I'll flat out say it; I didn't hate the last Dearedevil film with Ben Affleck. I definitely have a more confident respect for the film after seeing the Directors Cut (Highly recommended). While I would've loved to see Fox get another go at the character, now that Murdock is back in the MCU stable, that means that it'll be an all out reboot. So with that in mind, I'm starting from the ground up in choosing the best talent and plot for this film. If Kevin Feige is reading this, my name in the credits is all that need ;)
CAST:
Michael C. Hall as Matt Murdock/Daredevil
I've watched a lot of Michael throughout his career. I first recall seeing him as David Fisher on Six Feet Under, and now he's obviously a huge star as the lead in Showtime's Dexter. In both those roles, Hall illustrates a capacity to blend into normalcy and play the professional type, while he's also capable of great rage and passion.
Being that Michael and Matt are both redheads help.
When you think of Daredevil, he's like a character such as Batman, where his persona allows him to let out his darker side. You'd need an actor who can play a normal everyday citizen, but also be capable of kicking a ton of ass and doing things that might be construed as morally ambiguous. Like how Bale was chosen for Batman because of his capabilitie to switch on the fly like he did in American Psycho; Hall has that same natural ability. Making him my perfect choice for Matt Murdock.
Alternatively: Ryan Gosling, Javier Bardem
Dean Norris as Wilson Fisk/The Kingpin
Some of you probably watch Breaking Bad, and while I prefered that all of you would, that shouldn't help you see how versatile of an actor Dean is.
The funny thing about The Kingpin, and why this is probably the hardest to fan cast is because, The Kingpin has had so many different adaptations. He had a very dignified accent in the Spiderman animated cartoon of the 90's. Then Michael Clarke Duncan played him more recently. At this point, you have to go to the roots of the character because in my eyes. Two of his most well known appearences have fizzled.
Wilson Fisk is a master tactician, and almost a walking tank. He's a huge corporate entity, but he's also a criminal. In my eyes, you need someone who can show through his acting a sense of experience and power. Someone who you look at and think, this guy has seen and done stuff that I can't possibly imagine. In that sense, I'd like him to be pre-existing in the Daredevil universe. I think watching Dean Norris at work, it's hard to argue that the guy doesn't display a good tactile mind while also looking very strong. He also shows a man who's very unhinged.
Alternatively: Chris Meloni, Michael Chkilis
Julie Benz as Karen Page
There are a lot of great blonde actresses/models that could play this part. The key would obviously be a connection with our lead actor playing Matt. I chose Michael C Hall, and everyone who watches Dexter knows that these two have a great chemistry already. So it couldn't be too tough to imagine them emulating the relationship between Dexter/Rita.
Karen also does many dark things in the story that almost everyone (myself included) wants to see adapted, and that's the Born Again storyline. Benz is obviously beautiful, but she also looks like she has a dark side. I see her as being able to handle some of the darker aspects of the story.
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Alternatively: Michelle Williams, Amanda Seyfried
Jonah Hill as Foggy Nelson
Not much to say here. Foggy is comedic relief. You need a comedic actor, and Jonah Hill looks the part.
Alternatively: Ed Helms
Zachary Quinto as Bullseye
I know in the last film, Bullseye was maybe a bit campy at times. In this 'reboot' he'd need to be like a force of nature. No reasoning to him. No backstory, no cheesy scenes of him tossing things at people. Keep him simple. That being said, I think Zachary Quinto would be great for my interpretation of the classic Daredevil villain
Jeffery Dean Morgan as Jack Murdock
Jeff looks like he could play a retired boxer with a bit of a past. A small but pivotal role.
Paul Giammati as Ben Ulrich
Paul plays eccentric roles very well, and Ulrich would be a great role for an actor of his caliber.
PLOT:
The film opens with Matt holding his head as he sits on his bed. With Karen leaving in anger. He starts to wonder what he could've done differently. He says "there was a time when I lived with no fear"
Shot of Jack in the ring with a young Matt. They're training together. Jack tells MAtt that his mother would be proud of him, and that he really shows that he has no fear. That night, Jack is watching TV when he asks Matt if he'd like to get some new books from the library. He tells Matt that if he rides to the library in time, he'll be able to get some books before it closes.
As Matt is riding to the library, he's cut off by a truck. A nearby car swerves to avoid Matt and hits the truck instead. Acid spews from the truck and hits Matt in the face.
Matt awakens in the Hospital and realizes he's blind, unable to see he calls for his father. Who runs from the hallway. He tells Matt that he's there, but Matt can already tell.
Matt is now at home reading books. His dad watches and is proud of his son. Shots of Matt being teased in school, but he starts showing off some amazing acrobatics, earning him the nickname 'Daredevil'.
