Marvel Talks Chances We'll See Daredevil and Punisher Back on Big Screen, James Spader as Ultron in 'The Avengers' Sequel

While Warner Bros. is busy rebooting Batman, Marvel has its hands full launching new franchises. The studio already has Iron Man, the Hulk, Thor, Captain America and The Avengers (only the movie with biggest first and second box office weekends ever) and plans on launching Guardians of the Galaxy and Ant-Man over the next few years.

Marvel isn't content to sit comfortably with those franchises though. While we've heard rumors about Doctor Strange and Black Panther in Phase Three of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige talked with Bleeding Cool about the possibility of Daredevil and the Punisher showing up down the road.

We’re trying to figure out what to do with Daredevil now. Punisher could show up at one point. You know, once we get characters back into the Marvel fold we don’t want to do something right away, we want to do the smart thing at the smart time.

Daredevil and Punisher were two characters that Marvel managed to regain control of after the studios that had film rights to them let those rights lapse. We had heard rumors last year that Marvel offered to let Fox keep Daredevil in exchange for rights to Galactus and Silver Surfer, but that swap never materialized.

I can see why Marvel was more allegedly more interested in Galactus and Silver Surfer than Daredevil and the Punisher (imagine those two fighting against/with the Avengers), since the latter two don't fit as well in the Marvel Cinematic Universe the studio has created. While Disney hasn't pushed Marvel around purchasing it, the House of Mouse did discourage Shane Black from using the Demon in a Bottle alcoholism storyline in Iron Man 3. I don't think we'll even see a dark, gritty version of Daredevil and the Punisher as long as they're a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Feige also chatted with The Huffington Post on the topic of James Spader voicing Ultron in The Avengers: Age of Ultron. We still don't know much about this role — will Spader do a motion-capture performance, will Ultron have a human form? — but Feige did fill HuffPo in on a few details.

Ultron in the comics is a robot, but what's cool about him in the comics — and certainly how Joss Whedon is interpreting him for the movie — is that he is much more than just a robot. That he's infused with much character. And I don't want to say too much, but you can imagine James Spader will be very dynamic in his portrayal of this character.

Hmmmm, Ultron is "much more than just a robot"?