When Marvel regained the rights to
Daredevil from Twentieth Century Fox, many fans were left hoping that the iconic superhero would finally be given the movie he deserves. However, just as many suggested a TV show, and so they must have been very pleased to learn that The Man Without Fear was one of four characters being brought to Netflix. Drew Goddard is attached to write and possibly direct, though Joe Quesada has talked more about his involvement too.
"I've been working very, very closely with the entire team on all levels of the show. I think everybody knows my relationship with the character of Daredevil, and how important the character is to me -- not just on an emotional front, but on a professional front. How DD brought me back here to Marvel, and how instrumental he was to even me being in this particular position I'm in today. I'm very involved with the show, as well as everything that we're doing with the Netflix shows. I'm incredibly excited, plus the dark and gritty noir world of DD and the Netflix characters, it's kind of where I live so it naturally attracts me to begin with."
As for whether or not he and Marvel are concerned about what has come before having an impact on how viewers perceive Daredevil, he added,
"Let me be clear, we're not going into this show with the idea of trying to erase the memory of anything that came before or really any preconceived notions whatsoever. We're going into the show trying to create something that's incredibly exciting, incredibly engaging, and will give our fans something that they love, something that's unexpected, something that's going to keep them coming back for more. That's really, ultimately, the goal of this: How do we produce a "Daredevil" TV show on Netflix, that's going to be viewed the way that people view content on Netflix, in a way that's going to be compelling, feels unique, while bringing something that is not only true to the character, but providing something unexpected as well." It's hard to imagine that this series will have much at all in common with the 2003 movie, but with a decade between then and the debut of Netflix's
Daredevil, it's hard to imagine too many people thinking back to that release anyway!
"One of the advantages is really from the planning stage -- obviously it's much easier to work with a smaller number of episodes than it is with a larger number of episodes," Quesada said of the approach they're taking to the series based on the fact that they can debut each episode on one go.
"I can sit there and look at 13 episodes and plan it out as a very large movie. It makes seeing the bigger picture a little bit easier. You can't deny that there will be binge-viewing. You know that there are going to be some Marvel fans that when this show premieres, they are going to go on to Netflix, and they are going to sit there for 12 to 13-plus hours, and watch the entire thing all the way through. It's going to happen. The Netflix model offers us the advantage of being able to construct the show in a manner that is very different than a weekly network TV show."