Daredevil is easily the unluckiest hero in the entire MCU. And no, we're not referring to the fact his body is covered with a layer of scar tissue or to Matt Murdock's inability to balance his superhero vocation with his personal life. We're not referring to the crushing losses he's suffered over the years or to the harsh relationship he had with his mentor Stick. Rather, we're talking about how Daredevil has been treated by both Marvel Studios and Marvel Television.

The first season of Daredevil streamed on Netflix back in 2015, and it was an immediate hit - so much so that, just a year later, Marvel released a second season that was similarly praised. Daredevil season 3 is finally coming out on October 19, and it's expected to draw upon some classic comic book arcs - including both Born Again and Guardian Devil.

Related: Daredevil Season 3 Review: Sometimes Marvel’s Heroes Work Best Alone

Given that Ol' Hornhead's Netflix series is performing so well, it seems hardly fitting to describe him as the MCU's unluckiest hero. And yet, that's definitely the case - if only because Daredevil could be so much more.

Daredevil's Movie Rights Explained

Daredevil crouches among flames from Daredevil

In order to understand the troubled history of Daredevil, you first have to cast your mind back to the late '90s. This was a difficult time for Marvel, who were struggling to stave off bankruptcy after the bottom fell out of the entire comic book industry. Desperate to make ends meet, Marvel settled upon the strategy of selling off the film rights to their characters. That's why Sony has the rights to produce and distribute Spider-Man movies, while Fox has the X-Men. Around that time, Fox also bought the rights to Daredevil, in 2003 producing the Ben Affleck-starring dud.

By 2006, though, Marvel Studios was considering a bold and innovative new approach. Rather than continue selling off the film rights to the characters, Marvel would make their own movies. Iron Man launched the Marvel Cinematic Universe in 2008, and the entire film industry was staggered at Marvel's success. Initially, Fox still owned the rights to Daredevil (this is why he was off-limits to Marvel during Phase 1 of the MCU) and in 2011 hired directed David Slade and screenwriter Brad Caleb Kane for a new Daredevil movie.

When Slade left the project in 2012, Fox was faced with a difficult situation. Their ownership had an expiration date; similar to Sony with Spider-Man, if Fox couldn't get a Daredevil movie in production and out for release quickly, then the rights would revert back to Marvel (they'd previously kept them by doing an Elektra film, which hadn't exactly been a hit either). Joe Carnahan was interested in taking over, but Fox quickly realized his idea would take too long to produce. In April 2013, Kevin Feige confirmed that Daredevil's rights had finally returned to Marvel.

Related: Characters Marvel Still Doesn't Have The Movie Rights To

Kevin Feige Didn't Want Daredevil

But it seems Feige wasn't too interested in Daredevil. Back in 2013, Marvel was attempting to expand the MCU to incorporate both the movies and a range of spinoff TV shows; the first of these was Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. As part of this, Feige agreed to an approach that would see characters passed on to Marvel Television if he had no plans for them on the big screen. And so, in November that year, Marvel Television struck an unprecedented deal with Netflix to bring hard-edged Marvel superheroes to the streaming giant. They signed up for four TV shows and a Defenders miniseries, the first of which was Daredevil.

Of course, back then Marvel Television hoped the film and TV empires would cross over. Charlie Cox even told Close-Up Film that his contract specifically allowed him to appear in a Marvel Studios movie "if they want me to do it." However, in the time between the show's announcement and release, something major changed.

In 2015, behind-the-scenes drama at Marvel led Disney to force a massive corporate restructuring. Marvel Studios was pulled out of Marvel Entertainment and established as a separate Disney subsidiary with Kevin Feige in charge. Marvel Television remainder inside Marvel Entertainment, under Jeph Loeb and his boss, Ike Perlmutter. Although Marvel Studios and Marvel Entertainment remained key stakeholders, the relationship between the two would never be the same - and it's had a massive impact on Daredevil's chances of heading to the big screen.

Marvel TV Has Become Increasingly Disconnected From The MCU

As already mentioned, back when Marvel Television launched their TV shows in 2013, they'd expected them to be pretty central to the MCU. That's why Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. essentially started off as Marvel's tie-in TV series, with the first season featuring strong connections to Iron Man 3Thor: The Dark World, and - most notably - Captain America: The Winter Soldier. That habit had continued with season 2. But after that schism between Marvel Studios and Television, the links between Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and the movies began to become a little more distant. Season 3 settled for a throwaway reference to Pym Particles as a crossover for Ant-Man, and season 4 only had a thematic tie-in to Doctor Strange (via a new Ghost Rider) rather than an explicit one.

Related: Cloak & Dagger Is the Best-Connected MCU TV Show

Meanwhile, although Daredevil season 1 was ostensibly set in the aftermath of the Battle of New York, future Marvel Netflix shows eschewed all but the most indirect references to the movies. More recent MCU TV shows, most notably Runaways, could quite easily exist in a universe entirely separate to the Avengers.

