Daredevil (2003) Comic Influences

[Silver Nemesis]

The first time I watched Split it immediately made me think of Typhoid Mary. I can't say if Shyamalan has read the Daredevil comics, but I wouldn't be surprised if he had. It wasn't just the multiple personalities that made it similar, but the antagonistic relationships between them. That movie offers a great template for how Typhoid's psychological profile could be handled in terms of performance.

I watched the Daredevil Director's Cut again last night, and I think it holds up reasonably well. It's a good film IMHO. Not as good as Spider-Man I & II, Batman Begins, The Dark Knight or X-Men II, but still one of the better superhero movies of the 2000s. I'd rank it roughly on a par with Blade II, and ahead of The Punisher '04. Speaking of which, I was thinking it would be cool if Thomas Jane's Punisher showed up in Deadpool 3 and shared a scene with Affleck's Daredevil. Affleck's role, if the rumours of his involvement are true, will likely be a small cameo, but seeing him interact with the Punisher could make it worthwhile.

A few similarities I noticed between Daredevil and the Burton/Schumacher Batman movies:

•   The gothic look of Daredevil aligns it with the cinematic trend for darker superhero movies started by Batman '89.
•   The hero's origin story is rewritten to make his arch foe the killer of his parent(s). The hero doesn't find out about this until the final act.
•   Ben Urich's first scene, where he bickers with Manolis at the scene of Daredevil's latest sighting, is similar to the scene between Knox and Eckhardt in B89.
•   The line "What a dick" is spoken in both Batman '89 and Daredevil – by Knox in B89, and by Foggy in the DD Director's Cut.
•   DD and B89 both feature a showdown in a church which ends with the villain falling to the street below where the police surround his body. Bullseye survives, Joker doesn't.
•   The rooftop fight between Daredevil and Elektra is similar to the first rooftop fight between Batman and Catwoman in Batman Returns. In both movies the female character attacks the male hero, who barely fights back, and ends up stabbing him with her signature weapon.
•   Bullseye incriminating Daredevil using his billy club recalls Penguin (who Farrell would later play) framing Batman with the batarang in Batman Returns.
•   Matt's line to Elektra about revenge not making the pain go away echoes what Bruce says to Dick in Batman Forever.
•   Keaton and Affleck were both trained by Dave Lea in preparation for their roles.
•   Coolio plays a criminal in both DD and Batman & Robin.

[thecolorsblend]

I've speculated multiple times that Affleck has creatively checked out of comic book stuff. He may yet do a cameo appearance as Daredevil in Deadpool 3. But largely, I think Affleck wants to move on to other things. Fish posted a quote from him in a thread about The Flash:

"This isn't the life I want. My kids aren't here. I'm miserable." You want to go to work and find something interesting to hang onto, rather than just wearing a rubber suit, and most of it you're just standing against the computer screen going, "If this nuclear waste gets loose, we'll ..." That's fine. I don't condescend to that or put it down, but I got to a point where I found it creatively not satisfying. Also just, you're sweaty and exhausted. And I thought, "I don't want to participate in this in any way. And I don't want to squander any more of my life, of which I have a limited amount."

And I have to say that this kind of supports what I said below all those years ago.

Affleck had a brief moment of honesty. And in that moment, he validated the conversation Kevin Smith claimed to have with him ("I'll make my big nut on Daredevil and then come do Jersey Girl for chump change") while also revealing that he was never really too invested in Daredevil.

His role as Chuckie in Good Will Hunting is far smaller than his role in Daredevil. But I would bet you a million dollars that he gets more creative satisfaction from watching just one Chuckie moment from GWH than the entirety of Daredevil. I would also bet that he gets even greater satisfaction from watching just five minutes of The Town than the entirety of etc.

He didn't go to Hollywood to play Daredevil. He went there to play Chuckie, direct The Town and do the other "more personal" items on his resumé. Stuff like Daredevil or Armageddon is what he has to do pay the bills between projects that he's probably more emotionally invested in such as The Company Men.

Watching the movie Hollywoodland, I've often wondered how much of himself Affleck actually poured into that role or at least poured into certain scenes. Did the mask slip? Does he relate to George Reeves on a borderline inappropriate visceral level? "You liked me where I was, in a ****ing red suit! Well, that's not who I am!" I have no idea if "red suit" was what was in the script or if that was a Freudian moment for Affleck that wound up in the movie. Either way, it's kind of perfect.

And honestly, if his quote from Fish is the way he feels, more power to him. Between the negative (initial) reaction to his portrayal of Batman, his divorce and his substance issue, it would be perfectly understandable if he wants to do things his own way from now on.

[The Laughing Fish]

I'm now becoming convinced the only reason Affleck appeared in The Flash is that he was contractually obliged to do so, as a condition for Warners tolerating his support for ZSJL and the additional photography he filmed. I don't think Warners would've bothered to ask Affleck to do any work for The Flash if ZSJL was still locked up in a vault to this day.

Although Affleck had gone on record to say he lost interest in the role after the all turmoil surrounding the Josstice L reshoots and struggling to deal with his own personal problems, we should not disregard the time he appeared willing to come back to the role. Nobody thought he was willing to come back do film cameos for Aquaman 2 and a post-credit scene for The Flash, so there must've been a plan at some point last year that they building up his return. That is until Gunn and Safran sabotaged everything. Affleck summing up how he regretted his time was over when he was getting back into the groove of it on that red carpet premiere tells you he had a renewed interest.

I may not understand Affleck's decision to want to do Daredevil again knowing his distaste for the 2003 film, but knowing what I know now about everything surrounding his time as Batman, I can't blame the guy for leaving that role. The initial backlash is one thing, but when you have a studio that is disloyal and clearly doesn't give a sh*t about your well-being, it's not worth the trouble.

