The Marvel Cinematic Universe has changed the way we look at franchises and, whether we like it more or less, it is an essential piece of popular culture that in the future will be used to understand the cinema of this era. But it is not the first time that an attempt was made to create a joint universe of characters based on La Casa de las Ideas. Only, in the early 2000s, it didn’t work the way it was supposed to. ‘Daredevil’ and ‘Elektra’ They tried to form a world of their own, but they did not go beyond, largely because its quality was not adequate. Now they are available on Disney +, and perhaps it is time to bring them back and check if they were the failures that we have taken for granted.
Affleck, what a devil
In 1998, Marvel was on the brink of bankruptcy.: their best years were over (or so they thought) and their characters were being sold to the highest bidder. It is well known what happened to the X-Men or Spiderman, but Daredevil also ended up in the hands of Columbia (after Fox and Disney tried to make a movie without success), which immediately set about preparing a Little Horns franchise. Meanwhile, in the comics, Kevin Smith he began writing a Daredevil series that would resurrect a dead series for audiences. To model the protagonist, Smith thought of his colleague Ben Affleck, as an inside joke.
But despite having Chris Columbus involved in the project, it all fell apart and it was New Regency that bid the most for a Daredevil movie. The screenplay by Mark Steven Johnson (‘The unforgettable Simon Birch’, ‘Ghost rider’) was applauded among those who read it as a dark approximation of the character, and even Kevin Feige, already second-in-command at Marvel, said it was one of the best they’d ever received. Then, what was the problem?
On the one hand, Ben Affleck, although he was a fan of the character since he had always read all the Daredevil comics and knew him almost encyclopedically, was the subject of ridicule throughout Hollywood from the first minute the promotional images came out, stuffed in red leather. As much as it would have been in ‘Armageddon’ and ‘Pearl Harbor’, did not quite fit what the public believed the character should be. On the other hand we have the much loved and hated Avi Arad.
shared universe? it will never work
Avi Arad was the founder of Marvel Studios and responsible for all films based on the company’s comics in the early 2000s. He produced ‘Spiderman 2’, yes, but also ‘Fantastic Four’, ‘The Punisher’ or ‘Man-thing: the nature of fear’. Arad was lucky, but also short-sighted. In an interview to promote ‘Daredevil’ he commented on the following.
There’s no need to put Daredevil and Spiderman together. They are two different characters. We have so many movies to make. For me it’s like making toys that glow in the dark. When you’re nearing the end, you make them glow in the dark. We have ‘Elektra’, we have ‘Daredevil 2’, we have ‘Spider-Man 2’. Too many good characters. We don’t need them to get together.
Avi Arad is a man of the old school, and wanted movies based on show business and action (His was the idea of putting Veneno in ‘Spiderman 3’ against what Sam Raimi wanted), destined to sell toys. A dark movie that explored the dark side of a character didn’t interest him and blocked the director’s vision for ‘Daredevil’. That script that received so many compliments was shot but never saw the light of day. The reviews were, rightly so, absolutely devastating, and Ben Affleck himself was embarrassed (“I fucking hate ‘Daredevil,'” he said while introducing ‘Batman V Superman’).
Years later, the DVD cut by Mark Steven Johnson added half an hour and cut parts, receiving much better reviews, which even compared him to the stage of Frank Miller. Nevertheless, Although the critics were not the best, it did raise enough (double what it cost) to justify a spin-off of Matt Murdock’s love: Elektra Natchios. Or what is the same, Jennifer Garner.
an electric movie
Originally, names like Oliver Stone or Frank Miller were attached to an Elektra movie adapting ‘Elektra: Assassin’, but we didn’t get to see any of this. In fact, Jennifer Garner didn’t even want to do the movie, but I rodço for a powerful reason: the contractual obligation. Rob Bowman, television director, he did what he could with a script signed by six hands that was not supported anywhere.
The most interesting part was that he prepared that shared universe that Avi Arad hated so much with a Matt Murdock appearance that could have propelled the movie…and was cut from the final cut. Wow eye. Neither Avi Arad nor Perlmutter were happy with the film, and many blamed the fact that it was starring a superheroine instead of… well, being very, very mean.
Marvel did not try to film another movie with a woman as the protagonist until 15 years later: ‘Captain Marvel’ spent a billion dollars at the box office and was, despite whoever, a smash hit. For its part, ‘Daredevil 2’ was put in a drawer forever, and it is only known that Ben Affleck wanted to do a dark version and that it really had to do with the original comics. We all know the ending: Charlie Cox took on the mantle of Guardian Devil a decade later with Netflix’s ‘Daredevil’, Ben Affleck ended up being Batman, and Jennifer Garner got as far away from superheroes as she could.
Well, from everyone except Ben Affleck: if there was something good they gave ‘Daredevil’ and ‘Elektra’ it was a couple that lasted more than ten years in Hollywood… And confirmation that it’s okay to bring two superheroes together in the same movie. The same can even attract the public, right?