Drew Goddard Reveals Original Two-Film Pitch for MCU ‘Daredevil’ Films

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Before writing popular books like Project Hail Mary and The Martian, Drew Goddard was approached about making a Daredevil movie for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. He shared on the Happy Sad Confused Podcast that after Marvel Studios regained the rights to Daredevil from 20th Century Fox in 2012, Kevin Feige thought about a theatrical release. Prior to this, Daredevil had only appeared in a poorly received film starring Ben Affleck in 2003, and the character hadn’t had much success on the big screen.

Looking back at those initial talks, Goddard reflected:

I remember being on set during the first Avengers movie, just chatting with people, and I kept wondering why they weren’t making a Daredevil film. It didn’t make sense to me! From what I gathered, the big concern was that Daredevil was a bit too mature for what Marvel was going for back then. They were really focused on a broader, more family-friendly audience, and Daredevil just didn’t quite fit that mold.

Goddard shared that he actually proposed two separate Daredevil movies to Marvel. His initial idea focused on the Kingpin as the main villain, and a second movie would have pitted Daredevil against The Punisher. While Marvel liked the concept, they eventually decided to develop Daredevil as a series for Netflix. Interestingly, the first two seasons of the Netflix show closely mirrored Goddard’s original movie pitches – Season 1 featured Kingpin as the central antagonist, and Season 2 introduced The Punisher, played by Jon Bernthal. Goddard explained:

I recall presenting my ideas, starting with the Kingpin as the first villain. It felt like the natural choice, and I wanted to do something unique with him. The key was the overall mood, as that kind of approach hadn’t been done before. Then, I suggested The Punisher as the villain for the second movie, and everyone was really enthusiastic about it. I’ve always enjoyed seeing heroes clash, and we were able to make that happen, ultimately on Netflix, which I think was the perfect platform for it.

Around the end of 2012, after the success of The Avengers and Marvel Studios regaining the rights to Daredevil, Goddard presented his idea for a Daredevil series. Though Kevin Feige showed some interest, Marvel Entertainment decided to have Marvel Studios concentrate on The Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy. They planned to develop characters like Daredevil and Ghost Rider primarily for television. The Daredevil series was officially announced in October 2013, a year after Marvel Studios secured the rights back from 20th Century Fox through a deal with Netflix. This series, along with planned shows featuring Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist, would eventually lead to a team-up series called The Defenders.

Okay, so for a while, everyone thought I was brought on to run the first season of Daredevil but then left to work on that Sinister Six movie Sony was planning. But honestly, that’s not quite how it happened. Here’s what actually went down, according to me…

I wasn’t originally supposed to be in charge of the show, though we’d discussed it, and I’m not sure everyone understood that. When The Martian got the go-ahead, I was set to direct. Then Steven S. DeKnight joined the team – we’ve known each other for years, and honestly, he’s the best when it comes to Daredevil. We’d already planned out the entire season together. So, it was really about letting Steven put his own spin on it, which is why I’m still listed as a creator – we continued collaborating throughout. Now, thinking about it, we probably should have been more upfront with everyone about how things were structured.

After the Sinister Six movie was cancelled, Goddard began working on an X-Force film for 20th Century Fox, but that project was also stopped when Disney bought the studio. He later joined James Gunn’s team to help develop the new DC Universe, and Gunn has expressed interest in Goddard bringing the character Detective Chimp into the franchise. Currently, Goddard is enjoying the success of his novel, Project Hail Mary, and Daredevil is making a comeback after being cancelled by Netflix in 2018. The second season of the revived Daredevil, titled Daredevil: Born Again, premiered just four days after Project Hail Mary was released in theaters.

Charlie Cox reprised his role as Matt Murdock in Spider-Man: No Way Home, but it’s still unclear when Daredevil will get his own dedicated movie.

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2026-03-31 03:33