In the early 2010s, 20th Century Fox started developing an R-rated Daredevil movie helmed by The A-Team's Joe Carnahan. It never really managed to get off the starting line, meaning the rights to the Man Without Fear would imminently return to Marvel Studios.
Daredevil had been absent from our screens since the 2003 movie starring Ben Affleck, and while Kevin Feige offered Fox the chance to keep the hero in exchange for Galactus and the Silver Surfer, the rival studio refused to give up two key assets.
Eventually, Matt Murdock took centre stage in Netflix's Daredevil TV series when it launched on the streaming platform in 2015. The series, set both in the MCU and apart from it, was a success and ran for three seasons before the launch of Disney+ saw Netflix cancel all its Marvel shows.
'Ol Hornhead has since joined the MCU with appearances in Spider-Man: No Way Home, She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, Echo, and Daredevil: Born Again. Now, Drew Goddard has revealed that he actually pitched a two-movie plan for Daredevil before it became a TV series.
"I was not going to be the showrunner," he started, debunking long-standing reports that he left the series to focus on Sinister Six. "We had talked, but I don’t know that that was clear to everyone. The Martian then gets greenlit, right? And at the time, I was going to direct that. Steven S. DeKnight comes aboard, and he and I go way back. There’s nobody better to do Daredevil than Steve."
"We mapped out the whole season already. So, now it’s just about Steve making it his own, right? That's why I’m still credited on all of those because we just kept working. Looking back, I think we should have just been clearer with the public."
The filmmaker confirmed that when Marvel Studios originally regained the rights to the Daredevil franchise from 20th Century Fox, Kevin Feige had been mulling over bringing the Man Without Fear to the big screen and was receptive to Goddard's movie pitch.
"I was around when they were doing one of the Avengers, just hanging out, talking about other things, and I was always like, 'Why aren’t you making Daredevil the movie? I don’t understand.' I think there was concern that it was too adult. The Marvel model at that time was definitely not a play to adults."
"I remember saying, 'Well, here’s my vision. My vision is that the first one would be The Kingpin. Find a way to make that special.' My second idea was that the villain of the second movie should be The Punisher. I remember that everyone in the room was like, 'Oh, that’s exciting.' I love anytime two quote-unquote 'heroes' do battle with each other, right? We got to do it. We just did it on Netflix, which I think was the right fit for that."
It seems Marvel Studios was concerned about how to make a Daredevil movie with a PG-13 rating. R-rated superhero movies weren't an option until 2024's Deadpool & Wolverine, hence why Feige was seemingly fine with focusing on other projects while Marvel Television was developing a TV-MA take on the character for Netflix.
In the video below, Goddard also talks about his unmade Sinister Six movie and it being in prep when Sony Pictures pulled the plug. He stops short of revealing which villains would feature, but reiterates that it was a very different Spider-Man adventure.
He also talks about being part of the DC Studios writers' room, but mostly just praises Superman helmer James Gunn rather than sharing any insights into what, if anything, he's worked on for the DCU.