When Marvel regained the rights to Daredevil from Fox, most of us expected to see a new big screen outing for the Man Without Fear at some point, so there was some surprise when it was announced that we’d actually be getting a Netflix TV series instead. Obviously that worked out very well, as the show has been a huge success, but as it turns out, there actually was some discussion about going the movie route initially.
While speaking to IGN, former showrunner Drew Goddard revealed that he first pitched Daredevil as a film, and explains why it was ultimately decided that the character was better suited to the small screen.
I went into Marvel and talked to them about making it as a movie a couple of years ago, long after the Affleck movie. But what we all sort of realised is that, this movie doesn’t want to cost $200 million. The thing about Matt Murdock is, he’s not saving the world. He’s just keeping his corner clean. So it would feel wrong to have spaceships crashing in the middle of the city. But because of that, Marvel on the movie side is not in the business of making $25 million movies. They’re going big, as they should.
It is difficult to imagine Marvel reigning in the spectacle, so Netflix probably is the best place for Matt Murdock…. for the time being, anyway. The TV platform also allowed them to go that little bit (well, sometimes a lot) darker, as Goddard elaborates on.
It felt that we’d have more freedom to make it on the small screen and make it more adult. Look, if we took the Netflix [show] and put it in theatres, it’s rated R. And they’re not doing R-rated movies. And we also got to really explore the character. I feel like Netflix was the best possible home for that, otherwise you’d end up with a watered down version.
Daredevil may eventually join the heroes of the MCU, but for now fans are looking forward to seeing him lock horns with the likes of The Punisher and Elektra when the second season kicks off on Netflix next year.
