Years after its cancellation, the TV rights to Daredevil have finally reverted to Marvel Studios. Is a revival coming? If fans have their way, yes.
Disney is currently readying a whole slate of Marvel shows to debut on Disney+: WandaVision, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Loki, She-Hulk, Hawkeye…the list goes on.
But the first Marvel shows set in the MCU actually came out years ago on Netflix, kicked off by Daredevil in 2015. Daredevil in particular gained a large following, so fans were crushed when Netflix cancelled it three seasons in, on October 29, 2018.
Why did Netflix cancel such a popular show? Accounts vary, but it looked like it had to do with increasing tensions between Netflix and Marvel, some of them by the impending arrival of Disney+, which has gone on to be Netflix’s biggest competitor.
In any case, after the cancellation, Disney couldn’t use the Daredevil character in any movie or TV show for two years, according to the agreement it worked out with Netflix. But that two-year stretch ended yesterday, and fans organized to make sure that Disney and Marvel heard their calls for a revival, working to get the hashtag #SaveDaredevil trending.
This is not a drill! The Daredevil moratorium ends 🚨 THIS SUNDAY November 29 🚨 and we need your help to get #SaveDaredevil trending 😈! Read up on our website @ https://t.co/yrLLTKK8m9 or continue with this thread for more details 👇 pic.twitter.com/M1DQKhSnBu
— Team #SavedDaredevil (@SavedDaredevil) November 24, 2020
And when I say “organized,” I mean it. Even for a fan campaign, this is well put together. The #SaveDaredevil people have a website, a Change.org petition with over 400,000 signatures and counting, and a clear plan of action for how to make enough noise on Twitter to be noticed by the people at the top.
Will it actually work? Disney and Marvel don’t like to let characters go to waste — there are a lot of MCU shows in development I didn’t mention up there — so surely they’ll want to do something with Daredevil sooner or later. As a more grounded character without much in the way of flashy superpowers, he was always well-suited for TV, and Charlie Cox’s take of the Man Without Fear has endeared himself to many fans. Costar Vincent D’Onofrio (Kingpin), at least, wants to see Cox back in the Daredevil suit. There are crazier asks.
I’m sure Disney and Marvel executives are talking the matter over in a board room right now. And if you want them to know what decision to make, you know what hashtag to use.
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h/t Deadline