We know October is only a few hours old, and Hallowe’en doesn’t even arrive until the very end of the month, but we’re getting in there early with a frankly terrifying news story. Fox have tried to reboot Daredevil. With Ben Affleck.

Good lord, what were they thinking? I mean, there have been worse films than Daredevil – even worse super-hero films (take a bow, Catwoman) – but it was by no means good. Rebooting the franchise wouldn’t have been a problem, as it’s a great property and deserved better treatment than it got the first time around, but keeping Ben Affleck as the lead wouldn’t have made a blind bit of sense (pun intended).

Thankfully, Ben Affleck saw things the same way. “I got contacted about it,” Affleck spills, “and I was like, ‘That wouldn’t be a reboot'”. Affleck always seemed passionate about Daredevil, and so it must have been tempting for him to have another stab at things after the disappointment of the first effort. He also sounds somewhat bitter about the recent success of super-hero movies, and we can’t really blame him. “right after that [Daredevil], [the studios] figured out that it was better to make the movies good, and then they started making them cool and investing in them.”

Speaking obviously about one studio in particular, it’s a shame that Affleck missed the Marvel money-train by about five years, but these things happen. All might not be lost, however, as – with the failed reboot – the rights to Daredevil remain unused by Fox, and thus are mere weeks away from reverting back to their rightful owners in Marvel. In the event of this, you can be damn sure Marvel won’t let their own property gather dust, so a new Daredevil film does seem likely in the next few years.

Ben Affleck will just have to enjoy it in the cinemas like the rest of us.