In 2013, The Ravelo family gave ABS-CBN the rights to the characters created by Mars Ravelo in an agreement in 2013. ABS-CBN officially acquired the exclusive rights to 13 Mars Ravelo titles including Dyesebel, Darna, and Captain Barbell. Darna was first announced in 2013 by Star Cinema, and Erik Matti was revealed to direct the film. In October 2013, Star Cinema managing director Malou Santos confirmed that actress Angel Locsin, who portrayed Darna in the 2005 GMA teleserye, would be reprising the role of the iconic superhero in an upcoming Darna film produced by the ABS-CBN film outfit and Reality Entertainment, five months after the network earned the rights to Darna and 12 other Ravelo characters. During an interview with ABS-CBN, Angel said that the yet untitled Darna film was one of the biggest projects ever done by the film company.