We now see Matt in college, his roommate Foggy comes in to remind him that they're going to his fathers fight this afternoon. At the fight, Jack is told to throw the fight, but instead he wins it. As Foggy and Matt go to congratulate his father, they both arrive to see Jack being shot. Matt sends Foggy to call for help as he holds his dying father. Jack tells Matt to 'never be afraid'. Foggy comes back and tells Matt that he found a watch from one of the attackers. Matt grips it tightly.
We're now in the present, years later, with Karen and Foggy at a table discussing possible cases. Foggy is complaining about how many of these criminals get away simply because of a lack of evidence. He states how he'd love to just punch a couple in the face. Matt looks troubled, and Foggy apologizes. The night of his fathers murder is still fresh in his mind.
Foggy leaves and Karen rushes to remind Matt of a court appointment in an hour with one of his clients. She caresses his hand and asks if she'll be staying the night, Matt replies that he'd like that.
In court, Matt is trying to convince a jury that his client, the defendant, did not murder his wife; and that an associate of his defendant did. The associate is on the stand, and as Matt is questioning him he hears the watch that the man is wearing. Matt is able to deduce that the watch is the same one from the night his father was murdered. As Matt is concluding his argument, the associate brings up Jacks murder. Matt looks with rage as he realizes that the associate is involved.
That night he's at home and puts together a makeshift costume. Very similar to the costume originally worn by Matt, with the yellow and red. He runs along rooftops and follows the associate to a garage. The associate is speaking with the Kingpin through a webcam, who assures the men that he won't go after their territory; but assures them that he will destroy them if they make another move on his territory. The Kingpin asks what it is in the background that he sees, and before we know it a baseball is thrown into the screen breaking the screen. Matt then fights all the men and dispatches them with a number of punches and kicks. The associate from the courtroom picks up a nearby baton, as he goes to hit Matt, Matt reverses it and holds it against his neck. The associate asks, "Who are you?"; Matt replies "The man without fear". He throws the man into a nearby column knocking him out.
Matt looks at his costume, and realizes that he needs new attire. His gold and red costume is ripped, and not very durable. Matt takes the clothes of a man he beat and walks out from the building. On his way home, he buys a bunch of leather and goes home to make his costume.
We start seeing Matt in his costume, fighting robbers and rapists. Along the line, he makes his signature baton and fights people with a lot of ease. People witnessing Daredevil fight start emailing Ben Ulrich, who asks his editor if he can do a story on the devil roaming Hells Kitchen.
While Matt is fighting criminals, he hears of The Kingpin. The untouchable crime lord. With no leads, Matt can't do much. We see him taking Karen to dinner, his mind is elsewhere. He's thinking of his life as Daredevil. He sees a mugging outside the restaurant; he wants to stop it but in giving his attention to the crime in progress he's ignoring Karen. Karen starts to get angry with Matt, he turns his attention to her but she's frustrated already. When dinner ends, Matt asks if she wants to come over, she insists that she sleep at her own place.
The next morning, Matt is called by a client. A client who is willing to offer the identity of The Kingpin in return for a reduced sentence. Matt starts to listen, and the client tells him that The Kingpin is Wilson Fisk. Shocked, Matt then gets cut off the line. He tries to call back, but nothing. He drives to his clients house, to see the house has been fire bombed.
That night, the Daredevil enters one of Fisk's clubs. He goes to interrogate Fisk, along the way dispatching many of Fisk's guards. He gets to Fisk who is simply standing there. Fisk smiles and as Matt goes to attack him, Fisk counters and sends Matt to the floor. Fisk puts his foot on Daredevil, and says to him "I've heard of you, you're the devil in the streets, they're calling you Daredevil. You may think that all this street level crime is your business. Like any food chain, you are only one notch below someone more powerful and that's me. I own it all. I don't need a costume, or super powers. I own money, and with that comes control and power. That is something you cannot ever have Daredevil."
Fisks takes his foot off Matt who feels crushed by the weight of Fisk. Matt pulls out his baton, and Fisk grabs a gas can. He goes to pour the gas over Matt, but Matt uses his baton to clip to a wall down a hallway and pulls himself to the other end. He jumps into a nearby duct and runs away. Cut to Fisk, who is angry with himself and everyone around him for not capturing Daredevil and killing him.
He goes home, and takes off his clothes, he's beat. He can barely walk, and can't seem to catch a breath. He hears knocking at the door, he grabs a robe and opens the door, it's Karen. She enters his apartment and asks him what's going on. Complaining about how distant he's been. She eventually moves the robe and finds his Daredevil costume underneath. She's now realized that he's Daredevil. Shocked, she runs out, telling Matt that she quits. He asks why, and she says she loves him, but can't handle him when he's so focused on his war on crime.
That night she's partying at a club with some friends. They're drinking heavily. Karen starts drunkenly stating how she knows who Daredevil is. A nearby enforcer for the Kingpin overhears this.
