We all want to live in a world where we can make a difference, Ms. McDuffie. That's why Spider-Man fights the good fight. Or Captain Marvel. Or me. Or... There are a lot of us. And we don't all wear masks these days. Iron Man went public. So did Captain America. Others. Probably because it's harder to keep secrets in an internet surveillance age. But I think some of it, too, is that the ethical paradox can wear you down. No one on the white-hat side has ever hidden his or her identity with less than noble intent: about something bigger than us. To represent a greater justice where the focus can be on right and wrong... and not on whether the bad guys will exact reprisal on those close to us. And sometimes you have to lie. Sometimes, someone guess--"Aren't you really Spider-Man?"-- and you look them dead in the eye and say "Absolutely not" because you can justify a lie if lives are riding on it. Even as you fight for, as the saying goes, truth and justice... even if you're a lawyer who has sworn to live by the truth... you willingly bear false witness. When the Globe came after me, I lied to shield my friends . That's the truth. It's not the kind of excuse I'm looking forward to giving St. Peter-- a sin is a sin-- but maybe he'll understand. I hope so. But where I took it too far was in counterattacking the Globe. That wasn't me shielding anyone or dismissing a perceived danger. That wasn't an act of integrity. That was me fighting to preserve a lie. Keep it alive. Give it power. That's different. That's not what we should be doing. My dad taught me better than that. I'm Daredevil. That's the truth. 
- —Matt Murdock[src]
History
Daredevil #1 March, 1964
Early Years
Daredevil's life is a mix of joy and tragedy. The story of Matt Murdock began with his father. Jonathan "Battling Jack" Murdock raised his son alone, claiming Matt's mother had died. Jack wanted his son to be more successful than him. He impressed upon Matt the need to constantly study instead of playing sports with other kids. Jack hoped that Matt would become a doctor or a lawyer instead of an "uneducated pug" like himself. This led the neighborhood kids to bully the "cowardly" Matt as "Daredevil." Matt took out his frustrations by secretly training in his father's gym.[2]
One day, Matt saw a blind man walking towards an oncoming truck. Matt pushed the man out of the way. The truck crashed and a radioactive isotope spilled out, striking Matt across the face and blinding him. While recovering in the hospital, Matt discovered his hearing, smell, taste, and touch were amplified to superhuman degrees. He also developed a "radar sense" that formed a mental picture of his surroundings.[2]
During his time in the hospital, Matt was visited by a nun wearing a gold cross. Long thought dead, Matt would one day find his mother, "Maggie," was living as a nun. Matt wouldn't know who this woman was for many years.
A few months later, Matt received training from the ninja master Stick. From Stick, Matt learned how to control his new abilities and honed his skills in acrobatics and martial arts.[citation needed]
Meanwhile, Jack Murdock was desperate to fight. He reluctantly joined with a crooked fight promoter known as the "Fixer." The Fixer set up Jack to be a heavyweight contender, just to have him take a dive. Jack refused and won his fight. Later that night, Jack Murdock was shot dead by the Fixer and his men.[2]
The now orphaned Matt searched for his father's killers. He finally found the Fixer's gang and punished them severely. He chased down and confronted the Fixer, who pulled a gun on Matt. Before he could fire it, the Fixer suffered heart attack and died.[2] Matt tracked down Angelo, the last man remaining responsible for his father's death. He found him at a brothel. Matt confronted him but was attacked by the women who worked there. In the melee, Matt knocked one of the women out of the window and thought she was dead (she would return as Typhoid Mary). He ran away in horror over what he had done. He went searching for Stick, but Stick had abandoned him because of his actions.[3]
Columbia University
