Why Daredevil Is A Netflix Series Instead Of A Movie

When Marvel regained the film and television rights to Daredevil, after the failed 2003 Daredevil movie, many fans expected the character to return to the big screen as a new Marvel Studios film. Instead, Marvel brought the character to Netflix as a TV series. So how did Matt Murdock go from big screen to small screen?

It turns out Marvel's Daredevil creator Drew Goddard originally had the same idea as the fans, that Marvel should bring the character back to theaters. Eventually, both Goddard and Marvel realized that was the wrong approach.

"I went into Marvel and talked to them about making it as a movie a couple of years ago, long after the [Ben] Affleck movie," Goddard tells IGN. "But what we all sort of realized is that, this movie doesn't want to cost $200 million. The thing about Matt Murdock is, he's not saving the world. He's just keeping his corner clean. So it would feel wrong to have spaceships crashing in the middle of the city. But because of that, Marvel on the movie side is not in the business of making $25 million movies. They're going big, as they should.

"It felt that we'd have more freedom to make it on the small screen and make it more adult," he continued. "Look, if we took the Netflix [show] and put it in theatres, it's rated R. And they're not doing R-rated movies. And we also got to really explore the character. I feel like Netflix was the best possible home for that, otherwise you'd end up with a watered down version."

Considering how well received Marvel's Daredevil was, it seems like Goddard and Marvel made the right decision.

Marvel's Daredevil will return to Netflix in for Season 2 in 2016.