FOX’s Tom Rothman is talking about Daredevil needing a reboot though I’m not sure if it’s because he genuinely feels that Daredevil needs a reboot or because nobody will put Ben Affleck in a movie unless it involves him repeating his role in Mallrats. Either way Daredevil can be rebooted but Daredevil doesn’t really need a reboot. Mark Steven Johnson’s movie was no meteoric cinematic achievement in comic book film making but it wasn’t a completely disaster either.

Mark Steven Johnson’s Daredevil suffered primarily from casting problems, whether it was Ben Affleck as a ridiculously smug Matt Murdock or Michael Clarke Duncan as the friendliest Kingpin ever or Jennifer Garner working hard to exercise her one acting muscle while saddled with a terrible fake accent. Considering how awful Ghost Rider was I wouldn’t bring back Mark Steven Johnson to direct a sequel, but the original Daredevil holds up pretty decently as an evocation of just who Daredevil is. It may need a rebooting as far as a new director and new cast goes, but it’s not like the 2003 Daredevil is the equivalent of Batman and Robin that it needs a franchise reboot.

If anything Mark Steven Johnson’s Daredevil points the way to getting the next Daredevil movie right, from the visual concept of Matt Murdock’s sensing to Hell Kitchen’s itself. It may need to be a little darker but Daredevil isn’t Dark Knight and trying to turn every single comic book movie into Dark Knight is the surest way to an explosive and laughable train wreck.