Matt continued to study and entered Columbia Law School . At Columbia, Matt met and fell in love with Elektra Natchios. It was a first love for both of them. When Elektra's father was accidentally killed by police, she retreated from the world and Matt.[4]
Nelson and Murdock
Matt earned his law degree and landed a job at a major law firm. He returned to Hell's Kitchen and to his father's old gym. There he met a young girl staying there named Mickey. They got close to each other and he trained her. He also ran into Foggy Nelson while he was there. He helped him with some of his cases. Meanwhile, Mickey ended up being kidnapped by people working for the Kingpin. Matt tracked them down and rescued Mickey. Because of that he missed an appointment for work and was fired.[citation needed]
Matt Murdock
Matt opened a practice, Nelson and Murdock, with Franklin "Foggy" Nelson. Karen Page was hired by Foggy as their secretary. Karen was attracted to Matt, and found it a pity that such a wonderful, handsome man could be so handicapped. Matt made a yellow and black costume out of his father's old boxing robes and continued to fight crime as Daredevil.[2]
Daredevil
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Daredevil and the Black Widow
Though some of his early enemies were considered laughable like (Matador,[5] Stilt Man[6] and Leap Frog),[7] Daredevil gathered an impressive and dangerous rogues gallery. Electro was the first costumed villain Daredevil faced.[8] Also, in one of his first encounters, he clashed with his long-time nemesis the Owl.[9] In his first team-up with another superhero, he assisted Spider-Man in defeating the Circus of Crime.[10] His next opponent, the Purple Man was a spy for a foreign country. When he was accidentally doused with experimental chemicals, they turned his skin purple and gave him the power to control people's minds. His power wasn't very effective against Daredevil since it worked best when people could see him.[11] Mister Fear seemed like a natural enemy for a "Man Without Fear". He was a wax museum curator obsessed with bringing his statues to life. Instead, he discovered a gas that filled people with terror. He used this gas as Mister Fear to commit daring crimes.[12]
He also faced the Sub-Mariner during his early days as a hero. Even though he could not defeat the Atlantean, Daredevil refused to give up, which greatly impressed Namor.[13]
Karen told Matt abou Dr. Van Eyck, a doctor from Boston who might be able to restore Matt's lost eyesight. But Matt refused, which angered her and she called him a coward.[6] A client Klaus Kruger who is the Duke of Lichtenbad told them about Van Eych's treatment for the blind, Klaus verifies the claims, and Matt asks to go along, because he senses that Klaus is lying about something. Back in New York Karen received a memo from Matt explaining that the surgery wasn't done, leaving Foggy to jealously assume that Matt chickened out at the last moment.[14]
He battled such villains as the Organizer[15] and the Ani-Men.[16] He traveled to the Savage Land[17] and teamed up with Ka-Zar.[18] Together they battled the Plunderer.[19] He went up against villain such as Ox,[20] the Masked Marauder[21][22], Gladiator[23][24], Owl[25], Tri-Man[26] and Plunderer returned.[27] He went up against Stilt-Man again. [28] He finally took down the Masked Marauder.[29] He went up against the Queega.[30]
Deciding to tell Karen that he's really Daredevil, Matt's plans get thrown out of whack when the Nelson & Murdock law office is attacked by the Masked Marauder's gang who beat up Foggy and kidnap Karen to get revenge on Daredevil for their master's arrest, to draw out Daredevil who they suspect might be Matt Murdock. Learning of Karen's kidnapping, Matt goes to the location where Karen is being held hostage, and pretends to be a blind Matt pretending to be Daredevil coming to misguidedly save Karen. Getting captured as part of his plan, Daredevil frees himself when his captors are not looking and easily defeats them. After Karen is freed and Daredevil turns in the crooks, Matt decided not to tell Karen his true secret fearing the danger it may bring her someday.[31]
He went up against Cobra and Mister Hyde,[32] battling the duo throughout New York.[33]But finally defeats them.[34] His rogue gallery increased battling the Beetle[35] the Trapster[36], which lead to his confrontation with Doctor Doom.[37]
