5 Heroes Marvel Saved By Getting The Movie Rights Back

4. Daredevil

Daredevil Season 2 The Punisher Frank Castle Matt Murdock
Netflix

The influx of superhero films that came out in the early 2000s, such as X-Men and Spider-Man, undoubtedly laid the groundwork for the absolute industry domination that comic book movies have achieved in recent years. However, there were a few bumps along the road as well.

In 2003, 20th Century Fox released Daredevil, starring Ben Affleck. And truth be told, the film isn't unforgivably terrible by any means and contemporary reviews look at it much more favorably than critics in the past had. That said, the movie was still far from perfect and when it first hit theaters, it was absolutely decimated by critics. As a result, Daredevil became little more than a dead brand in the world of film.

However, coinciding with Marvel's re-acquisition of the rights to the character of Matt Murdock, the company set their sights on Netflix. Shortly thereafter, the Daredevil television series was born and it quickly achieved massive success. The show is well-acted, brilliantly atmospheric, and, most importantly, treats its titular character incredibly well in terms of his development.

It gave fans faith in Marvel's ability to give any hero a good showing, regardless of their cinematic past, as well as acted as a catalyst for the other stellar shows that followed (namely Luke Cage and Jessica Jones.) Plus, all of this has culminated in a team-up show set to hit Netflix soon.

Daredevil is to The Defenders what Iron Man was to The Avengers.

Contributor
Contributor

A film-loving wrestling fan from west Texas who will live and die by the statement that Return of the Jedi is the best Star Wars movie and unironically cherishes the brief moment and time when Deuce & Domino were WWE Tag Team Champions. Hates honey, but loves honey mustard.