why she thought the character kept being written back into new shows: "She's funny, she's wry, she's strong." "She's built for that world, because she's great under pressure." "She's someone, hero or not, you'd want to have in a dire situation." "I really just liked her arc all the way through," she said.

  After Daredevil shows Temple fighting, Dawson explained that "her eyes have been opened up to this other world." "And she's crossed the line," she said. "You know, this is someone who helps people, and she's been violent now but seeing the need for it. I think there's a lot that she's having to grapple with."

  Discussing Temple's bond with Cage, Mike Colter said, "she will deal with me in a different way than she dealt with Matt Murdock." "Matt Murdock's character's completely different from mine." "Because she plays a nurse that basically seems to be in the right place at the right time." "And she's very good at helping out superheroes who are in need." He added, "I think she's going to be a very good companion for Luke. I think she's someone that Luke needs in his life at this time."

  Colter's read on Temple's steadiness would carry into the two performances for which Dawson later received formal recognition, for Luke Cage and The Defenders.

• 5. Awards And Reviews

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  The Black Reel TV Awards nominated Dawson in 2017 for Outstanding Supporting Actress, Drama Series, recognizing her performance as Temple in Luke Cage. The Black Reel Awards followed in 2018 with a nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress, TV Movie or Limited Series. This time the nomination was for her role in The Defenders. Critics have also responded well to Dawson's performance as Temple across every series she has appeared in, from Daredevil through Iron Fist.

  In the comics that inspired her, Night Nurse's civilian identity was Linda Carter. It's a name the Marvel Cinematic Universe version of Claire Temple has never once used.