He fought the Exterminator[38] and the Unholy Three[39]
Jester
He fought the Jester who was more dangerous then he appeared.[40] Karen decided that she could not take working at Nelson and Murdock anymore and decided to leave since she and Matt cannot reconcile how they feel for each other. Matt had an opportunity to make her stay but he pushed her away not wanting to risk her life because he's really Daredevil. Not wanting to take out his emotions on somebody else, Daredevil goes on the trail of the Jester in hopes of capturing the criminal. However, while out on patrol, he overhears a radio report of a crook who stole a bag full of Radium. Finding the crook and stopping him, the Radium has a weird effect on Daredevil, causing him to go berserk. Traveling to Madison Square Gardens he finds that Captain America is having a charity fight with people wanting to step in the ring with him. Daredevil, in a peaked frenzy then attacks the Star-Spangled Avenger, however during the fight the effect of the Radium wears off and Daredevil retreats as quickly as he came in.[41] He found the Jester and finally took him down.[42] A new threat arose in Hell's Kitchen Biggie Benson[43]
As Foggy enters the final race for the District Attorney's office, Karen returned because she cannot stay away from Matt and the two rekindle their romance. During the election race, Daredevil learns that Stilt-Man has been hired to make an attempt on Foggy's life, and so battles him as Daredevil. Although Stilt-Man manages to escape, Daredevil prevents him from bringing harm to Foggy. Soon afterwards, Foggy is elected D.A., leaving Matt to wonder what to do with his law career now that his partner is the new D.A.[44]
Matt decided that he is sick of being Daredevil and decides to quit his costumed adventuring because it's cost him his best friend and the girl that he loves. However, this is easier said than done when Daredevil is attacked by a robot created by Starr Saxon and hired out by Biggie Benson.[45] He battled Saxon many times, he later impersonated Mister Fear.[46]
In his civilian identity, Murdock was very successful as a lawyer. Amongst his more prominent clients were the Fantastic Four, whom he also aided as Daredevil in their fight against Doctor Doom when they temporarily lost their powers.[47] He was also present at the wedding of Reed Richards and Susan Storm, both as Matt Murdock and Daredevil.[48]
Matt created an imaginary twin brother, Mike Murdock, to protect his secret identity.[7] He would often pretend to be "Mike" to act like the confident, cocky Daredevil for his friends. "Mike" would die in a fight, allowing Matt to appear as the "new" Daredevil, allegedly Mike Murdock's chosen successor.[citation needed]
Black Widow
Murdock moved to San Francisco with Natasha Romanova, the Black Widow. Although their relationship later ended, they remained friends. But sometimes Natasha wished they were more. While living in San Francisco, Matt worked for another law firm. He left when he realized his bosses were more concerned with their careers than with their clients and returned to New York where he opened the "Storefront Legal Clinic" that provided legal services to poor people with Foggy Nelson who had lost his reelection as district attorney to Blake Tower.[49] The Storefront was financed by the father of Matt's girlfriend Heather Glenn, Maxwell Glenn,[50] who soon became a subject of investigation himself by Daredevil. He stopped a plot by the Jester who used fake tv transmissions to plunge New York into chaos[51] and teamed up with the Ghost Rider to rescue Karen Page who had been kidnapped by a new Death's Head.[52][53]
Elektra
Matt was reunited with Elektra under the worst circumstances. After college, Elektra had become an assassin. She had trained with an evil ninja cult called the Hand. Although she left the Hand, she had become cold and violent. Elektra was killed by Bullseye, the world's deadliest assassin. Fortunately, ninja magic and Murdock's love brought her back to life and "cleansed her spirit". She moved to a remote mountain retreat to live with the Chaste, the Hand's heroic counterpart.[54]
