Joe Carnahan in talks to tackle Daredevil - UPDATED

20th Century fox are keen to move forward with a Daredevil movie after the departure of previous reboot director David Slade, because not doing so will mean the rights will revert back to Marvel and Disney. The latest director in frame is Joe Carnahan (The Grey, The A-Team), who wants to direct a "Frank Miller-esque, hardcore 70's thriller". Frank Miller, for those who don't know, is the writer responsible for bringing a gritty edge to Daredevil in the 70's with The Elektra Saga and Born Again, and is also the mastermind behind Sin City. This is a great direction to take the character. As much as I enjoyed the original film, it felt a bit too cheesy in places (the superior Director's Cut went a long ways to remedy any problems it had), a darker take with Carnahan on board is just what the doctor ordered.

But the real story here is how far Fox are willing to go to keep the rights to the character. With an October 10th deadline looming for the rights to revert back, Fox and Marvel have entered into talks about a trade off: Daredevil for the rights to certain Fantastic Four (a franchise Fox also owns) characters, including planet eater Galactus and his herald The Silver Surfer. It's no secret Marvel are pushing the more cosmic side of the Marvel Universe for their second phase of movies, with the appearance of Thanos in The Avengers and The Guardians Of The Galaxy set for release in 2014, but rumors are circulating that Galactus plays a big part in their plans. The talks are still ongoing, but if things go the way everybody wants, we could very well see the cosmic villain facing The Avengers. Lets just hope it's not the cloud version from Fantastic Four 2.

UPDATE: Deadline are now reporting that no such talks are taking place, that with Josh Trank rebooting the Fantastic Four franchise, Fox have no notion giving back the rights to Galactus, a cornerstone villain of the franchise. While Joe Carnahan has approached the studio with his own take on Daredevil, chatter points to Fox wanting to let the rights revert back to Marvel unless Disney co-finances the movie with them. This is what the talks are meant to be about. Don't know who to believe really. Guess time will tell.

Source: Variety