I want, before I die, to have done one thing... to bring him to justice. Because that is the only revenge that will mean anything. He doesn't believe in justice or the law. He doesn't believe he can be punished. He believes he is allowed to do what he is doing. And as much as I want to wrap my hands around his throat and watch him die... it won't mean anything. I want him in a court of law... to hear a jury of right-minded people... tell him he's evil and then put him away. 
- —Daredevil[src]
History
Early Life[]
Matthew "Matt" Murdock was blinded in his youth but somehow secretly gifted with enhanced non-visual senses, Matt Murdock also lost his father, murdered by Kingpin for refusing to go along with a fixed boxing match.[1]
Columbia Law School[]
Ultimate Daredevil and Elektra
Even with that, though, Matt had his promise to his father - to make something of himself through his education. He enrolled at Columbia Law School, where he met and became enamored with Elektra Natchios. However, a string of violent occurrences at the school would tear them apart. It started when one of Elektra's friends was raped by an influential rich boy called Trey. Her friend pressed charges against Trey, backed up by Elektra, but Trey's father had them buried. Unable to accept that, Elektra snuck into his room one night and threatened Trey; something that only earned her and her family more pain when Trey hired thugs to burn down her father's business. Matt managed to draw a connection between the thugs and Trey, and had him arrested again. Once again, the charges were dropped.
Deciding that he would never stop, Elektra tricked Trey into a confrontation. As soon as Matt caught wind of it, he intervened to try and save Elektra's life. . . and keep Elektra from becoming a murderer. Refusing to listen to someone she didn't know, Matt had to reveal his identity - and his abilities - to Elektra, in a bid to gain her trust. Unfortunately, it only served to condemn him; she couldn't trust someone who had been lying to her for this long. She cut Trey's femoral artery and fled, leaving Matt a choice: go with her or save Trey's life. It wasn't any choice at all. Even when it was someone like Trey, he couldn't let him die. This effectively ended between her and Matt. Elektra withdrew from the college.[2]
Walter Savage Law Firm[]
Matt stayed on, furthering his education until he came to a point where he and his best friend - Franklin 'Foggy' Nelson - had the opportunity to intern beneath a fairly renowned lawyer: Walter Savage. Elektra and his paths crossed again before too long, though; under the pretense of helping recover her father's business, her cousins Paul and Leander Natchios used it as a front to launder money through it. Their bookkeeper, though, took the ledger and intended on taking it to the authorities. The ledger gave information on not only Paul and Leander, but the Kingpin and various other individuals; as a result, the Kingpin told Leander to get a hold of it, or Leander's life would be forfeit.
Since Elektra had been trying to find a way to have Leander release her father from Leander's debt, he saw this as a perfect opportunity; he sent Elektra to retrieve the ledger. The Kingpin, however, didn't trust Leander, and sent an assassin of his own to take care of it; Benjamin Poindexter, also known as Bullseye. Both trying to steal the ledger at the same time, Bullseye killed the bookkeeper and very nearly killed Elektra too. Bullseye took the opportunity for another type of mischief, though - he left an anonymous phone call, intending to frame Elektra for the bookkeeper's murder. Instead, her father was arrested for it.
Cue Matt, Elektra called on his aid to try and clear her father of the charges. It wasn't altogether too difficult to discover Bullseye's connection to the Kingpin; the trouble was trying to find a way to clear Elektra's father's name through that. As luck would have it, an opportunity arose; Walter Savage, the lawyer Matt had been interning under, had also been the bookkeeper's lawyer and had a second copy of the ledger, as well as a series of notes and testimonial tapes. Savage, however, wanted to profit from it; looking to sell the ledger to the Kingpin. Instead, the Kingpin had Bullseye kill Savage.
Elektra managed to get the ledger before Bullseye could, and she decided that her and Matt's paths had once again diverged. She knocked Matt out with a couple of sucker blows and the last Matt knew she left with the ledger to give it to the Kingpin in exchange for her father being released from prison and all charges against him being dropped. Later, Matt confronted her once more. Having run through what was left of Savage's notes and tapes, Matt told Elektra about them, telling her that they alone would have been more than enough to clear her father's name. There was another way, he told her. She could have done it without selling her soul. She could have done it without throwing in with Fisk.