After Elektra's death, Matt proposed to Heather. He then went to work proving Glenn Industries' board of directors were involved in illegal dealings. He found enough proof to ruin the company, and leave Heather with no choice but to marry him. Foggy saw that what Matt was doing was wrong. With the Black Widow's help, he broke up Matt and Heather. Years later, a drunken Heather called Matt for help. When he learned she was lying, he angrily left and ignored her. Days later, she hung herself.[55]
Daredevil, friends and enemies
Karen pursued an acting career in L.A., but ended up a porn star hooked on heroin. She sold out Daredevil's secret identity; information that eventually reached the Kingpin, Wilson Fisk. It was Fisk who systematically destroyed every piece of Matt Murdock's life; who was indirectly responsible for the deaths of Elektra and Jack Murdock; who knew Murdock is Daredevil, but never told anyone, just to play power games with the hero. Matt took Karen back and they built a life together.[56]
Typhoid Mary was the living embodiment of the Madonna/whore complex. Mary was a sweet but frightened woman who had been a successful actress. Typhoid was a trashy, cruel killer with telekinetic and pyrokinetic powers. The Kingpin hired her to make Matt Murdock fall in love with her, and then drive him crazy. Typhoid Mary succeeded in getting Matt to cheat on Karen Page and nearly beat him to death.[57]
Glorianna O'Breen was an Irish photojournalist who met Matt when he fought an IRA terrorist.[58] But Matt's descent into poverty and madness, brought about by the Kingpin, pushed her away. She later moved in with Foggy Nelson. Years later, Glorianna was killed by Victor "Kruel" Krueller, a madman trying to remember his past by beating witnesses to his attempted murder.[59]
Matt's secret identity was threatened by a New York tabloid. Though he protected himself, he still faked his death.[60] Even Foggy and Karen were fooled. Matt now lived as a street hustler named Jack Batlin. He kept fighting crime as Daredevil, this time with an armored costume and a meaner attitude. This led to an identity crisis, although he eventually overcame this and cleared up rumors of his identity,[61] subsequently beginning work at a law firm run by Nelson's estranged mother.[62]
Guardian Devil, Identity revealed and eventual Breakdown
Matt Murdock: Daredevil
Mysterio was one of Spider-Man's most persistent enemies. But when he was diagnosed with inoperable cancer, he conceived an elaborate "final performance". Although he initially planned to target Spider-Man, when he read reports about the new wall-crawler, he dismissed Spider-Man as a target, seeing no point in driving a 'clone' insane. Recalling a prior confrontation with Daredevil, he decided to turn his attention to Murdock after paying the Kingpin for information, seeing in Daredevil a kindred spirit as both were 'second stringers' with little reputation outside their homes. With Fisk's information, Mysterio devised an elaborate plot to pretend that the Second Coming was taking place, leaving Daredevil in the custody of an infant who had been reportedly identified as both the new Christ and the Antichrist, Daredevil also being tricked into coming in contact with an associate-suggestive toxin that would make him violent if anyone suggested that the child was innocent with the toxin being both odorless and tasteless so Daredevil could not tell he was drugged. At the same time, Foggy Nelson was framed for murder and Karen Page was tricked into believing that she had AIDS due to her old porn star career. Despite having been pushed to breaking point, with Dr. Strange's help, the toxin was removed, and Murdock overcame Mysterio's traps and illusions, bluntly informing the villain that his entire plot was nothing more than B-movie cliches and old tricks. With nothing left to live for, Beck committed suicide. Although still shaken by Karen's death, a conversation with Spider-Man helped Matt see that the baby he had saved represented something positive that had come from this whole mess, inspiring him to use Karen's life insurance- which she had asked him to use on something that would benefit him rather than give it to charity- to restart Nelson & Murdock.