Marvel's catchphrase may be, "It's all connected," but in truth it really isn't. The TV shows are secondary to the MCU, and by now it's pretty clear that TV characters will never appear in a Marvel Studios movie. Worse still, Marvel Studios has recently revealed that they're going to begin a series of their own big-budget MCU TV shows, to be distributed on the Disney streaming service. So the Marvel Television series - like Daredevil - have essentially been relegated to a third tier of canon, even less important to the MCU. As it stands, there's simply no conceivable way Matt Murdock - a major Marvel character - is ever going to appear on the big screen.

Page 2 of 2: What We Miss Out On Because of The Daredevil TV Show

Daredevil's Greatest Moments & Team-Ups Can't Be In The MCU

All this means that so many of Daredevil's core character arcs and most popular team-ups are off-limits for the MCU. For example, in the comics, the Man Without Fear teams up a lot with Spider-Man; the two heroes know one another's secret identities, and have bonded over their shared need to protect their loved ones. Meanwhile, Black Widow and Daredevil have shared an on-again-off-again relationship for years, with Natasha proving central to some of Daredevil's most beloved arcs (including Guardian Devil, which is being loosely integrated into Daredevil season 3). But in the MCU, the divide between Marvel Television and Marvel Studios means that Matt Murdock can't meet either.

That also means Daredevil's secondary characters are ruled out of the movies as well. As popular as Vincent D'Onofrio's Kingpin may be (and as much as D'Onofrio himself may wish otherwise), he's never going to appear in a Spider-Man movie. We now know that the next season of Daredevil will finally introduce Bullseye; as exciting as that may be for Daredevil fans, it likewise means the master-assassin is a character Marvel Studios will never develop. That's particularly disappointing given recent reports that they're working on Dark Avengers script; in the comics, Bullseye was a member of the Dark Avengers, taking up the identity of Hawkeye.

Related: Every Marvel Cinematic Universe Project Currently In Development

This is why Daredevil (and his rogues' gallery) is so unlucky; he's a hero who could hold his own on the big screen, and indeed who could easily be adapted to fit perfectly alongside the gods and magicians of Marvel movies. But, because of behind-the-scenes conflict, he was relegated and subsequently trapped in Netflix.

Is Daredevil's Show Good Enough To Justify Missing Out On The Movies?

Charlie Cox in Daredevil Season 3 Netflix

All this leaves us faced with one frustrating question; as good as it is, is the Daredevil Marvel Netflix series worth it? Or is the big-screen loss of Daredevil and his secondary characters too significant? It's perhaps best answered by considering just why Kevin Feige handed these characters over to Marvel Television in the first place.

Marvel Studios don't believe in repeating stories that have been brought to the big screen before. That's why they didn't do another Hulk or Spider-Man origin story; it's why Tom Holland's Spider-Man is so different to the Tobey Maguire or Andrew Garfield iterations, and why they haven't used characters like Doctor Octopus or Green Goblin in the MCU movies so far. When Marvel Studios finally regained the rights to the Daredevil franchise back in 2013, we can safely presume that Feige felt he couldn't produce anything fresh enough to turn into a film. Daredevil and Elektra had already been done, after all, as had Daredevil versus Kingpin and even Bullseye. All the core concepts had already been used up, to some degree, by previous efforts.

The Marvel Netflix show is markedly different to 2003's Daredevil film. Its episodic format means it takes a long-form approach to storytelling, with a far deeper degree of character-work than you could ever see in a single movie. This has transformed the relationship between Daredevil and his friends and foes, adding much depth to their every interaction. By now, after two seasons, the bitter feud between Daredevil and Kingpin has become charged with an emotional intensity that would be all-but-impossible in a two-hour film. Crucially, all this has been complemented by a brutal and violent take on the franchise, one that distinguishes Daredevil from the MCU movies. Feige's decision to pass on Daredevil has allowed the creation of something fresh and unique.

Related: Daredevil Season 3 Villain Bullseye's Mysterious Comic Book Origin

But here's the catch; since 2013, things have changed at Marvel Studios. In 2015, Marvel made an unprecedented deal with Sony Pictures that allowed them to bring Spider-Man into the MCU. As we've already noted that both Daredevil and Kingpin have strong ties to Spider-Man in the comics; this would allow Marvel Studios to do something fresh and original with both characters, certainly very different to Fox's 2003 film. Unfortunately, by the time this possibility could be raised, it was too late.

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So which scenario is better: the stunning and popular Daredevil Marvel Netflix show, or the idea of new big-screen versions of Daredevil and Kingpin mixing it up with the likes of Spider-Man and Black Widow? Fans may wish they could get both, but this is the curse of the Daredevil franchise. Like the morality at the forefront of the character's stories, right and wrong are blurred. Given that Daredevil served as the launchpad for the entire range of Marvel Netflix shows, there is certainly some good; it's just a shame Matt Murdock himself had to make a sacrifice for it.

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