Having stolen both his father from Matt, and as far as Matt's concerned, Elektra's soul, Matt's made it his life's work to take down the Kingpin, and to keep Hell's Kitchen safe.[3]
Meeting Spider-Man[]
Matt formed a law partnership with Foggy in Hell's Kitchen and protected the area as the costumed Daredevil, encountering Spider-Man while pursuing the vigilante killer, Punisher. At the time, Matt dismissed Spider-Man as too young to be a crimefighter and threatened to have him imprisoned. Months later, Matt reluctantly teamed up with Wolverine and Spider-Man to protect Hell's Kitchen from rogue Weapon X agents.[4]
The Knights[]
Sometime later, Matt decided he needed to form a team if he was to take down the Kingpin for good and went about forming the Knights out of other street-level superhero vigilantes. After rescuing Shang Chi from an assassination attempt from the Kingpin, Matt informed him of a team he was putting together for a strike on the Kingpin, in which Shang-Chi was recruited.
After Shang-Chi, Matt in regular guise, met Peter Parker at Midtown High School and asked him to join the group, with the plan of killing the Kingpin, but Daredevil was turned down. In case Spider-Man changed his mind though, Murdock told him to go to the rooftop across from the street from St. Patrick's Cathedral at eight o'clock that night.[5] After the group met at their intended location, Matt revealed his plan on overthrowing the Kingpin, even if it meant killing the mob boss. However, Spider-Man objected to the idea of killing the Kingpin, and the group revised their plan and agreed to let Moon Knight, under the persona of Ronin, join the Kingpin's employ. He would get close enough to find all of the incriminating evidence on him, and then the Knights would turn the information over to the authorities to stop the Kingpin legally.
Under the Kingpin's employ as a bodyguard, Ronin was order to forcibly bring Spider-Man to the Kingpin as a captive. After revealing that he knew that Ronin was Moon Knight, Kingpin had him beaten nearly to death, and let Spider-Man leave with the knowledge that one of the Knights was a traitor. At the same meeting spot on the rooftop, Spider-Man aggressively attacked Matt accusing him of working for the Kingpin. But after a bomb (planted by the Kingpin's men) destroyed the law offices of Matt and Foggy Nelson, Iron Fist was revealed as the traitor, though only because Kingpin threatened his daughter's life. Iron Fist was sent back to Kingpin to distract him, while Matt, driven mad with rage over Kingpin destroying his livelihood, tried to kill his comatose wife, Vanessa Fisk. After a standoff between Matt and Spider-Man, Kingpin agreed to leave the country in exchange for his wife's safety, but he secretly and furiously plotted to have Daredevil killed, Dr. Strange's hands broken, and Spider-Man's school blown up. Meanwhile, Moon Knight went to the police, revealed his secret identity, and said that the Kingpin tried to kill him, which gave the police enough incriminating evidence to arrest the Kingpin on attempted murder charges.
After the arrest of the Kingpin, the Knights quietly went their separate ways, with Matt berating himself for nearly killing a defenseless woman at a church.[6]
Death[]
Matt Murdock was one of the millions of people who perished when Magneto's "Ultimatum Wave" devastated New York City. His body was found by Spider-Man.[7] After his death, his mentor, Stick, found his replacement; he discovered Raymond Conner, a 12-year old boy that developed abilities similar to Matt and groomed him to take the mantle of Daredevil.[8]Attributes
 |
Powers
- Enhanced Senses: Daredevil's senses of touch, hearing, taste and smell were enhanced to superhuman levels. Combined, they formed a "radar sense" replacing his sight.[9]
Abilities
Additional Attributes
Paraphernalia
Equipment
Weapons
Transportation
See Also
- 30 appearance(s) of Matthew Murdock (Earth-1610)
- 1 appearance(s) in handbook(s) of Matthew Murdock (Earth-1610)
- 2 minor appearance(s) of Matthew Murdock (Earth-1610)
- 2 mention(s) of Matthew Murdock (Earth-1610)
- 37 image(s) of Matthew Murdock (Earth-1610)
- 7 quotation(s) by or about Matthew Murdock (Earth-1610)
Links and References
References
- ↑ Ultimate Spider-Man #109
- ↑ Ultimate Daredevil and Elektra #4
- ↑ Ultimate Elektra #1–5
- ↑ Ultimate X-Men #36–37
- ↑ Ultimate Spider-Man #106–107
- ↑ Ultimate Spider-Man #107–110
- ↑ Ultimate Spider-Man #131
- ↑ Ultimate Avengers #13
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Official Handbook of the Ultimate Marvel Universe 2005: The Fantastic Four & Spider-Man #1
- ↑ Ultimate Daredevil and Elektra #3
- ↑ Official Handbook of the Ultimate Marvel Universe 2005: The Fantastic Four & Spider-Man #1
- ↑ Official Handbook of the Ultimate Marvel Universe 2005: The Fantastic Four & Spider-Man Vol 1 1