Maya Lopez was born deaf. She also had the gift to recreate any physical motion she sees. The Kingpin used her in another plot to destroy Matt Murdock. First, he arranged Matt to meet her, knowing Matt was lonely after the recent death of Karen Page. Then he tricked Maya into thinking Daredevil killed her father. Maya created the identity of Echo and fought Daredevil. She didn't know he was Matt and he didn't know why she now hated him. Matt soon explained himself and Maya attacked the Kingpin. She left him blinded for many months.[63]
Murdock was outed by the press as Daredevil. He publicly denied this and sued the paper.[64]
The latest woman in Matt's life was Milla Donovan. Like Matt, Donovan was blind. Matt saved her life and a year later they were married. Milla eventually learned their marriage may have be part of Matt's mental breakdown. She filed for an annulment.[citation needed]
Murdock continued to fight crime, ultimately defeating Wilson Fisk and claiming the title of "Kingpin of Hell's Kitchen", preventing any crime from being committed in the area, although Matt's own mental state was rapidly going downhill after the death of his true love, his lies to the public, and assuming the alias of his greatest enemy. During this time frame, Matt was briefly invited to join the New Avengers when he aided them in the latest attempted break-out from the Raft, but refused the offer because he didn't want to affect their reputations in the public eye[65], although he did suggest Maya as a replacement member.[66]
Matt was eventually captured by the FBI and sent to prison for his actions. Foggy Nelson was believed to have been killed and a Daredevil impostor was sighted.[citation needed]
Matt learned that the Kingpin, Bullseye, and the Punisher were also serving time. An attempt at a breakout was made by Black Tarantula. Matt was able to stop Fisk and Bullseye and saved the warden. He and Punisher then escaped.[citation needed]
The impostor was confronted, revealing himself as Iron Fist and that he had been hired to do so. The two and Ben Urich searched for information. The employer seemed to be an injured but very much alive Foggy Nelson.[citation needed]
Daredevil then set out to Europe to trace the figure who had had Foggy killed and employed a fake Daredevil. Much to his surprise, this was the Kingpin's wife Vanessa Fisk, who was dying after she killed her son and wanted revenge on Daredevil, who, along with Kingpin, she blamed for her situation. She offered to solve his secret identity problems once and for all if Matt would corrupt himself by fighting as a lawyer to free Kingpin from prison. Matt refused, but Vanessa had already set her plan in motion, having the FBI director who imprisoned Daredevil killed, leaving a suicide note saying he had framed Matt. Matt was able to return to his life in New York City, reunited with Foggy and Milla. Matt decided to honor Vanessa's last wish out of respect for the person she used to be before the Kingpin's influence corrupted her and had the charges against the Kingpin revoked, although he lost his U.S. citizenship and left the country. Vanessa died of her terminal illness.[citation needed]
Hell to Pay
The world of Matt Murdock
With the charges against him for being Daredevil cleared, Matt decided to move his office to a new location due to constant threats from his enemies and resumed his life as a lawyer with Foggy and Becky Blake where their law firm would not be listed in the phone book and take referrals only to help avoid being easily located. Matt also moved to a different apartment as well. Disaster struck when he went up against the new crime boss the Hood. Mister Fear who was working with him at the time, poisoned Milla with a psychedelic drug which he did with the help of Lily Lucca, a young woman in love with Matt whom he met while in Europe. This put Milla into a mental institution with Matt accepting the fact that he ruined Milla's life when Mr. Fear told him there was no cure for her.[citation needed]
Out of grief for what happened, Murdock accidentally had sex with Dakota North while drunk and recently he went up against Lady Bullseye and the Hand, where in her civilian disguise as a Lawyer, Lady Bullseye showed the pictures of Matt and Dakota together to Milla's parents, resulting in them being granted full custody of their daughter with Matt regretting that he had betrayed his wife. Matt decided to sign for divorce.[citation needed]
The Devil's Hand
Daredevil: Leader of the Hand
A drunken, blind and immortal sensei Master Izo targeted Murdock in his war against the Hand - and Murdock was forced to team up with his old enemy, the Kingpin, to take the Hand down. However, the price that was paid for this, is that this agreement combined with his ever-growing irrational behavior resulted in Foggy firing Matt from the firm when he found out about the arrangement. The Kingpin attempted to betray him, but Murdock beat him and his assassin, Lady Bullseye, and seized control of the Hand, with Izo's help on the condition that they are to never be involved with either Lady Bullseye or the Kingpin again.[citation needed]
