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In 1993, Marvel Comics published Daredevil: The Man Without Fear, a five-issue limited series that reimagined Daredevil’s origin for the modern era. Written by Frank Miller and illustrated by John Romita Jr., the comic is regularly placed on online rankings of the best Daredevil comics. However, it’s interesting to note that it didn’t begin life as a comic.

“It was originally going to be a TV pilot, and I wrote a treatment,” Frank Miller says during an appearance on the Word Balloon podcast. “It was my first attempt at doing anything of the sort. And the main reaction to it was, ‘Oh my god, we didn’t ask for War and Peace.’ That’s not an exact quote, but that’s pretty much what it was. It was so complex and involved, and it would be so lengthy. But I showed it to Ralph Macchio at Marvel Comics, and I said, ‘This might be fun to do.’ And we hooked up with [John Romita Jr.] and just got rolling on it.”

“Mostly what I did was I added things. I started sending John, here’s an addendum, here’s an addendum, here’s an addendum, which ended up adding about half a den as much material as what the original story was. And he just kept rocketing through those pages, just doing gorgeous artwork. And it ended up being a massive piece of work.”

It should be noted that other sources claim that the limited series was envisioned as a movie not a television series. However, this could mean that Miller wrote a pilot that would’ve served as a television movie that could turn into a series. Other ‘90s superhero television shows like The Flash began this way.

The question is, in the year 1993, who would they have cast as Matt Murdock?

Fear not, we have the essentials when it comes to Marvel's Daredevil - especially with Marvel Studios' Daredevil: Born Again. Check out:

• The key difference between Netflix's Daredevil and Marvel Studios' Daredevil: Born Again, according to the showrunner
• The best Daredevil stories of all time
• What to watch before Daredevil: Born Again 
• If you’re starting Daredevil, here’s why Born Again matters
• Popverse Picks: Our favorite things for Marvel's Man Without Fear including Ann Nocenti comics, the Netflix series, and more
• How Vincent D'Onofrio reinvented Daredevil's Kingpin
• Marvel's Daredevil actors, ranked from Charlie Cox to Ben Affleck and even Rex Smith
• How Frank Miller accidentally killed a Daredevil cartoon (and Marvel killed a book to avoid pissing him off)
• That time we caught Daredevil actor Charlie Cox sneaking into New York Comic Con as Bluey