Drew Goddard Reveals His Two-Film DAREDEVIL Pitch to Marvel Studios
Before Daredevil landed on Netflix, Drew Goddard was working on a film pitch for The Man Without Fear. Now he’s opening up about the two-movie plan he pitched to Marvel Studios and why it never moved forward.
What he had in mind actually sounds like a seriously cool direction for the character, and it almost happened at a very interesting turning point for Marvel.
Back in the early 2010s, Daredevil was stuck in development limbo at 20th Century Fox, where Joe Carnahan was working on an R-rated take after The A-Team. That version never gained traction, and the rights were on the verge of reverting to Marvel.
The character hadn’t been seen on screen since the 2003 film starring Ben Affleck, and Marvel was ready to bring him back into the fold.
At one point, Kevin Feige even offered Fox a deal to hold onto Daredevil in exchange for Galactus and Silver Surfer. Fox didn’t bite, and that decision ultimately sent Matt Murdock back to Marvel, paving the way for what would become Daredevil on Netflix in 2015.
But before the series became a reality, Goddard had a very different plan. He first started off debunking reports that he left the series to focus on Sinister Six, saying:
"I was not going to be the showrunner. We had talked, but I don’t know that that was clear to everyone. The Martian then gets greenlit, right? And at the time, I was going to direct that. Steven S. DeKnight comes aboard, and he and I go way back. There’s nobody better to do Daredevil than Steve."
Goddard explained that the groundwork for the series was already in place before he stepped away, with Steven S. DeKnight taking over and shaping it into what fans eventually saw.
"We mapped out the whole season already. So, now it’s just about Steve making it his own, right? That's why I’m still credited on all of those because we just kept working. Looking back, I think we should have just been clearer with the public."
Before all of that, though, Goddard had been pushing hard for Daredevil to hit theaters.
"I was around when they were doing one of the Avengers, just hanging out, talking about other things, and I was always like, 'Why aren’t you making Daredevil the movie? I don’t understand.' I
“ think there was concern that it was too adult. The Marvel model at that time was definitely not a play to adults."
At the time, Marvel Studios was fully locked into its PG-13 formula, long before anything like Deadpool & Wolverine proved R-rated superhero films could thrive in the modern era.
Still, Goddard had a clear vision.
"I remember saying, 'Well, here’s my vision. My vision is that the first one would be The Kingpin. Find a way to make that special.'
“My second idea was that the villain of the second movie should be The Punisher. I remember that everyone in the room was like, 'Oh, that’s exciting.'
“I love anytime two quote-unquote 'heroes' do battle with each other, right? We got to do it. We just did it on Netflix, which I think was the right fit for that."
It’s easy to see why that pitch got people interested. A grounded crime story with Kingpin followed by a brutal clash with Punisher sounds like a natural progression for Daredevil on the big screen. But at that point in time, Marvel wasn’t ready to lean into that darker tone in theaters.
Instead, Daredevil found the perfect home on Netflix, where the TV-MA format allowed the character to fully embrace his gritty roots. The series ran for three seasons before being canceled during the shift to Disney+.
Since then, the character has officially joined the MCU with appearances in Spider-Man: No Way Home, She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, Echo, and Daredevil: Born Again, which is now in its second season.
Looking back, I think Marvel made the right call for that moment, but it’s still fun to imagine what Goddard’s Daredevil movies might’ve looked like, and how they might have been different from what we are seeing now.