Daredevil returns: Marvel teams up with Netflix to create four new superhero shows

Luke Cage, Jessica Jones and Iron Fist will get their own 13-episode series

Ben Affleck as Daredevil, a Marvel superhero. The character is being given a Netflix series (Marvel/Fox)

Netflix and Disney have announced a multi-year deal to produce four new live-action series based on four of Marvel's popular superhero characters.

Marvel Television will ready a series based on Daredevil, a blind man whose remaining senses are superhuman, in time for a 2015 release on the internet subscription network.

The Daredevil comics were previously adapted for a 2003 movie starring Ben Affleck. It underwhelmed, both in terms of critics' scores and till receipts, but Marvel has since developed its superhero brands into box office behemoths.

Following the release of the Daredevil series, Netflix will release three further full-length dramas based on the heroes and villains who inhabit Hell's Kitchen in New York.

Jessica Jones, who has incredible strength, will be the focus of one series. Iron Fist, a martial artist, and Luke Cage, who is almost impervious to injury, take the lead in the remaining two.

Netflix has committed to a minimum of four 13-episode series, as well as a Defenders mini-series which "reimagines a dream team of self-sacrificing, heroic characters".

Alan Fine, President of Marvel Entertainment, said: "This serialised epic expands the narrative possibilities of on-demand television and gives fans the flexibility to immerse themselves how and when they want in what's sure to be a thrilling and engaging adventure."

Netflix is producing the series with ABC Television Studios. The streaming service's chief content officer Ted Sarandos said he was hopeful that the four series would prove popular worldwide, saying: "Marvel's movies, such as Iron Man and Marvel's The Avengers, are huge favourites on our service around the world. Like Disney, Marvel is a known and loved brand that travels."