Interesting details regarding Joe Carnahan’s failed Daredevil trilogy

Joe Carnahan was once heavily invested in bringing a gritty, dark reboot of DAREDEVIL to the big screen. He even created some awesome sizzle reels to show what the finished product could have looked like. But, alas, Fox passed on what would most definitely have been a R-rated project and the rights have since reverted to Marvel and Disney who are now developing the character as a Netflix series.

But, every now and then, more details emerge regarding Carnahan’s vision. The sizzle reels, also embedded below, definitely gave the sense that his DAREDEVIL would have been something special and definitely unique. There is almost zero chance that Disney will fund a movie that dark, but it is nice to consider what could have been.

In an interview with Movie Pilot, Joe Carnahan opened up some more details regarding what his DAREDEVIL trilogy would have been like. Yes, I said trilogy. Carnahan had three distinct themes in mind for the big screen incarnation of The Man Without Fear.

“I was going to do a kind of ‘cultural libretto’ and make the music of those eras a kind of thematic arc . So the first one would be Classic Rock, the second one would be Punk Rock and the third film would be ‘New Wave.’”

Setting the films in a period versus making the hero contemporary would absolutely have fit with the feel of the character. Taking the tonal cue from the music of the time would also have been very intriguing to see on the big screen. It would definitely have allowed for the various costume changes over the years to have been incorporated into the eras of 1973, 1979, and 1985 that Carnahan was aiming for.

While a Netflix series may make for a better medium to share the story arcs that make Daredevil great in the comics, I cannot help but feel that these films would have been phenomenal on the big screen. Hopefully Kevin Feige and Disney can realize you cannot water down some characters like Daredevil and Punisher. Maybe someday we will see the DAREDEVIL movie we deserve.