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Marvel Studios Can Make a Daredevil Movie Now – But Not an Elektra One?

by Susana Polo | 11:41 am, August 15th, 2012


One of the biggest questions about the continued future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (currently populated by the members of the Avengers and a tiny smattering of superheroic characters that make up their supporting casts) is when properties that were licensed out exclusively to other movie studios will be returning to Marvel ownership, or indeed, if they will be returning at all. I’ll leave the discussion of the details of these licensing agreements to below the cut, for those who aren’t familiar, but here’s the main surprise of the day:

Fox Studios has decided not to rush a Daredevil movie into production between now and October 10th, and instead are allowing the movie rights to the Man Without Fear to revert to Marvel Studios.

If you’ve been wondering why we seem to be getting so many hastily produced superhero movies and reboots that come very close on the heels of successful franchises and don’t necessarily change all that much these days: it’s all about licensing rights. Spider-Man, the X-Men, and all characters associated with them (like all of Spider-Man’s villains and every Marvel mutant) are licensed to Sony and 20th Century Fox, respectively, on contracts that state their claim to the characters will expire if they cannot prove to a court that they have a movie featuring that character in some stage of production within a given time frame. Basically, if they don’t keep making Spider-Man and X-Men movies, the rights revert to Marvel. DC Comics are in a bit of the same spot with Superman, right now possibly being one of their last chances to make a Superman movie without asking the families of his creators for permission, a decades old court ruling  that the company is still fighting tooth and nail.

So far, the only character a studio has given up on as a moneymaker is the Punisher, who Lionsgate allowed to go fallow. Daredevil’s return to the Marvel fold comes somewhat unexpectedly, as the studio was just in talks with would-be-director Joe Carnahan. In response, or simply as an attempt to get some closure, or perhaps even a bid to make his case to Marvel now that he could do a Daredevil movie up right, Carnahan has released his “sizzle reel” online. Here’s his mood piece for a gritty, violent, flick that puts Daredevil exactly where he belongs: up an alley in New York in the seventies:

According to Variety, the other Marvel characters who are still unavailable to the company for movies Venom, Ghost Rider, Wolverine, the Fantastic Four, the Silver Surfer, Deadpool… and Elektra, Daredevil’s off-again-on-again romance and a badass Greek ninja assassin (it was the ’80s, and it was comics, and it was Frank Miller) in her own right. It’s a little surprising that Fox wouldn’t voluntarily package Elektra with Daredevil when handing the character off, especially since their attempt at making a good Elektra film failed miserably. If Variety is right, I suppose that Elektra will still be sitting at the Fox lunch table for a couple years, as her movie happened a couple years after Daredevil. Technically, Daredevil’s last film appearance was in a scene in Elektra, but I’m guessing deleted scenes don’t count in this case.

It’s annoying, since if the studio has given up on Daredevil, they’ve probably given up on Elektra, and keeping her for another two years just leaves another potential female character for a Marvel movie in legal limbo for little apparent reason.

(via MTV Splash Page.)

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  • Anonymous

    It shouldn’t be too hard for Marvel to make a deal with Fox to include Elektra in a Daredevil film if they want to. Fox is not using the character so how else are they going to make money out of it?

    What I’d like to know is if Deadpool’s rights are attached to the X-Men or separate because it doesn’t look like they’re still interested in making that film.

  • http://www.facebook.com/mazmanian Edward Mazmanian

    Elektra is part of the Daredevil package. Period.  When fox or New Regency for that matter made Elektra it extended the rights for them on Daredevil.  The clock started ticking for the rights “package” after Elektra was in theaters.  So when Marvel gets Daredevil back…they get all the characters back including Elektra. FYI  -Edward (Marvel Movies)

  • John Wao

    Although I wouldn’t mind seeing Marvel make a DD movie, I wonder, would Joss Whedon, or one of his disciples from Buffy/Angel, be interested in making a Daredevil TV series?

    Because I think DD would make a great tv show. There’s so many great elements to mine: his law practice, his father’s history, his circle of friends, he has a rogue’s gallery that’s as realistic as Batman’s like the criminal organization led by Kingpin. AND if Marvel has regained the rights to Punisher how cool would a cameo appearance by him be? The best thing about DD is that it wouldn’t require CG effects more elaborate than say Buffy or Angel.

    Also assuming they eventually get the rights to Elektra back, imagine the Frank Miller story arch featuring her and Bullseye done Whedon style. 

  • http://twitter.com/ribbonquest Rachel Banzhaf

    I see a Daredevil TV series in the style of a lawyer show but every few episodes an ongoing story would culminate in superhero action. Villains and other Marvel characters would appear mostly as their alter egos until the story built up to action time. Don’t overuse the superhero angle and have the money to make it really good when the time is right.

  • Anonymous

     You’re working for Marvel movies? Why is there confusions from some medias about the character’s right? Also, do you have any idea what’s the deal with Deadpool?

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Cristian-Flores/100002899177535 Cristian Flores

    Yes, a DD movie should be done, but I think Marvel should give Elektra a shot at her own film. Before the awful spin-off, Elektra was a fan favorite and the most popular female character from Marvel. A hard R or dark PG-13 movie would work. Also, I’m still waiting for a Black Widow movie..

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=507849795 Seanna Tucker

     They’re still doing a second X-Men First Class, which probably still counts. AND they still have the rights to a lot of the characters as they loopholed their way through having Wolverine show up in the last movie.

    I wish they would give up X-Men and allow us to have a Civil War….

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=507849795 Seanna Tucker

     You mean Edward the Realtor? Either make it more clear that the quote is from Marvel and that you aren’t associated with them, or, if you’re trying to claim that you’re part of Marvel Movies, don’t use your Facebook Login ^_^

  • stray_bullett

    Uh, folks, an Elektra movie was already made. While it didn’t follow slavishly to the comic, it was made with rights to the comic and starred Jennifer Garner. It actually wasn’t that bad a movie, to rent.

  • http://twitter.com/mattgoldey Matt Goldey

    I guess I’m one of the few people that actually LIKED the Elektra movie. Maybe it helped that I didn’t know much about her before I saw the film. Also, ninjas… ninjas are awesome.

  • http://www.facebook.com/harris.frankou Harris Frankou

    As far as TV  , a   Shield show tied in to the Avenegrs would be better , you could have Murdoch and Nelson cameo as a law team , having them in  their own Movie mini Universe and cross marketing guest starring in the Shield show.
    Marvel has alluded to the show tied  into to the MCU so Shield agents guns martial art  and occasional guest  stars is the way forward. 
    Punisher King Pin the Hand  and Widow among others could all be in that dark gang infested corner of NYC.

  • http://twitter.com/donw Don Whiteside™

    I don’t know how little-apparent it is. Having those rights is a bargaining chip in case they find themselves wanting some sort of allowance from Marvel on another issue. Nobody in the movie business gives up anything for free and holding the rights doesn’t have a downside for them.

  • Frank Hansman

    Daredevil will be done like the Dark Knight series or it wont be done at all.
    Mark my words.
    (scarred kid, gets caught up in a hidden ninja society, comes home to clean up the town… DD is Marvel’s Batman with low grade super-powers instead of high-tech gadgets)

  • Anonymous

    I don’t see Marvel following the Dark Knight style of DD. DD has a completely diff origin then Bats. Moon Knight I’d argue is probably more similar to Bats then DD.

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