ABC once planned an animated Daredevil TV series starring Matt Murdock fighting crime as his horn-headed alter ego alongside his seeing eye dog/sidekick Lightning, a German Shepherd. But the show was scuttled, with NBC also considering it before it was finally shelved all together.
Now, Marvel Executive Editor Tom Brevoort has confirmed the apparent reason why the show never made it to air – a 1982 Frank Miller cover that was deemed to make Daredevil appear too violent for ABC’s Saturday morning cartoon line-up.
Bought them all. That Daredevil cover killed an ABC cartoon pitch. https://t.co/zdSyVuciGM
— Tom Brevoort (@TomBrevoort) March 25, 2020
Here’s some concept art featuring Daredevil and, of course, Lightning, drawn by none other than Marvel Comics icon John Romita, Sr.. The show was to be written by Mark Evanier.
Since people have expressed an interest in it, here are two presentation boards from the Daredevil cartoon proposal from 1982 that Frank Miller’s cover put the kibosh on. pic.twitter.com/F1RGFzjTEa
— Tom Brevoort (@TomBrevoort) March 26, 2020