An infamous Marvel movie is about to hit streaming. Way back in 2003, Sony sought to follow up the success of Sam Raimi’s first Spider-Man film with an adaptation of another comic book hero dressed in red. Unfortunately, the resulting Daredevil flick failed to reach the same heights as Spidey’s cinematic outings, though it’s still remembered for being Ben Affleck’s first superhero role, long before he donned the cape and cowl to become DC’s Batman.
If you’ve never seen it before and want to give it a chance, or else haven’t watched it in years, then now is your chance to fix that. Daredevil is being added to Amazon Prime Video in the US this Wednesday, September 1st. From director Mark Steven Johnson – who went on to helm Ghost Rider – the movie stars Affleck as Matt Murdock, a blind attorney who moonlights as the titular vigilante thanks to his remaining senses being elevated to superhuman levels.
As well as falling in love with martial artist Elektra Natchios (Jennifer Garner), Daredevil sees Murdock having to save Hell’s Kitchen from crime boss Wilson Fisk/Kingpin (Michael Clarke Duncan) and his hired assassin Bullseye (Colin Farrell). Future Iron Man director and Happy Hogan actor Jon Favreau also features as Matt’s best pal Foggy Nelson.
Despite its poor critical reception, the film was a decent hit for the time, raking in $179 million at the box office, earning it a spinoff, 2005’s Elektra, as a result. An R-rated director’s cut of the former was also released in 2004, which restores 30 minutes of footage cut from the theatrical version. Fans widely agree that this is the superior iteration of the movie, though it’ll be the theatrical cut available on Prime.
These days, Charlie Cox is most synonymous with Daredevil, and he’s believed to be reprising his fan-favorite role in this year’s Spider-Man: No Way Home. Ben Affleck, meanwhile, returns as Batman in 2022’s The Flash.