In his office, Fisk is angry that he couldn't finish off Daredevil. People try calming him down but he's too enraged. The enforcer enters with Karen. Fisk asks what the enforcer wants, the enforcer sits Karen in a chair and tells her to tell the Kingpin what she told the crowd. Sobering up slightly, she begins to backtrack. The Kingpin says to her that if she doesn't speak, that there's no hole where someone could find her. She whispers to the Kingpin, "Matt Murdock is the Daredevil".
Matt wakes up to a number of texts from Foggy to come into work. He receives a mail that tells him that he's being audited by the IRS, and that his funds are frozen. He angrily storms out and goes to work, where Foggy tells him that he has to go to court, as a suspect in a case alledging that he's paid off witnesses to testify in his clients favour in a trial not too long ago. Matt goes home and calls everyone for help, nothing.
The next morning, he goes into court where he's told that there will be no jail time for his sentence, but he'll be barred from practicing law. That night, Matt hits the streets as Daredevil. He beats any lowlife he can find trying to get information. He changes at a nearby alley and walks home. He starts to imagine a conspiracy against him, and wonders if he can trust anyone. As he walks to his building, he smells explosives within his home, as he runs the other way, his home is blown apart into a million pieces. Matt crumbles to the ground, and from behind, can hear a limo drive by. the window rolls down and it's Fisk. Fisk chuckled in such a lowly volume that most people wouldn't hear, but Murdock does. He turns to Fisk and yells "Fisk...you can never defeat me, you can never get me to live in fear"
Matt is now seen in a small apartment, people keep calling him but he ignores the phone. As people walk outside his door he readies a knife by the door. He then grabs a nearby plunger and removes the stick. He marches to Fisk's office. He attacks a few men along the way, and when a police officer goes to arrest him, Matt counters and knocks the cop out. He then marches right into Fisk's office. This time he waits, not to make a move and be countered, but despite his efforts he cannot counter a powerful blow by the Kingpin. Battered and bruised, Fisk picks up Matt and tosses him into the river below. Matt barely swims ashore, and as he does, he passes out entirely. Remembering his father, and something his father told him while boxing "Never surrender, never accept defeat"
As Matt stumbles around, he finds a paper where Ulrich asks where Daredevil has gone. Meanwhile, we see Karen calling Foggy, asking if she can find Matt. He tells her that he can't. After he hangs up, he calls Foggy and tells him to meet him by their old offices.
Foggy, Ulrich and Karen are all there. Matt has brought them all together. Ulrich asks why he's here and a broken down Matt shows Ulrich his Daredevil mask. Matt asks for answers, he wants to know how the Kingpin learned who he was. Karen then tells Matt about their last fight, and how the Kingpin found out who Matt was through her.
A seperate scene shows the Kingpin talking to a patient of an insane asylum. He hands the inmate a knock-off Daredevil costume and asks him to kill those who know who Daredevil really was.
Matt is training in his fathers gym with Foggy, Ulrich, and Karen nearby. His anger is boiling to the surface with each punch. He's almost ready to finally go after the Kingpin. Ulrich agrees to take Karen back to her place, as Foggy agrees to stay. A knife breaks the window and we see Karen cut across the cheek and arm. They duck as more knives are tossed through the window. The man sent by Fisk has changed the knock-off Daredevil outfit to closely mirror that of his Bullseye outfit. Karen screams and Matt overhears as he darts outside. Bullseye fights Matt sans costume, Matt is able to successfully beat Bullseye with his baton. Matt then calls over Ulrich and tells him to record the interrogation. He interrogates Bullseye and finds out how Kingpin hired him, and gets a full confession from Bullseye.
Next we see a scene where Karen is with Matt while he's suiting up. He tells her how nothing can truly breaks a mans spirit as long as he lives without fear. He tells her that sometimes, you just have to have faith that things will work out in the end. Daredevil then swings into Ulrichs office and delivers Bullseye to Ulrich on his desk, who then writes the story of how the Kingpin is corrupt, and a crime lord. At a charity event, while on-stage accepting an award, Fisk is arrested by the police. Movie ends with Matt about to leave, he turns to Karen and says "A man without hope, is a man without fear"
Fisk is in prison, ruined. Matt walks with Karen as they purchase a new home together.
Stinger: Matt watches as SHIELD boards Fisk onto a Quin-Jet. A few of the Avengers (Iron Man and Cap perhaps) walk off. Iron Man then asks Matt if he has any clue as to who Daredevil is, Matt says no. Iron Man reads his heartrate and similar to Matt -- can tell he's lying. Iron Man then hands him an Avengers ID card and tells him that 'the devil is in the details'.
Some Other Articles of Mine:
10 Ideas for an ABC Marvel TV Show
Guardians of the Galaxy (plot)
Guardians of the Galaxy (cast)
What I'd Like to See: The Avengers 2
What I'd Like to See: X-Men First Class 2
Fan Fic: Star Trek 2