#SaveDaredevil trends after character rights return to Marvel Studios
Back in Novbember 29, 2018, Marvel's Daredevil was cancelled by Netflix, just one month after its Season 3 premiere. The abrupt end was eerily similar to the fate of other Marvel Television/Netflix collaborations, Luke Cage and Iron Fist. And by 2019, Netflix canceled all Marvel-Netflix television series. This spelled the end of a short-lived era for The Defenders multiverse and their interweaving storylines.
The original agreement between Disney and Netflix reportedly prevented any of its initial batch of Marvel characters – Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist, but not The Punisher – from “appearing in any non-Netflix series or film for at least two years after cancellation.”
Now, exactly two years since the unceremonious end of Daredevil on Netflix, ownership rights to the character reverts back to Marvel.
Noting this development, fans took to social media last weekend under the hashtag #SaveDaredevil to push for the revival of the show, calling for Disney Plus to broadcast it. #SaveDaredevil began trending on Twitter as the show’s fans petitioned Disney, who own Marvel, to revive the series with all the original members of the cast.
Twitter users flooded the social media platform with their pleas to bring the show back.
Fans wrote: "Just a reminder that Daredevil is one of the best shows on Netflix and that Disney should most certainly #SaveDaredevil.” and “Charlie Cox, @vincentdonofrio, and the entire cast and crew should return to bring Matt’s story to a close." Another fan tweeted: "Hey @Marvel / @Disney, it’s been a tough old year, how about making it a little better for us Daredevil fans, eh? #SaveDaredevil."
The official account for the #SaveDaredevil campaign wrote: "We know not everyone is on Twitter, but to those we can reach, all of us at #SaveDaredevil appreciate you!" to which Wilson Flisk/Kingpin star Vincent D'Onofrio, 61, replied in agreement with: "This."
Daredevil ran from 2015 to 2018 in Netflix, starring Charlie Cox as Matt Murdock/Daredevil, Deborah Ann Woll as Karen Page, D’Onofrio as Kingpin, Elden Henson as Franklin "Foggy" Nelson, Toby Leonard Moore as James Wesley, Vondie Curtis-Hall as Ben Urich, Bob Gunton as Leland Owlsley, Ayelet Zurer as Vanessa Marianna-Fisk, Rosario Dawson as Claire Temple, and Jon Bernthal as Frank Castle / Punisher.
While Cox, Woll, and Henson have all previously expressed a desire to continue Daredevil’s story, Marvel Studios has yet to announce anything regarding its plans for the show.