Fox and Marvel arguing over who gets to play with Daredevil, Galactus, and Silver Surfer

As it wouldn't be a modern comic-book movie without several rehashed versions of the same origin story, differing reports have been spun out of the news that Fox and Marvel are currently deep in negotiations over the future of Daredevil. Spurring these talks is the looming Oct. 10 cutoff for Fox to begin shooting its previously reported, Ben Affleck-less, rebooted version of the franchise before the rights revert back to Marvel—and depending on whether you believe Variety or Deadline, Fox is either being asked to make an interesting trade in exchange for an extension, or is itself asking Marvel for a far less interesting co-financing agreement. Variety's report says that Fox is nearly ready to give a green light to a Joe Carnahan-directed take the blind superhero—one intriguingly described as a "Frank Miller-esque, hardcore '70s thriller" version and, even more intriguingly, doesn't have Frank Miller anywhere near it—and that in exchange for giving them leeway on the start date, Marvel has reportedly asked for the return of world-devourer Galactus, last seen ruining a perfectly nice wedding in Fantastic Four: Rise Of The Silver Surfer.

Of course, given that both Galactus and the Silver Surfer play such a huge part in Fantastic Four mythology, and Fox just started work on also rebooting that franchise with Chronicle director Josh Trank, Deadline points out that this plan "doesn’t make sense." The more plausible outcome, it seems, is that Fox will simply surrender Daredevil to the Disney-owned Marvel, which would most likely spell the end of the word "hardcore" being anywhere near the property, should Marvel even decide to do something with it. A trade of Galactus and Silver Surfer for Daredevil does seem pretty uneven, after all. Maybe Marvel could throw in some Hostess Ding Dongs and one of its dad's naked lady playing cards?