Daredevil Will Be Written Again David James Kelly drafting new script

Fox has been quietly developing a new Daredevil film for a couple of years now. 30 Days Of Night and Twilight: Eclipse director David Slade has been attached since last spring, and there have been screenplays by David Scarpa (The Day The Earth Stood Still) and Brad Caleb Kane (Brooklyn's Finest). Now though, there's word of yet another draft, this time by David James Kelly.

The plan is still to adapt the Frank Miller saga Born Again, first published in Daredevil issues 227-233, in 1986. The story sees Matt Murdock outed as Daredevil by his former secretary Karen Page. She has, shall we say, fallen on hard times since leaving the Nelson & Murdock law firm, and sells the info for a shot of heroin. It eventually reaches crime boss The Kingpin, who proceeds to creatively dismantle Murdock's life and send supervillain Nuke into Murdock's stomping ground of New York's Hell's Kitchen.

In the comic, The Avengers get involved, but don't expect a movie crossover, since Captain America and co. belong to a different studio.

There are several David James Kellys listed on the IMDb, but the one we appear to be talking about has but a single credit as an editor on Sunshine Cleaning (which is really good by the way - no complaints there). Quite how he's scored a big gig on a superhero property is unclear then. Maybe he's one of those super-script-doctors that kick ass in total secret, but now his identity has been blown.

We'll say it again: the Ben Affleck / Mark Steven Johnson Daredevil is better than its reputation, especially in its Director's Cut form. Affleck though, has been vocal about how he was stung by the negative reaction to that film on its first release, so will not be back to fill DD's red leather trews.

The only other name officially linked to the reboot at this point is producer Peter Chernin (Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes), and Regency is the production company without fear. We'll bring you more news as we get it. The ace Born Again is available as a paperback collection published by Marvel, should you want to do some revision in the meantime.