Earlier today there was some big news for comic book fans. With Fox running out of time to make a Daredevil movie before the rights returned to Marvel Studios, there was talk of a possible trade between the two studios, in which Fox would get more time to make a Joe Carnahan-directed Daredevil reboot and Marvel Studios would get back certain characters from the Fantastic Four universe, such as Galactus and Silver Surfer. While it's entirely possible that Marvel Studios wants Galactus and Silver Surfer for projects like Guardians of the Galaxy and The Avengers 2, overall the trade didn't make much sense for the comic book company. Why trade a hero with the potential to have his own franchise for a couple of characters that can only be used a couple times? Well, it turns out that the situation may resolve itself.
Fox sources have informed Deadline that the previous reports were false and that it looks likely Daredevil will revert back to Marvel. The site argues that the Fantastic Four reboot is coming together quickly, with Josh Trank and Jeremy Slater on-board as writer and director, and Fox has no interest in harming the potential future of a franchise they're excited about. If they wish to keep the rights to Daredevil Fox has to start production on a new movie by October 10th, but considering that they don't even have a director attached it's unlikely that they'll be able to make the date. The new report does confirm that Joe Carnahan came to Fox with an idea for the reboot, but no deal has been made.
While it's possible that Marvel Studios is interested in getting Galactus and Silver Surfer back, overall this seems like a win for them. Daredevil is a great character with great on-screen potential, provided that they are able to make people forget about the awful Mark Steven Johnson film from 2003. It won't be an easy task.
