Time Running Out On Fox Rebooting Marvel's 'Daredevil'

The hourglass's last sands have nearly trickled down on 20th Century Fox's turn with Marvel's "Daredevil" rights. That couldn't be better news for the character's legacy.

It was would-be "Daredevil" reboot director Joe Carnahan that tweeted the bad news Monday that it appears Fox will run out the clock and let their claim on The Man Without Fear expire.

"Think my idea for a certain retro, red-suited, Serpico-styled superhero went up in smoke today kids," Carnahan said. "We shall see. Time is NOT on anyone's side."

Indeed, ComicBookMovie.com added that if Fox doesn't put a project into production by Oct. 10, the rights revert back to Marvel.

This is tremendous news on several fronts.

First and foremost, it's precedent-setting. Marvel owning the rights again would give the brand complete control over developing a new project. Also, it would be the first major Marvel property with rights owned by another studio to let those rights fall right back into Marvel's hands. That could mean the breaking of a very disappointing pattern, too.

Fox has had their day with several Marvel properties, few of which have returned anything worthy of the source material's legacy. "X-Men" and "X2: X-Men United" couldn't have been much better, but that's owed more to director Bryan Singer's touch than anything. That's evinced most recently by "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" displaying how unsettlingly simple making a great character's story unbearable can be, but before that, by Brett Ratner being handed Singer's "X-Men" cast and turning out the weakest movie of a then-trilogy. Though outstanding and showing promise for a reimagined take on the franchise, even "X-Men: First Class" paled in dramatic weight to Singer's first two films.

The Fantastic Four really should have been wonderful - the moment Marvel fans had hoped years for, when an technology caught up with a once-unfilmable set of characters. Unfortunately, Director Tim Story made some abysmal casting choices, the story showed a preference to goofiness over character and we're left awaiting still another reboot that may or may not ever come.

The studio also backed letting Nicolas Cage play Ghost Rider - twice. The result? The equivalent of a slow-motion filmed head-on collision of two 18-wheelers of ham, padded out twice to a 90-minute run time that lacked all the darkness of the comic.

But before it all, there was "Daredevil," the very R-rated comic about a sightless, angry Brooklyn superhero that was watered down to a PG-13 movie in 2003. Ben Affleck squirted out a bland, phoned-in portrayal of a hero with one of the Marvel Universe's most tormented existences of violent loss and uneasy sacrifice, demonstrating early why Hollywood eventually wouldn't be any the worse if he stuck with directing. Michael Clarke Duncan was appropriately cool and menacing as The Kingpin, Jennifer Garner was there as Elektra, and Colin Farrell ultimately stole the show as a smug, entertaining Bullseye.

But now, it could be Marvel's turn to baby its own baby. The studio has an established set of standards now for what's expected in terms of emphasis on character and giving half a damn about story on top of just making a cool-looking movie. Though he later became a member of the New Avengers in a Brian Michael Bendis arc, he'd feel a bit forced if suddenly shoehorned into the established "Avengers" continuity.

Here's a thought, though: consider at last an appropriate take on the more grim Marvel Knights stories. Lionsgate isn't exactly expressing much more interest lately in another take on The Punisher, nor is Fox probably throwing much more good money after bad letting Nicolas Cage and Mark Steven Johnson (who- guess what? - was also responsible for "Daredevil") have a third stab at Ghost Rider. Just think if, one by one, Marvel could reclaim these legacies?

Alas, Spider-Man reverting will probably never happen. Sony has its plans set far too far into the near future for that to look likely, and what's more, "The Amazing Spider-Man" proved a wildly successful Mea culpa for previously sinking two movies of beautiful work with the "first" Spider-Man musical.

OK, that's the wildly imaginative aside's closing. But really, The Man Without Fear coming home atop 2013 heralding the next chapters in the "Avengers" saga makes this a great time to love Marvel.