There have been two live-action adaptations of the Marvel Comics superhero Daredevil so far. The Netflix television series starring Charlie Cox is generally considered vastly superior to the 2003 film starring Ben Affleck. Affleck and many of his cast mates do fine work in the latter, and the director’s cut of 2003's Daredevil is known for being a significant improvement over the theatrical release, which was released 20 years ago today. But deviations from the source material and the dated, early 2000s Matrix-inspired style of the film weigh it down. The character benefited from Netflix’s relaxed restrictions on content and length, resulting in a mature, much more nuanced adaptation. Every character featured in both is handled better in the series ... with the exception of one. While reporter Ben Urich was portrayed excellently by Vondie Curtis-Hall in the series, Joe Pantoliano’s cinematic version is ultimately slightly stronger for sticking to the characters’ roots.
Created by Roger McKenzie and Gene Colan, Ben Urich first appeared in comics in Daredevil #153 in 1978. He is a reporter for the Daily Bugle, often shown working closely under Spider-Man fan-favorite character J. Jonah Jameson. Ben reports on crime in Hell’s Kitchen, New York City, leading to encounters with Matt Murdock and Daredevil. Eventually Ben deduces that they are in fact the same person, but in issue #164, which retells Matt’s origin story, he decides not to publish his planned story about it, as he believes the importance of Matt’s superhero work outweighs the personal success the story would bring him. Since then, he and Matt have been close friends and allies, sharing information to help protect New York.
Vondie Curtis-Hall as TV's Ben Urich
In the Netflix series. Curtis-Hall’s Ben works for the New York Bulletin -- Marvel did not have the live-action rights to Spider-Man's Daily Bugle, which were controlled by Sony -- but his best days as a reporter are seemingly behind him. He struggles to balance his passion for crime reporting with the wishes of his editor, Mitchell Ellison (Geoffrey Cantor) and his need to make as much money as possible to help his wife, Doris (Adriane Lenox), who is suffering from an unnamed, serious illness. When Karen Page (Deborah Ann Woll) asks for Ben’s help investigating the criminal conspiracy ultimately revealed to be run by Wilson Fisk/the Kingpin (Vincent D’Onofrio) he is initially reluctant, believing that doing so would risk his and or Doris’ safety, but he quickly changes his mind and the investigation reawakens his passion. Although he works alongside Matt (Cox) in both his civilian guise as a lawyer and his vigilante identity, the series never shows Ben realizing the two men are one and the same.
Late in Season 1, Ben and Karen interview an elderly woman named Marlene Vistain (Phyllis Somerville), who they discover is actually Fisk’s mother. During their talk, Marlene’s memory briefly improves, and she reveals that Fisk killed his father when he was a child. After learning about the visit, Fisk breaks into Ben’s apartment before Ben can publish an exposé on him and murders him. Ben’s death added even more weight to the conflict between Matt’s team and Fisk and made the latter’s downfall all the more satisfying, but it is something of a shame that Curtis-Hall didn’t get the chance to develop the character and his relationship with Matt more.
Joe Pantoliano as Movie Ben Urich
This is one area in which the film is more accurate to the comics. Pantoliano’s Ben, a reporter for the New York Post, mostly writes on urban legends, including Daredevil’s (Affleck) crime fighting and the Kingpin (Michael Clarke Duncan). Throughout the film he works with Matt and Foggy Nelson (Jon Favreau) to expose Fisk but is also getting closer to discovering Matt’s secret identity. When the assassin Bullseye (Colin Farrell) kills Elektra Natchios’ (Jennifer Garner) father on Fisk’s orders, he does so using a baton he stole from Daredevil. A medical examiner named Kirby (Kevin Smith) shows Ben that the baton can be transformed to also serve as a blind man’s cane, with Ben recognizing the cane as Matt’s. However, at the end of the film, Ben makes the same decision as his comic book counterpart, deleting the article he wrote revealing Matt’s identity and showing his approval for his Daredevil work, telling him to “go get 'em.”
Pantoliano’s Ben is also closer in personality to the version in the comics. Comic Ben is a contemporary of Matt’s and has a sardonic personality that brings a lot of dry humor to the stories. Pantoliano’s version is even more snarky, but generally he is still characterized pretty similarly. Curtis-Hall’s version, on the other hand, is much more of a mentor figure to the Nelson and Murdock team, especially to Karen, who becomes the series’ resident investigator/reporter in the subsequent seasons. This isn't a criticism of the series’ handling of the character, which certainly works in its context, but by adhering more closely to the character's personality and allowing his most iconic arc to play out, the film delivers a slightly stronger, more faithful adaptation of Ben.