Drew Goddard exits Daredevil TV Series

More big bad news for Marvel fans this weekend. According to sources, award winning writer/director Drew Goddard has left the upcoming Marvel TV series DAREDEVIL. Goddard was supposed to write and direct the first episode of Daredevil, while also serving as series Showrunner and Executive Producer for the 13-episode series premiering on Netflix in 2015. Drew Goddard will hand over showrunning duties to Steven S. DeKnight, who is finalizing a deal to board the series. Goddard will segue to writing and directing Sony's Spider-Man spinoff Sinister Six, which will focus on the villains from that universe. He'll remain with Daredevil and serve as a consultant on the drama.

Daredevil's new showrunner Steven S. DeKnight was the showrunner on three seasons of Starz's Spartacus which was wrapped in 2013. His credits include working with Goddard on Joss Whedon's Angel and Buffy the Vampire Slayer well as Whedon's Dollhouse and The CW's Smallville.

As for Sony's Sinister Six, it's actually a bit wierd that Goddard has prioritized working on this project instead, what with Amazing Spider-man 2 now being considered by many movie analysts as both a critical and commercial disappointment for the studio.

Marvel gearing up for four more TV series; Daredevil, Luke Cage, Jessica Jones, and Iron Fist will come to life in TV

Now that DAREDEVIL and PUNISHER ('s legal rights) are back into Marvel Studios' hands, one might wonder if a Daredevil movie will be made. The answer is No... But there will be a Daredevil TV series. Not only that; there are three other Marvel projects that are set up to be launched as TV series as well; these will be series that will spotlight: Iron Fist, Luke Cage, and Jessica Jones. And these four hero TV series are also being planned to culminate into what will be a The Defenders mini-series. [hit the jump to continue]

Daredevil's Rights are now back in Marvel Studio's hands

Marvel Studios has secured the rights to the Marvel comics character Daredevil, whose rights was previously owned by 20th Century Fox. The 2003 Daredevil movie was actually a failure as it was terribly maligned by critics, it was despised by fans of the Daredevil comics, and did not even a spawn cult fanbase big enough to fuel interest in following it. Everybody, including Affleck himself, were interested in doing something darker with it, but the big men at the studios do not seem to know what to do with it.

After a very long period of trying to develop it, time has ran out for 20th Century Fox. A sequel or reboot should have to start filming by 10 October 2012, or else the rights to the Daredevil franchise would revert from Fox back to Marvel. And so it did; This month, Kevin Feige confirmed that the rights for Daredevil returned to Marvel Studios and Disney, opening the possibility of including the character into the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Joe Carnahan's pitch for DAREDEVIL rejected by Fox

If you ask me, the perfect way to adapt the Marvel superhero into a movie adaptation would be to set it in a gritty 70's atmosphere, reminiscent of films like Serpico and Taxi Driver. This is what director Joe Carnahan seemed to aim for in his pitch for a DAREDEVIL reboot, and he prepared a video presentation for it as well, a "Sizzle Reel" actually (spliced together pieces of film stock, bits of soundtrack, some concept art and, in this case, comic book panels that are meant to give the viewer a sense of tone and theme). Unfortunately, the people at Fox turned it down. [read more & check out the sizzle reel after the jump]