Details on ‘Daredevil’ Film Begin to Surface

It sounds as though any upcoming “Daredevil” films won’t feature the return of Ben Affleck in the role of Matt Murdock.

Apparently, 20th Century Fox approached Affleck with the possibility of revising his role in a reboot of the Marvel comics’ character in film.

“They’re rebooting it,” he said, speaking of a new “Daredevil” film. “I got contacted about it, and I was like, ‘That wouldn’t be a reboot [if I was involved],’ but I really hope they do a good job, because that’s a great property and deserves something really, really good.”

Affleck played the titular superhero in the previous film. The movie was not met with a fantastic reception from either critics or fans. Its pseudo-sequel focusing on Jennifer Garner’s character, Elektra, was met with an even harsher criticism.

However, Affleck’s noted love of comic books have made him the prime target for speculation on playing a number of superhero roles in the industry. He certainly doesn’t deny that the possibility of donning a different cape and cowl has a certain appeal to him.

“I would love to do [a comic book movie] if it was the right one, if I thought I could do it well. I think you have to, with any movie, have an idea for it that’s original and unique and committed to it, and that’s a hard thing to find.”

Affleck’s aforementioned comic book love, as well as his well-received foray into directing, have also caused rumors to crop up concerning a “Justice League of America” movie. Specifically, the actor/director was rumored to be in talks to direct the upcoming DC crossover film from Warner Bros. However, he contends that there is no truth to these rumors.

“I guess I should be flattered, and I’m sure it will be cool. I’ve seen some of the stuff from the new Superman movie, and that stuff is awesome.”

The future of Daredevil films remains, at this point, unclear. Currently, the rights to film versions of the character are held by Fox, rather than Disney, a.k.a. the company behind “The Avengers.” This means that as long as Fox can hold onto the rights to the character, Matt Murdock must be kept out of the greater Marvel film continuity.

However, the rights to Daredevil are set to revert back to Disney and Marvel on Oct. 10, just six days from now. Fox can only maintain the rights for a few extra years if they are able to reach a certain level of production before that time. At this point, that doesn’t seem likely, even with Joe Carnahan supposedly being set to direct a Fox-made film.

Fox also owns the rights to the “Fantastic Four,” another Marvel property currently being kept out of the greater continuity. The “Fantastic Four” is also set to revert back to its creators fairly soon and rumors have circulated that 20th Century Fox may just let “Daredevil” go in favor of maintaining their rights to Reed Richards and the rest of the team.

We’ll see what happens to all of these characters as time progresses, but for now, it looks like Marvel might be in for a fresh influx of new properties to introduce into their incredibly profitable staple of films.