How Has Daredevil Not Gotten A Triple-A Video Game Yet?

We’re in a renaissance for Marvel video games. Insomniac’s Spider-Man games are fantastic, Marvel Rivals is one of the most popular multiplayer games on the market right now, Marvel Snap continues to be a daily joy for many on mobile, and several single-player games based on heroes like Iron Man are in development. Despite that, I can’t help but ask myself an important question: how has Daredevil not gotten his own video game yet?

While he’s not popular on the level of Spider-Man or Iron Man, Daredevil is one of my favorite Marvel characters. Across mediums, Daredevil stories have the perfect blend of intense action and clever writing that feels tailor-made for me. I’m more excited to watch all of Daredevil: Born Again than I have been for any Marvel TV project since Wandavision. Yet, when it comes to video games, Daredevil has been relegated to cameo appearances, being one of many playable characters in Marvel video games, and a measly Game Boy Advance movie tie-in. The Punisher has many more dedicated video games than Daredevil (and it’s actually a solid bunch of games).

Now that Daredevil: Born Again has reminded me of how much I love this character, I’m once again yearning for Marvel to give The Man Without Fear a AAA console game of his own. The sad part is it almost happened once, too.

In the early 2000s, a relatively unknown game studio called 5000ft Inc. and a publisher named Encore were working on a Daredevil video game for PS2 and Xbox. It looked like an enjoyable 3D beat-em-up of its era, capturing the gritty vibes of Hell’s Kitchen and the fluid action associated with this Marvel character. Sadly, while the game was almost complete, it was canceled before release. While a prototype is now playable, and you can watch a video of the game in action above, it’s still not the polished, modern kind of AAA action game I would love to see Daredevil star in.

If I could greenlight a Daredevil game myself, I’d make something that feels like a mix between Marvel’s Spider-Man, L.A. Noire, and Ace Attorney. Marvel’s Spider-Man now feels like the de facto template for an open-world superhero video game. I feel that a Daredevil game could feature similarly fluid movement and combat, even if Matt Murdock won’t be swinging around New York City like Spider-Man. It could probably get a bit more mature and brutal with the action, considering Daredevil is one of Marvel’s grittier characters.

It could also split the gameplay between Matt Murdock and Daredevil. During the day, players could be Matt Murdock and work to solve cases or help their clients in the courtroom. At night, he could go out, fight criminals, and find evidence to support his cases as Daredevil. While that unreleased Daredevil game had to hue closely to beat ’em up game conventions of the time, nowadays, AAA action games are allowed to be much more ambitious. Video game design and storytelling have finally reached the point where they could do this character justice.

Plenty of classic stories are ripe for adaptation, too. There are the classics like Born Again (which the Disney+ series gets its name from) as well as compelling newer stories like Shadowland or Devil’s Reign. All of it provides plenty of material – and iconic characters like The Punisher, Elektra, Kingpin, and more – to work with. Ultimately, like with the best superhero video games, a Daredevil game would likely be at its best if it serves simultaneously as an amalgamation and reinterpretation of what we know about the character.

RELATED: Will Daredevil: Born Again Be Marvel’s The Penguin?

At this point, Daredevil feels like one of the most iconic Marvel characters to have never gotten an officially released video game to call their own. Now that we’re in a renaissance of Marvel superhero video games and I don’t have to be picky about how to get one anymore, my want for a Daredevil video game only continues to grow. The video game industry wasn’t ready for a high-quality console Daredevil game in 2003, but I believe it is now. Hopefully, Daredevil is one of the superheroes Marvel deeply considers making a video game about as it expands its presence in this medium again.

If you want to know what Marvel games you can actually look forward to playing relatively soon, games starring Captain America, Black Panther, Iron Man, Wolverine, and Blade are all confirmed to be in the works.