Earlier this evening we heard that Fox and Marvel were trying to broker some kind of deal whereby Fox could get an extension on their waning big screen rights to Daredevil, The Man Without Fear. As part of those talks, it was said, the studios were discussing the possible trade of some characters, licensed to Fox, in return for the extra time.
Now, however, Deadline say the talks are about no such thing. According to their new story, Fox are actually “lukewarm” on the prospect of making a Daredevil film at all, and they certainly wouldn’t give up key villains from the Fantastic Four franchise in return.
We know that Josh Trank has been tapped to develop and direct a new Fantastic Four film, so I can see Fox’s interest in Galactus and Silver Surfer having long-term value on that front.
The Deadline story goes on to say:
Fox is ready to let [Daredevil] revert to Disney-owned Marvel, unless Disney is interested in co-financing. That is what the current talks are really about, insiders said.
I’d assume these ‘insiders’ are trying to work an angle that will benefit Fox, while earlier we were hearing from the Disney camp. Either way, I guess the talks can’t be going too swimmingly if everybody is disagreeing what the talks are actually about, let alone how they can be resolved.
I don’t know which characters fans would rather see folded into the Marvel Movieverse, either Daredevil or some ancillaries from the Fantastic Four set, but I think I’d go for Daredevil myself. As I was saying earlier on, I fear that the next wave of Marvel movies might start to feel a tad alienating. A little bit of Daredevil could bring things back down into grasp, I think.
Now, Joe Carnahan is caught up in the middle of this, waiting for the pieces to move around the board so he can find out if he’s going to be making a Daredevil movie later in the year. Probably not the most fun position to be in. I guess we’ll find out more or less when he does.
