Things are about to get interesting when it comes to the Marvel/Twentieth Century Fox deal. Fox had until October 10th of this year to start work on a reboot of Daredevil, or the rights would revert back to Marvel Studios. But their director of choice David Slade didn’t pan out, and there was no way production on Daredevil could have begun by the October end date.
But according to Variety, Marvel Studios is willing to give Fox and extension on the Daredevil property, if Fox relenquishes rights to two characters from the Fantastic Four universe: Galactus and the Silver Surfer. (ain’t nothin’ free folks) Fox would really like to keep the Daredevil franchise, as they are in discussions with Joe Carnahan (Smokin’ Aces, The Grey) to direct what is said to be a “Frank Miller-esque, hardcore 70s thriller” take on Daredevil. Carnahan has yet to receive an official offer, though multiple sources are telling Variety that he is the choice.
Fox is said to want a grittier, less family friendly take on Daredevil, something Disney would be less likely to do. Maybe this will all work out for the best?
If Marvel/Disney gets the rights to Galactus/Silver Surfer back, not only does that mean we’d get a proper version of the world devourer on screen (and not a stupid giant cloud like in Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer) but it would likely be in an Avengers sequel. And how awesome would that be?? And the addition of the Silver Surfer to the Marvel Studios cast means we could one day see a proper version of The Defenders on screen as well. This could all be good news.
If the Silver Surfer ends up back at Marvel Studios, that means all the main Defenders characters will be free to use if they ever want to do that franchise.
UPDATE:
So, maybe there wasn’t as much to this story as we thought. According to Deadline, Reports that Fox and Marvel Studios are going to do some trading with its Fantastic Four franchise to keep Daredevil in the fold were being adamantly denied by Fox studio insiders. With Fantastic Four being rebooted with Josh Trank as director, the article states that Fox insiders think it would be crazy to let two major FF characters go to Disney, especially when the studio is said to be very lukewarm about rebooting Daredevil. Although Joe Carnahan has come to the studio with a take, it sounds like Fox is ready to let it revert to Disney-owned Marvel, unless Disney is interested in co-financing. That is what the current talks are really about, insiders said told Deadline. I’m sure this isn’t the last we’ve heard of this story.