Daredevil along with Spiderman, the Fantastic Four and the X-Men is one of the superhero franchises that currently remain outside the direct domain of Marvel films in this case with the character rights sitting over at 20th Century Fox.
In 2003 the ‘Daredevil’ feature film starting Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner was released, with direction by Mark Steve Johnson. Jennifer Garner was riding high on the success of the ‘Alias’ TV series she was starring in and the film did moderately well both critically and financially but overall was something of a disappointment.
In 2004 a directors cut of the film was released direct to DVD, this version of the film was a significant improvement with more violent undertones, a reduced romantic focus, as well as a new subplot centred on Matt Murdoch’s legal work. The film also included cameos from both Kevin Smith and Frank Miller whose books provided the inspiration for various aspects of the film.
The film franchise has been dormant since release of the directors cut, however there has been the occasional rumour of a new film being developed. It is now being reported that 20th Century Fox is looking at the franchise again with a reboot in mind and that David James Kelly will be working on the script for David Slade to direct. Slade directed the previous comic to film adaptation being ’30 Days of Night’, as well as ‘The Twilight Saga: Eclipse’.
Being so early in production and without many details this is probably more likely to fall through that eventuate into a new film, that said Daredevil has a solid existing fan base in the world of comics and existing markets are something that Studios are in love with right now so things may yet come together for the blind vigilante.
Is Daredevil a character you’d like to see back on the big screen? If so who would you like to see play him?
