Just because Marvel Studios have the rights to a popular character, it doesn’t mean that they’re obligated to give them a movie. Kevin Feige and his team have been in charge of Ghost Rider since 2013, but there’s been no real attempt at bringing the Spirit of Vengeance back to the big screen, and talk has only intensified over the last few months because Keanu Reeves has frequently found himself linked to the title role.
Meanwhile, Marvel first reacquired the rights to Blade back in 2012, but it wasn’t until Mahershala Ali was announced to be playing the Daywalker seven years later that we even found out they had any interest in rebooting the character as part of their cinematic universe. Ironically, the shortest turnaround time came with the Netflix shows, as Daredevil hit the small screen just three years after the Man Without Fear slipped out of Fox’s grasp, while Luke Cage made his live-action debut less than two years after Columbia Pictures admitted defeat in trying to get a movie made.
Once the entire Defenders lineup was canceled, Marvel had to wait two years for the options to expire before they could do anything with the Man Without Fear, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Iron Fist or the Punisher. And given that Daredevil was officially canceled on November 29th 2018, a reboot could realistically be in the works before the end of this month. If it isn’t already, that is, as there’ve been reports that the studio may’ve gotten the rights back ahead of schedule. But either way, they’ll definitely be under Kevin Feige’s grasp in just a few more weeks.
Where exactly the character will show up in the MCU first remains unclear, but we’ve heard rumblings that Marvel are keen to open talks with Charlie Cox almost as soon as they’re contractually allowed to, and the next couple of months should give us a much better indication of how eager the studio really are on bringing Daredevil back into the fold.