[Silver Nemesis]

I don't know if anyone on the site has seen Deadpool & Wolverine yet. I haven't, but I've read some spoilers and seen some leaked clips on YouTube. This is all spoiler talk, so I'll post it in black.

Apparently Daredevil and Punisher are both mentioned in the new film, but both were killed fighting the villain Cassandra Nova prior to the movie's events. I gather the deceased Murdock is meant to be the Affleck version. That would fit with Jennifer Garner's return as Elektra. The deceased Punisher is presumably the Lundgren, Jane or Stevenson version.

Apparently Bullseye appears in the movie as one of the villain's henchmen, though it isn't Farrell or Bethel. I can't find any info on what costume he wears, if any, or if he has the target carved into his head. If anyone has seen it, I'd be interested to know what Bullseye looks like.

Henry Cavill also makes a brief cameo as an alternate Wolverine (there are currently some clips of this scene on YouTube, though they'll probably be taken down soon). Deadpool asks him to join the MCU and promises they'll treat him better than DC did.

Wesley Snipes seems to have a decent sized role as Blade. There's a clip on YouTube that shows him fighting during the final battle. Seeing Blade and Bullseye on screen again is the biggest draw for me.

I'm not in a rush to see the film myself, as I'm a bit burnt out on all these cameo-heavy multiverse movies, but the fan response sounds generally positive.

[Gotham Knight]

Well, Silver all of this is true, but I don't remember seeing Bullseye. I think I just missed him. One thing I noticed that bothered me was that a lot of the henchmen working for Nova were seemingly meant to be mistaken for famous film versions of characters who actually weren't being played by the actor from the original performance. It all felt arranged for in a very manipulative way. You have guys like Tyler Mane out front which creates the expectation and then you'll see someone kind of out of focus in the background as Lady Deathstrike and its extremely obvious that this is the X2 Deathstrike because the actress playing the part is dressed up like her, has the same hair and has been made up to look just like Kelly Hu which creates the assumption that its her, so much so that many websites are erroneously saying that's her making a cameo. Its not. Same thing with Jason Flemyng as Azazel. Its a guy under heavy make up, but it didn't look like him at all. Callisto/Dania Ramirez too. That aint her, but they're selling it like it is and it all feels very Crispin Glover/Back to the Future because once again Disney is letting people run these articles saying that all these actors are in the movie, but they aren't. They're all soundalikes, but no one will make the correction. Anyway that's what I noticed and I hope to talk with you more about it when you have seen it.

[Silver Nemesis]

Thanks for clarifying that, Gotham Knight. If you hadn't, I might've got my hopes up about Bullseye having a bigger role. From your description, it sounds like that Batman '66 episode 'The Entrancing Dr. Cassandra' where Riddler, Penguin, Joker, Catwoman, King Tut and Egghead all escape from prison, but are clearly played by stand-ins with stock audio of the real actors.

[The Joker]

Some people have pointed out that despite Jennifer Garner's Elektra being a bit flippant about the fate of Ben Affleck's Daredevil, apparently her belt is very similar to his in "Deadpool & Wolverine".


SPOILER IMAGE from "Deadpool & Wolverine"

[thecolorsblend]

Deadpool & Wolverine spoilers incoming.

I've got a big soft spot for this movie so Garner's appearance in the movie was right up my alley. To no surprise, Affleck was absent. Which makes sense, I suppose. I get the idea this is one of the films he regrets making. And that's before getting into the whole divorce aspect. I'd rather have this version of the character killed off than replaced with some cheap stand-in... which, as others have noted, is the case for quite a few roles.

I'm sort of curious about that too. Since it seems likely that Dania Ramirez could've freed up one day at least for close-ups of her character or something. Ditto Kelly Hu.

Anyway, the movie was enjoyable enough and I kind of liked how the cameos paid tribute to the Fox era of those characters. Maybe those films aren't perfect. But they deserve respect and I think the film does a good job of paying them that respect.

[thecolorsblend]

To revisit this subject a bit, I find it telling that the only stake any of us appear to have in DAW is Elektra's guest appearance. Hence, the apparent lack of a Deadpool thread.

Still, it seems as tho a change is in the air. Midnight's Edge keeps using the phrase "political reboot". Earlier today, the Critical Drinker put up a video about DAW where, among other things, he mentioned Chris Gore's report that Marvel Studios has quietly fired all of the activists. Presumably, this is part of a wider plan to get the MCU back on track.

Ordinarily, gossip like that isn't worth paying much attention to. The MCU Blade was rumored to be highly woke... and hasn't gotten any traction because the woke director and screenwriter were fired. Victoria Alonzo's termination was anything but quiet. It still happened tho. And the Captain America: Brave New World reshoots are becoming the stuff of legend.

All of this is to say that Gore's claim about Marvel (supposedly) cleaning house has some superficial merit to it. It sure looks like there's some fire behind all that smoke. Mind you, Gore also says that one of the catalysts behind this move of Marvel's is concern over Gunn's DCU prospects. If we're to believe the rumors, someone from Marvel is scared senseless over the warm and welcome reactions that Corenswet, Brosnahan, Fillion and others have gotten among fans. So, a grain of salt may be in order here.

Something to consider is that DAW has little or no politicking to it. And it is also a box office juggernaut. Maybe it's foolish to connect those two realities with each other. But they are there to be connected. Whatever the case, people who seem like they're smarter than me are estimating a $1.5 billion box office haul for DAW when all the dust clears. For that reason alone, analyzing DAW's success is worthwhile.

Don't have much of a point in typing all this. It's late and I'm getting punchy. But IF Hollywood is attempting to turn over a new leaf, people who have spent the last ten'ish years grinding their axes will have a choice to make. Either put the axe down or else admit that there was some other motive in their opposition.