Netflix's Daredevil series quickly became a fan-favorite and gave most Marvel fans their definitive live-action version of the character (sorry Ben Affleck). Despite its immense popularity and beginning a sort of Netflix Marvel universe that expanded with Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, and The Defenders, Netflix canceled the series. Their other Marvel shows soon followed, largely because Netflix had to pay a sizable licensing fee to air them, but fans held out hope that the series', particularly Daredevil, could find a home on another platform. The snag in that hope was that due to deal with the streamer, their Marvel series had to wait a considerable amount of time before being able to be aired elsewhere. It has been 18 months since Daredevil was canceled after three seasons and the social media account for the #SaveDaredevil campaign wants to remind fans that the time is drawing close for the rights to Daredevil to revert back to Marvel Studios.
The SaveDaredevil Instagram page posted a picture on their page that says 18 months down, 6 more to go, which indicates that the rights are almost back in the hands of Marvel Studios. The image goes on to read "It's been 18 months since the cancellation and with your support, we continue to fight until the 2-year moratorium is over. Thank you! #FandomWithoutFear!" You can check out the Instagram post below:
Just to clarify, Marvel Studios does still retain the rights to the Daredevil property, as well as the rest of The Defenders, but the initial agreement between Marvel and Netflix stipulated that should any of the series get canceled, Marvel Studios would have to refrain from using the characters for exactly 18 months after the shows were canceled. This refers to the date of cancellation and not the final run of the show on the platform. Given the timetable, there are indeed 6 months to go until Marvel Studios can use the characters again. Given how well-received Daredevil was, would Marvel consider using Charlie Cox and the Netflix universe moving forward?
That's a question that's really hard to answer. Marvel is probably fully aware of how popular the show was but they also have their own plans for their characters and it may not coincide with what was done on Netflix. Charlie Cox, who played Matt Murdock/Daredevil on the series and would love to return if he could, hasn't sounded too optimistic in recent interviews about that actually happening. He was recently asked about the show continuing on Disney+ and Cox said "I don't feel that way, no. And, I don't know what I don't feel that way. But, I haven't been given any reason to believe that. And, from a cynical point of view, it just feels like maybe I'm trying to protect myself, cause I'd love nothing more than to do it again."
Fans held out some hope that a rumor regarding Cox's Daredevil showing up in a third SPIDER-MAN film alongside Tom Holland would be true but Cox also debunked that saying he hasn't personally heard anything about it. I'm one of those fans that kind of held on to the hope that once Marvel could use the property they would resurrect the series or use the characters in their own movie or future MCU movies but I really I think it's not in Marvel's plan. I'd love to be proven wrong though because that property held so much promise and I think there were many more stories to tell.
Do YOU think Marvel will use this version of Daredevil in future projects?