20th Century Fox / The Walt Disney Company
DAREDEVIL
Starring Ben Affleck (Matt Murdock / Daredevil), Jennifer Garner (Elektra), Michael Clarke Duncan The Kingpin), Jon Favreau (Foggy Nelson), and Colin Farrell (Bullseye) with a special appearance by Stan Lee
Directed by Mark Steven Johnson
Produced by Avi Arad, Gary Foster, and Arnon Milchan with Kevin Feige
Written by Mark Steven Johnson
Music By Graeme Revell
Distributed by 20th Century Fox
Run Time: 1 hour and 33 minutes
World Premier: February 14, 2003
Opening Weekend Box Office: $40 million
Worldwide Box Office: $179 million
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 43%
20th Century Fox / The Walt Disney Company
Fun Daredevil Facts
20th Century Fox acquired the film and licensing rights to Daredevil in the mid-1990’s, along with other Marvel characters such as The X-Men and The Fantastic Four. Marvel sold these rights in an effort to stay afloat as they filed for potential bankruptcy. The upstart Marvel Studios, under the direction of Avi Arad arranged a seven-picture deal with Fox that would see Fox finance and distribute their Marvel films with Marvel Studios assisting in a production role that would give them a say in the script-writing process, the hiring of directors, and in casting. Daredevil was the second film released as part of that initial deal following X-Men (2000).
Jon Favreau appears as Foggy Nelson in Daredevil. Favreau credits his pleasant experience working with Marvel Studios in this film as one of the deciding factors that compelled him to direct Marvel Studios’ first independently produced film Iron Man, which launched the Marvel Cinematic Universe in 2008. Favreau appeared in that film (and many more ensuing MCU films) as Happy Hogan.
Bullseye’s stabbing attack on Elektra in this film was faithfully adapted from a similar sequence in Daredevil # 181 written and illustrated by Frank Miller.
Daredevil writers Frank Miller and Kevin Smith both make cameo appearances in Daredevil along with Daredevil co-creator Stan Lee.
On September 6, 2005, Marvel Enterprises became Marvel Entertainment; a reflection of the company’s new initiative to finance its own motion pictures through Marvel Studios. Both Daredevil and its sequel Elektra were produced and released prior to this massive shift in direction for Marvel Studios.
The rights to Daredevil and his supporting cast of characters reverted back to Marvel Entertainment by default in 2012 where it was decided that the character would fall under the creative jurisdiction of the Marvel Television division instead of being featured in movies produced by Marvel Studios. In 2013, Marvel Television arranged a deal with the Netflix streaming service that would see them produce four television series centered around Marvel characters Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist that would build to a fifth team-up series: The Defenders. A similar format had been used by Marvel Studios in their series of Phase One films that built to The Avengers. The Daredevil television series was marketed by Marvel Entertainment as being set within the Marvel Cinematic Universe and it was promoted as if the members of The Defenders could someday share the silver screen with The Avengers, but as The Defenders Saga grew, Marvel Studios ignored the shows and no crossovers from television to film ever transpired. In the meantime, Marvel Studios split from Marvel Entertainment and Kevin Feige began answering directly to Walt Disney Studios Chairman Alan Fine, resulting in a definitive divide between Marvel Studios and Marvel Television. Despite the widespread critical acclaim for select Marvel Netflix series’ and desire by fans to see characters such as Daredevil (portrayed by Charlie Cox in the Marvel TV series) share the screen with The Avengers, the Marvel Studios team remained steadfast in their ignoring of the Netflix characters and storylines throughout the acclaimed Infinity Saga. In 2019 however, Marvel Television was dissolved as Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige was promoted to oversee all Marvel content under the title of Mavel Chief Creative Officer (CCO). From there, Netflix Daredevil actor Charlie Cox was brought back to formally reprise the role of Matt Murdock / Daredevil, debuting in the Marvel Studios / Sony Pictures film Spider-Man: No Way Home in 2021, and later appearing in the Disney+ series She-Hulk: Attorney at Law. In the meantime, the entire Defenders Saga moved from Netflix to Disney+ on March 16, 2022, and at the 2022 San Diego Comic Con, Kevin Feige announced that Cox would star as Daredevil in a new series produced by Marvel Studios titled Daredevil: Born Again. From there, the 2023 book Marvel Studios – The Marvel Cinematic Universe: An Official Timeline seemed to confirm that the version of the character portrayed by Cox in No Way Home and She-Hulk upon the MCU (Sacred) Timeline was not the same version of the character that appeared in the Netflix series. However, on January 3, 2023, Marvel Studios Head of Streaming, Television, and Animation: Brad Winderbaum confirmed during an interview with Screen Rant that the Matt Murdock that appeared for Marvel Television from 2015-2018 and the Matt Murdock that was currently appearing for Marvel Studios were in fact the same person and that the events that took place during his appearances for Marvel Television did in fact happen upon the Sacred Timeline. This was further confirmed some 24-hours later when the final trailer for Marvel Studios’ Echo series featuring Cox as Daredevil, prominently featured video and audio from The Defenders Saga.
Jennifer Garner would go on to reprise her role as Elektra in the 2005 film Elektra. Her starring role in that film made her the first female to ever lead a movie produced by Marvel Studios. Garner is rumored to be one of several Fox-era Marvel actors that are set to reprise their respective roles in Marvel Studios’ upcoming and yet-to-be titled Deadpool film, made possible by The Walt Disney Company’s acquisition of the film and television divisions of Fox in 2019 after previously acquiring Marvel Entertainment in 2009.
20th Century Fox / The Walt Disney Company
My Daredevil Review
Daredevil was a case of both great effort and direct Studio interference from Fox. The film was butchered by Fox, with some 45-minutes cut and this terribly hindered what was a very anticipated film. To his credit, Mark Steven Johnson created a dark and gritty world that was very, very true to the comics. The film brought iconic comic book covers and panels to life in live-action and Johnson arranged for some of Daredevil’s greatest writers from over the years to cameo in the film.
At the same time however, this film is silly, goofy, and campy. This was due in large part to executives wanting Daredevil to be more like Spider-Man due to the success of Sony’s inaugural Spider-Man film the previous year. This just wasn’t acceptable for fans who wanted the film to stay faithful to the character’s rich history of dark and adult-oriented stories and themes. Daredevil and Spider-Man are two very different characters, and their comics traditionally tell very different stories and juggle very different themes. Daredevil was a clear case of Studio executives being so obsessed with dollars that they got into the way of the film’s potential success, and I can say all of this with confidence because I own the Director’s Cut Blu-ray of this film, and it is a much better film than the rather awful movie that was released in theaters.
I highly recommend giving the Director’s Cut a chance. There is an entire side story that features Matt in court that is quite good, and there is a lot more violence.
For its time, I thought Ben Affleck made a good Matt Murdock. The suit looked good, and he sold the character’s blindness well. I also liked Jennifer Garner as Elektra, and I don’t hate the playground scene as much as many others do. That being said though, for anyone that is a Daredevil fan and has watched the aforementioned Netflix series, this movie has been pretty much rendered unwatchable.
That series got SO MUCH right and everything about it is better than this film. The writing is better, the action is better, the acting is better, the drama is better, the tone is better. Charlie Cox is the quintessential Matt Murdock and Vincent D’Onofrio is the quintessential Kingpin. The first two episodes alone put this movie to shame. This film is a relic of the past at a time when Marvel Studios was still trying to find its voice and was still at the mercy of bigger Studios.
The Director’s Cut is the only way to go here if you’re interested, but really, you’re better off logging on to Disney+ and watching the Marvel Television series.
Leave a Reply