Daredevil (2003) Comic Influences

[Silver Nemesis]

The first time I watched Split it immediately made me think of Typhoid Mary. I can't say if Shyamalan has read the Daredevil comics, but I wouldn't be surprised if he had. It wasn't just the multiple personalities that made it similar, but the antagonistic relationships between them. That movie offers a great template for how Typhoid's psychological profile could be handled in terms of performance.

I watched the Daredevil Director's Cut again last night, and I think it holds up reasonably well. It's a good film IMHO. Not as good as Spider-Man I & II, Batman Begins, The Dark Knight or X-Men II, but still one of the better superhero movies of the 2000s. I'd rank it roughly on a par with Blade II, and ahead of The Punisher '04. Speaking of which, I was thinking it would be cool if Thomas Jane's Punisher showed up in Deadpool 3 and shared a scene with Affleck's Daredevil. Affleck's role, if the rumours of his involvement are true, will likely be a small cameo, but seeing him interact with the Punisher could make it worthwhile.

A few similarities I noticed between Daredevil and the Burton/Schumacher Batman movies:

•   The gothic look of Daredevil aligns it with the cinematic trend for darker superhero movies started by Batman '89.
•   The hero's origin story is rewritten to make his arch foe the killer of his parent(s). The hero doesn't find out about this until the final act.
•   Ben Urich's first scene, where he bickers with Manolis at the scene of Daredevil's latest sighting, is similar to the scene between Knox and Eckhardt in B89.
•   The line "What a dick" is spoken in both Batman '89 and Daredevil – by Knox in B89, and by Foggy in the DD Director's Cut.
•   DD and B89 both feature a showdown in a church which ends with the villain falling to the street below where the police surround his body. Bullseye survives, Joker doesn't.
•   The rooftop fight between Daredevil and Elektra is similar to the first rooftop fight between Batman and Catwoman in Batman Returns. In both movies the female character attacks the male hero, who barely fights back, and ends up stabbing him with her signature weapon.
•   Bullseye incriminating Daredevil using his billy club recalls Penguin (who Farrell would later play) framing Batman with the batarang in Batman Returns.
•   Matt's line to Elektra about revenge not making the pain go away echoes what Bruce says to Dick in Batman Forever.
•   Keaton and Affleck were both trained by Dave Lea in preparation for their roles.
•   Coolio plays a criminal in both DD and Batman & Robin.

[thecolorsblend]

I've speculated multiple times that Affleck has creatively checked out of comic book stuff. He may yet do a cameo appearance as Daredevil in Deadpool 3. But largely, I think Affleck wants to move on to other things. Fish posted a quote from him in a thread about The Flash:

"This isn't the life I want. My kids aren't here. I'm miserable." You want to go to work and find something interesting to hang onto, rather than just wearing a rubber suit, and most of it you're just standing against the computer screen going, "If this nuclear waste gets loose, we'll ..." That's fine. I don't condescend to that or put it down, but I got to a point where I found it creatively not satisfying. Also just, you're sweaty and exhausted. And I thought, "I don't want to participate in this in any way. And I don't want to squander any more of my life, of which I have a limited amount."

And I have to say that this kind of supports what I said below all those years ago.

Affleck had a brief moment of honesty. And in that moment, he validated the conversation Kevin Smith claimed to have with him ("I'll make my big nut on Daredevil and then come do Jersey Girl for chump change") while also revealing that he was never really too invested in Daredevil.

His role as Chuckie in Good Will Hunting is far smaller than his role in Daredevil. But I would bet you a million dollars that he gets more creative satisfaction from watching just one Chuckie moment from GWH than the entirety of Daredevil. I would also bet that he gets even greater satisfaction from watching just five minutes of The Town than the entirety of etc.

He didn't go to Hollywood to play Daredevil. He went there to play Chuckie, direct The Town and do the other "more personal" items on his resumé. Stuff like Daredevil or Armageddon is what he has to do pay the bills between projects that he's probably more emotionally invested in such as The Company Men.

Watching the movie Hollywoodland, I've often wondered how much of himself Affleck actually poured into that role or at least poured into certain scenes. Did the mask slip? Does he relate to George Reeves on a borderline inappropriate visceral level? "You liked me where I was, in a ****ing red suit! Well, that's not who I am!" I have no idea if "red suit" was what was in the script or if that was a Freudian moment for Affleck that wound up in the movie. Either way, it's kind of perfect.

And honestly, if his quote from Fish is the way he feels, more power to him. Between the negative (initial) reaction to his portrayal of Batman, his divorce and his substance issue, it would be perfectly understandable if he wants to do things his own way from now on.

[The Laughing Fish]

I'm now becoming convinced the only reason Affleck appeared in The Flash is that he was contractually obliged to do so, as a condition for Warners tolerating his support for ZSJL and the additional photography he filmed. I don't think Warners would've bothered to ask Affleck to do any work for The Flash if ZSJL was still locked up in a vault to this day.

Although Affleck had gone on record to say he lost interest in the role after the all turmoil surrounding the Josstice L reshoots and struggling to deal with his own personal problems, we should not disregard the time he appeared willing to come back to the role. Nobody thought he was willing to come back do film cameos for Aquaman 2 and a post-credit scene for The Flash, so there must've been a plan at some point last year that they building up his return. That is until Gunn and Safran sabotaged everything. Affleck summing up how he regretted his time was over when he was getting back into the groove of it on that red carpet premiere tells you he had a renewed interest.

I may not understand Affleck's decision to want to do Daredevil again knowing his distaste for the 2003 film, but knowing what I know now about everything surrounding his time as Batman, I can't blame the guy for leaving that role. The initial backlash is one thing, but when you have a studio that is disloyal and clearly doesn't give a sh*t about your well-being, it's not worth the trouble.