Fox’s Daredevil Reboot is Dead, Joe Carnahan Releases Pitch Video Online

Posted by on August 15th, 2012   Filed under: Action, Books/Comics, Trailers
Source: Variety

Last month we reported that Fox’s attempts to reboot Daredevil were facing an imminent deadline and that if they didn’t find a new director and get it in production soon, the rights would revert back to Marvel. Then just last week we received word that they had found a potential director in Joe Carnahan, and that they were negotiating with Marvel for an extension or possibly a co-financing deal. Alas, it appears that they could not come to an agreement after all and the rights will return to Marvel in October. While this will probably be seen as a victory by most comic book fans, you might want to hold off on the celebration until you see what Joe Carnahan had in store. Hit the jump for details.

Carnahan was the one who originally broke the news that Fox would probably be forced to abandon Daredevil. Yesterday he put out the following updates on Twitter:

“Think my idea for a certain retro, red-suited, Serpico-styled superhero went up in smoke today kids… To clarify. DD pitch was tremendous and everyone flipped for it. The clock ticked down at Fox, that’s why it went tits up.”

Carnahan then went on to release two versions of the “sizzle piece” that he had used to sell Fox on his idea. He wanted to set the story in the 1970s and the video incorporates footage from some iconic films from the era to set the tone including The Warriors and Taxi Driver. Obviously it’s hard to tell exactly what the final product would have looked like, but a superhero flick set in the ’70s definitely would have been something new. Are you disappointed that we won’t get to see Joe Carnahan’s take on The Man Without Fear or are you just glad that Marvel will regain the rights?



  • Big Hungry

    I would like to see what would of been.

  • Steve Kasan

    Even if Carnahan was not even involved in the project, Daredevil going back to Marvel I personally do not see it as a victory.
    Here is my personal opinion on the situation is that Marvel Studios has a clear view of having all their characters in a Film Universe.
    I would want to see Daredevil away from that and kept alone. DD being stuck at Fox would have benefitted the character in that we could have gotten something to what Nolan did for Batman by incorporating Frank Miller’s ideas, which is funny considering Miller first started his run on DD then moved onto Batty.
    As evident with Marvel not doing Black Panther, they have a set vision for what characters to use so to DD fans, myself included, we’re not going to see something on screen for a minute.

  • Steve Kasan

    Another major point I forgot to mention, Marvel is now owned by the House of Mouse. So, unless Disney is willing to say “yeah, make DD hardcore” what do we have? Swashbuckling Daredevil?

  • In the comics, for the most part, Daredevil has been kept separate from a lot of the craziness and crossovers and has been one of the more self-contained books during it’s entire run. With Marvel in charge again, I can see them keeping Murdock on his own, with maybe some passing references to the bigger picture and cameos from other heroes. He actually has a pretty strong connection to Black Widow, so her stopping in wouldn’t be a bad thing, but I don’t see him getting called on for battles where the world is at stake. It might be fun to see him dealing with the legal issues that arise from living in a city where super battles are happening all over the place.

    And you joke, but Daredevil has been a REALLY fun read lately, and while the best previous runs have been all about the doom and gloom (Miller in the early 80’s, Bendis and Brubaker in the last decade), this isn’t a bad thing. There’s still room for dark later on, but let’s see the character re-established in a world where other superheroes exist first, and then worry about making it all go to hell after we CARE about the character.

    So far, Disney has taken an “if it ain’t broke…” approach to their relationship with Marvel, and I think they trust Marvel to do what’s right with their characters, whichever direction they take. They’re not Warner Brothers, where the studio, not DC Comics, are the ones often making off-the-wall decisions as to what to with the characters. Yes, they’re responsible the Nolan Batman films, but the success of that series is entirely self-contained and hasn’t really helped to get other DC franchises up and running. The more progress that Marvel makes on the cinematic front, the more WB feels the pressure, and the more likely they are to either flat-out copy Marvel’s blueprint after so many false starts of their own or to just do something completely ridiculous that doesn’t make sense.

  • 1138sw

    Daredevil in the 70’s? interesting but it would be more interesting to see that 70’s style applied to today’s time period. Retro is in and has been in for the last decade, so seeing a modern interpretation done with 70’a style would have been kind of cool.

  • Oh, and Marvel’s big on second chances, whether the film properties completely belong to them or not, so that doesn’t mean that Carnahan won’t get a shot. Remember, Matthew Vaughan was supposed to do both X-Men 3 AND Thor at some point before dropping out for whatever reasons, just to be given the FIrst Class job later on after doing Kick-Ass, another (technically) Marvel film. Speaking of which, Singer was even brought back into the X-Men fold after bailing for Superman and starting the headache that became the behind-the-scenes wrangling of X-Men 3. If he impresses the right people, Carnahan could still get a chance at Daredevil if it gets rolling at Marvel/Disney. Oh wow, I just remembered that Punisher is back with them now too, and DD and Punisher have always had great chemistry as characters.

    Holy shit, what about just a Carnahan Punisher movie?

  • Flo

    I want to see that film. Like, right now. Looks like it could have been really nice, I would certainly have dug that. I liked the Director’s Cut of the Affleck one too, though.

  • Justice

    Not a Marvel guy, but that mashup/sizzle reel/whatever idea would seem to fit Luke Cage better than Daredevil. Now that is a movie I would really look forward to.

  • kyri

    I really liked the atmosphere and the style of the opening but then ……toilet.

  • I’d have been interested to see it, especially if he went heavy with the Warriors, Taxi Driver vibe, but this mostly has me thinking how easy it must be to get a studio job once you have a foot in the door. Anybody could have cut something that cool. Also, odd choice to use Affleck’s Daredevil so much.

  • Oh wow, I only now just watched those, and I seriously don’t know where everyone’s coming from with the “I would totally see that!” reactions, because like IcarusArts pointed out, it does look very much like a fan trailer. All of the footage and voiceover was from well-known films, so it wasn’t even clever in that regard and it played like a greatest hits of what’s sitting on my DVD shelf right now. I know they were short on time, but if Fox really did want to do it and Carnahan was that serious, he should have fucking shot SOMEthing. It doesn’t play like a movie pitch so much as it looks like a demo reel for someone trying to get an editing gig. If he really wants to win folks over and get people talking, he should take a lesson from Thomas Jane and his people.