Fox Could Lose ‘DareDevil’ Rights to Marvel Studios

By Tom Herrmann | August 15 2012 1:49 PM

Fox may lose the rights to the blind superhero "DareDevil" if they don't put a film into production by October. 20th Century Fox has a deal with Marvel to use their character in films but since the inactivity of the franchise after the 2003 flop starring Ben Affleck, the studio could lose the franchise according to the Hollywood Reporter.

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There has been a fast tracked project to reboot the franchise from the Fox studio, with Joe Carnahan (The A-Team) directing. The story would be based on the popular DareDevil story "Born Again," originally written by Frank Miller (The Dark Knight Returns, Sin City, 300) and David Mazzucchelli (Batman: Year One).

The Hollywood Reporter claims that sources say the deal is expiring this week, referring to a tweet Carnahan sent posted on Monday: "Think my idea for a certain retro, red-suited, Serpico-styled superhero went up in smoke today kids."

Fox is also home to the "X-Men" and "Fantastic Four" franchises, but with Marvel looking to keep their properties at home now, disputes may occur. After the success of "The Avengers" earlier this summer, the Marvel Universe is expanding through its films; with competitor comic company DC following in their footsteps with "Man of Steel" which will introduce the expansive DC Universe to film.

Marvel recently acquired the rights to the "Blade" from New Line Cinema. New Line produced a trilogy of films Wesley Snipes, as well as a TV series based on the vampire hunter, but now the character can become involved in the expansive Marvel Universe.

A potential issue with these characters returning back to Marvel is their images: they're not all kid friendly. Marvel is owned by Walt Disney Co., and the characters now need to keep within the limits of the Disney image.

Taking the vigilantism away from DareDevl would be an injustice to the character, and making Blade into a PG-13 film would be a challenge. Some superhero films are destine to be dark and controversial, but under the Disney umbrella, that isn't going to happen.

It would take an effort to make a film that would be as poorly received as Fox's 2003 attempt at "DareDevil." Even Ben Affleck still hasn't recovered from the film, recently declining to direct the upcoming "Justice League" film.

"['Daredevil'] was not that much fun ... and it's not something I'm particularly looking to go through again," Affleck said in an interview with MTV in 2009, six years after the film was released.