Imagine that, Marvel fans. Joss Whedon, the mastermind behind two Avengers movies and an accepted connoisseur of all things comic book, isn’t right 100% of the time. In fact, he recently admitted that he spoke to Marvel about smaller-scale plans for his beloved character of Daredevil, and his opinion might have cheated us out of the best superhero television program in ages.
Whedon is out promoting this week’s The Avengers: Age of Ultron, but most of us know that the director’s reach extends beyond this single sequel. Marvel, and Marvel President Kevin Feige, often meet and consult with Whedon on plans for heroes, and when it came to Matt Murdock, Whedon told the studio to make a new Daredevil movie, not a TV show. In hindsight, that’s a terrible idea. But why did Whedon want that? He explains to IGN:
He’s basically Marvel’s Batman, thanks to Frank Miller - basically. So for me, I didn’t think they’d be able to sustain that sort of mood on TV. But TV has changed so much. It’s come up so much that I think it might just be the right place."
Joss Whedon admits that he actually hasn’t watched Netflix’s Daredevil, though it isn’t due to lack of interest. Instead, the 13-episode miniseries launched right as he started his press tour for The Avengers: Age of Ultron, so he has been distracted. You’re telling me there’s no down time in between junket interviews? I’d think now that his movie is out, Whedon has nothing BUT time.
Thankfully, the show isn’t going anywhere – on the contrary, they’ll soon be firing up production on a second season. I think Whedon will realize exactly what most of us realized about Daredevil, and why the show succeeded. It had time. Time to breathe. Time to develop all of its characters, no matter how small. Time to establish a world, and to rationalize the movement within it. Time is part of the reason that Whedon’s Age of Ultron works so well in unusual ways. Being the 11th Marvel movie, it can play with emotional connections that were established in previous movies. But Age of Ultron also has to play like a feature film, and even at 141 minutes, it’s evident that Whedon had to make some tough decisions by leaving important things out.
Daredevil, the character, has been reborn thanks to the Netflix show. I’m confident we wouldn’t be saying that if Whedon got his way, and we were reintroduced to the Man Without Fear in a two-hour movie. Which leads me to ask: Should the next Spider-Man head to Netflix for a full season, if Marvel wants to truly do right by the wronged Web-slinger? Weigh in below.
