Joe Carnahan's Daredevil Pitch

[BatmAngelus]

Joe Carnahan recently tried to pitch a new, retro take on Daredevil to Fox, before Fox decided to let the rights revert back to Marvel.  Fans are hoping that Marvel Studios hire Carnahan, based off of the sizzle reels he made for the pitch.

Carnahan's Daredevil would've taken place in 1973 and taken on the style of movies like Serpico, Death Wish, and Taxi Driver, while taking elements of Born Again, in which The Kingpin discovers Daredevil's true identity as Matt Murdock and seeks to destroy his life.  Check out the sizzle reels, which feature Daredevil comic book panels, the Superfly theme, and footage from the 2003 Daredevil film, The Warriors, The Untouchables, Serpico, American Gangster, Taxi Driver, and others, here:
http://www.comicbookmovie.com/fansites/MarvelFreshman/news/?a=65727

This isn't the first time that the 1970s era of crime thrillers has influenced a superhero reboot.  I remember Darren Aronofsky saying that his Batman: Year One would've been along the lines of the French Connection and that he drew comparisons between Batman and Travis Bickle (Taxi Driver) and Jim Gordon and Serpico.  Of course, the script itself wasn't explicitly set in the 1970s.

Personally, I'm not sure if the change of setting is necessary.  It's been done twice in the X-Men Series (X-Men Origins: Wolverine and X-Men: First Class) and once in the Marvel Universe (Captain America: The First Avenger), all in prequel capacity when it made sense to set it in a different period.  Here, I don't think Daredevil needs to be in the 1970s and the story they were adapting, Born Again, was written and set in the 1980s anyway and could easily be updated to modern 2012/2013.

[Gotham Knight]

I saw it yesterday and was impressed. I understand your setting concerns, however if Marvel gets the rights back it might be a nice way to A) be a grittier, slightly more realistic approach that acts as a loveable contrast to the 21st century leap forward in the Avengers B) be more economic than its counterpart and C) act as another shared universe scenario that can be set in 'Avengersverse' but in a tonality contrasting era (20th century grit and vigilantes and thugs VS. 21st Century uber scientists and Gods) where the time period can prevent overlaps or interference (except in small in jokes or winks.)

Thus, Daredevil could be a launch pad for a period Punisher, Luke Cage, Kingpin, etc. Blade and a middle aged Dr Strange could act as the bridge point between the two eras

On the other hand this is Joe Carnahan, who bungled the A-Team. Yes the movie is fun, but it had all the chance in the world to live up to the potential the series blatantly refused. But, just like series, a brilliant concept got watered down with half assed writing.

[BatmAngelus]

I saw it yesterday and was impressed. I understand your setting concerns, however if Marvel gets the rights back it might be a nice way to A) be a grittier, slightly more realistic approach that acts as a loveable contrast to the 21st century leap forward in the Avengers B) be more economic than its counterpart and C) act as another shared universe scenario that can be set in 'Avengersverse' but in a tonality contrasting era (20th century grit and vigilantes and thugs VS. 21st Century uber scientists and Gods) where the time period can prevent overlaps or interference (except in small in jokes or winks.)

Thus, Daredevil could be a launch pad for a period Punisher, Luke Cage, Kingpin, etc. Blade and a middle aged Dr Strange could act as the bridge point between the two eras

It could be cool.  And don't get me wrong, if Marvel announced they were doing Carnahan's 1973 Daredevil, I'd be down for seeing it.  I just don't think the period change is as necessary to the character as, say, the WWII setting was for Captain America.  I also have my doubts that Marvel would do a 1970sverse, instead of just integrating Daredevil and the others into their contemporary Avengers setting and do things like have Matt Murdock be Tony Stark's lawyer.

The Punisher, though, I could definitely see in the 1970s setting.  You could actually give him the Vietnam veteran background- something the movie adaptations had to change to make sense of the actors' ages- while keeping him in his thirties.  And if there's any comic book character to emulate the 70s movies like Death Wish, Taxi Driver, and Dirty Harry, it's Frank Castle.

[Gotham Knight]

I saw it yesterday and was impressed. I understand your setting concerns, however if Marvel gets the rights back it might be a nice way to A) be a grittier, slightly more realistic approach that acts as a loveable contrast to the 21st century leap forward in the Avengers B) be more economic than its counterpart and C) act as another shared universe scenario that can be set in 'Avengersverse' but in a tonality contrasting era (20th century grit and vigilantes and thugs VS. 21st Century uber scientists and Gods) where the time period can prevent overlaps or interference (except in small in jokes or winks.)

Thus, Daredevil could be a launch pad for a period Punisher, Luke Cage, Kingpin, etc. Blade and a middle aged Dr Strange could act as the bridge point between the two eras

It could be cool.  And don't get me wrong, if Marvel announced they were doing Carnahan's 1973 Daredevil, I'd be down for seeing it.  I just don't think the period change is as necessary to the character as, say, the WWII setting was for Captain America.  I also have my doubts that Marvel would do a 1970sverse, instead of just integrating Daredevil and the others into their contemporary Avengers setting and do things like have Matt Murdock be Tony Stark's lawyer.

The Punisher, though, I could definitely see in the 1970s setting.  You could actually give him the Vietnam veteran background- something the movie adaptations had to change to make sense of the actors' ages- while keeping him in his thirties.  And if there's any comic book character to emulate the 70s movies like Death Wish, Taxi Driver, and Dirty Harry, it's Frank Castle.

Agreed on all counts. I tend to over idealize and as you say it is unlikely that Marvel would invest in a 70s era. My wishful thinking tends to cloud basic corporate (Marvel) logic.

And yes, that's exactly what I was thinking for Punisher. He, like Magneto, might benefit greatly from not not being slid. The bonus Daredevil wise is that they did have some nice crossovers. If Punisher came first, he might be the incentive?

[thecolorsblend]

My beef with all of this is using Born Again as a launching point. My deepest hope is that Marvel abandons that concept and does a more straight forward type of adaptation... set as a contemporary with the Avengers. Born Again typifies the type of thing you do as a sequel. Probably the third or fourth movie. But there is an Avengers cameo in Born Again so hmm...

Between the Punisher, Daredevil and Luke Cage, they can also get to work developing their "street level" franchises as a sort of counterpart to the Avengers. I'd love it if they could get Spider-Man back for that purpose but that's highly unlikely.

Of course, they'll probably try to match the basic tone of Avengers so I wouldn't count on seeing too gritty a Daredevil movie to start with.

[riddler]

for the most part I like my comic book films to be timeless. The one exception being captain america due to the world war II factor. I can understand with daredevil though, people would ideally like him in a world with limited technology. He is in a sense batman without the money and toys and with the lack of sight/super senses.

One super hero that hasn't been brought up is black panther; he's gained quite a bit of popularity in the past 10 years, so much so that there's an argument whom the most prominent black super hero is between him, Luke Cage, blade, and the john stewart green lantern. His origins start in africa but he eventually goes to hells kitchen