Daredevil

Daredevil is a fictional character appearing in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was created by Stan Lee and Bill Everett and first appeared in Daredevil #1 dated April 1964.

Daredevil's alter ego is Matt Murdock, a lawyer working at the law firm Nelson and Murdock. As a child, Matt was in an accident involving a radioactive substance which caused him to permanently go blind.  While he no longer can see, the radioactive exposure heightens his remaining senses beyond normal human ability and gives him a "radar sense".

Daredevil operates in the city of Hell's Kitchen and is known by many titles such as The Man Without Fear and The Devil Of Hell's Kitchen.

Publication History

The character debuted in Daredevil #1 (April 1964), created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist Bill Everett, with character design input from Jack Kirby, who devised Daredevil's billy club.Writer and comics historian Mark Evanier has concluded (but cannot confirm) that Kirby designed the basic image of Daredevil's costume, though Everett modified it. The character's original costume design was a combination of black, yellow, and red, reminiscent of acrobat tights. Wally Wood introduced Daredevil's modern red costume in issue #7. However, issue #7 is mainly noted for Daredevil's valiant battle against the Sub-Mariner, and has become one of the most iconic and reprinted stories of the series.

The 31-issue Stan Lee/Gene Colan run on the series included Daredevil #47, in which Murdock defends a blind Vietnam veteran against a frameup; Lee has cited it as the story he is most proud of out of his entire career.(1)

Fictional Character Biography

Abandoned by his mother, Matt Murdock was raised by his father, boxer "Battling Jack" Murdock, in Hell's Kitchen. Realizing that rules were needed to prevent people from behaving badly, young Matt decided to study law; however, when he saved a man from an oncoming truck, it spilled a radioactive cargo that rendered Matt blind while enhancing his remaining senses. Under the harsh tutelage of blind martial arts master Stick, Matt mastered his heightened senses and became a formidable fighter. He also attended Columbia University Law School alongside his best friend, Franklin "Foggy" Nelson; but before Matt earned his Juris Doctorate degree, his father was murdered by agents of the Fixer (Roscoe Sweeny) for refusing to throw a fight. Enraged when the legal system failed to bring the Fixer to justice, Matt donned a costume made from his father's boxing robe and went into action as "Daredevil," savagely beating his father's killers and frightening the Fixer himself to death. Establishing a small New York law firm with Foggy, Matt vowed to serve the law as Matt Murdock and to fight evils beyond the law's reach as Daredevil.

Although Daredevil and the Punisher both fight crime, they often clash over the Punisher's lethal tactics. During an early encounter, Daredevil shot the Punisher to prevent him from killing drug-dealer Peter "Hogman" Grunter. Since then, Daredevil has worked with the Punisher when necessary, but has also attempted to bring him to justice. Daredevil formed the "Marvel Knights" to apprehend the Punisher, who escaped police custody thereafter. Later, Daredevil teamed with Spider-Man and Wolverine in a failed attempt to take down the Punisher, who told Daredevil that the only way to stop him was to kill him.(2)

Powers and Abilities

Although he is blind, his other four senses perform with super-human accuracy. Not many other superheroes know the fact that Daredevil is blind. He also has radar sense. He has a number of other abilities including peak human physical and mental condition, highly skilled acrobat and hand-to-hand combatant and he uses a specially designed club.

Supporting Characters

Allies

Daredevil has a number of allies including his best friend Foggy Nelson, his love interest Karen Page, other heroes such as Luke Cage/Power man, Elektra, Spider-man, Punisher, Iron Fist and many more.

 

Enemies

Daredevil has made a number of enemies over the years including Bullseye, Kingpin, owl, The Purple Man, Mr. Fear, Stilt Man, The Jester, and Man-Bull

Movies

Daredevil(2003)

The movie was directed by Mark Steven Johnson and featured Ben Affleck as Matt Murdock/Daredevil, Jennifer Garner as Elektra, Colin Farrell as Bullseye, Micheal Clarke Duncan as Kingpin, Jon Favreau as Foggy Nelson and Ellen Pompeo as Karen Page. The movie did not perform well at the box office and was a disaster according to both fans and critics.

You can check out the trailer below

TV Series

Marvel's Daredevil(2015)

Marvel's Daredevil is a Netflix exclusive show created by Drew Goddard. The show finished it's second season in March 2016. It features Charlie Cox as Matt Murdock/Daredevil, Deborah Ann Woll as Karen Page, Elden Henson as Foggy Nelson, Vincent D'Onofrio as Wilson Fist/Kingpin, Jon Bernthal as Frank Castle/The Punisher and Elodie Yung as Elektra. The series is connected to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The show has received very good ratings and is enjoyed by fans worldwide.

You can check out the trailer for season 1 below

You can check out the season 2 trailer below.

Notable Comics

You can check out our Daredevil products here

Sources

1.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daredevil_(Marvel_Comics)#Publication_history

2.http://marvel.com/universe/Daredevil_%28Matthew_Murdock%29