Could we be seeing Daredevil back under the Marvel umbrella, after all? A couple of months ago we learned that 20th Century Fox was on the verge of losing the rights to the blind lawyer superhero if they couldn't get a film rolling soon enough. With David Slade out, Joe Carnahan's name emerged yesterday as a possibility to direct, but with the rights set to lapse on October 10th, it appeared that Fox was willing to send Marvel/Disney the use of Galactus and the Silver Surfer in order to get an extension. Now Deadline is hearing those reports are untrue. So what's the real deal?
The site says the story is being "strenuously denied" by sources, and that the latest news has Fox being cool on the idea of doing a Daredevil reboot, maybe even to the point of letting the character revert back to Marvel. It never really made much sense for Fox to give up on two such crucial characters for the sake of saving Daredevil, especially with the studio putting all their chips on a Fantastic Four reboot with Josh Trank(Chronicle) at the helm. But it sounded as if Marvel had them by the balls, and it seemed logical their desire to gain the use of two universal threats like Galactus and Silver Surfer during a time when their Phase 2 plans involve the space-faring Guardians of the Galaxy and Thanos.
So where does that leave things for now? Fox still has until October to get a Daredevil film into gear, meaning they'd need to hit the ground running like right now. Or they could possibly go into a co-financing deal with Marvel, which is apparently being discussed. I can't figure out why Marvel would want to go along with that, though. It would be more beneficial to them having the character back in the fold, because he represents a side of the Marvel Universe that they've left practically untouched. They already have Punisher and Blade available for use again, and by adding Daredevil they could really begin to tackle the dark and violent side of the superhero business.