Lady Bullseye, sent by the Kingpin, killed two associates of Norman Osborn, H.A.M.M.E.R. director and leader of the superhuman community. Enraged, Osborn sent his assassin, Hawkeye (the original Bullseye), to kill Daredevil, whom he suspected was responsible for the kill. Bullseye lured Daredevil to a trap, detonating a bomb in an apartment building full of families that were holding out against an OsCorp development site. [citation needed]
Pushed to the brink by Osborn and Bullseye's acts, Daredevil rallied his associates in the Hand to "send a message" - and take back the streets of New York from Osborn's corruption. He then traveled to Japan to unite the five warlords of the Hand while a splinter group worked to corrupt his soul. Murdock returned to New York City and built a large fortress over the spot where Bullseye destroyed the apartment building and called it Shadowland.[citation needed]
Shadowland
When Daredevil erected his fortress, it began to unsettle some of the heroes, like the Avengers. Bullseye entered the fortress and challenged Murdock to a battle. Murdock arrived dressed in a new black Daredevil costume and ordered a group of ninjas to attack. Bullseye defeated all of these ninjas, but soon faced Murdock himself. Murdock brutally broke both his arms and then used a sai to stab Bullseye through the chest, effectively killing him. Although Daredevil was possessed by the Beast due to the actions of the Snakeroot, it is unclear whether Bullseye's murder was an action of Daredevil's own will. After the final battle- where he was cured of the Beast thanks to Iron Fist striking him with a 'chi punch' that healed the spiritual damage the Beast had caused to his soul-, Matt left New York on a journey to mentally re-train himself that would place him back on the right path by rediscovering himself, while Black Panther took over his role as the protector of Hell's Kitchen.[67]
Daredevil: Reborn
Following the events of Shadowland, Matt wandered in New Mexico to escape his life as a hero, feeling that he had never accomplished anything of worth save for getting his friends hurt, but despite his best effort to stay out of heroics, he ended up getting involved in a corrupt police force operating in a small New Mexico town, saving its residents in the process and defeating a local drug lord named Calavera whom the cops were working for. Though Calavera possessed mysterious telepathic abilities which exploited Murdock's fears of his past mistakes, this ordeal left him reassured in himself, his abilities and his duties as Daredevil, allowing him to face his actions during the Shadowland and reaffirm his status as the 'Man Without Fear' and defeat Calavera. Matt since then had made his way back to New York City to rebuild both his superhero and legal careers.[citation needed]
Restarting his career
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Daredevil back in action
Moving his law office to Hamilton Heights, Matt Murdock officially made his returned as Daredevil by foiling the kidnapping of a young girl at a Mafia Wedding by the Spot. However in the first case since his return, Matt's presence compromised the case of defending a Muslim named Ahmed Jobrani who is the owner of a small electronics store in a case of police brutality, but it also turns into a media circus due to the past allegations of Matt being Daredevil.[68] Also, because of his pasts allegations of being Daredevil, Matt was forced to change Nelson and Murdock's business strategy, where he and Foggy would have to teach their clients how to represent themselves in court as consultants.[69]
In his next mission involving a wrongful termination case, Daredevil discovered that it had to do with several terrorist organizations whose data was stored electronically in a device called the Omegadrive that was created with the use of the Unstable Molecules in a piece of the Fantastic Four's costume that was recovered from one of their battles.[70] Despite having been beaten by the Bruiser earlier and in no position to fight, Daredevil talks his way out of it by stating to each group's representatives that one of them would have to kill each other to get the device and would end up starting a gang war, which wouldn't happen if Daredevil was allowed to leave and take all the blame for what happened and make himself a target instead.[71]
Later shortly after he officially joined the New Avengers,[72] Daredevil assisted Spider-Man when Black Cat was framed with the theft of a Wi-Fi Holographic Projector and recovered the device from the hands of Black Spectre's gang. In the end he received a passionate exchange from Felicia as a reward. Although this relationship was a plot by Black Spectre to use the Black Cat to get the Omega drive back, Felicia left Matt a note warning him about what was happening before going into hiding.[73] Using the Omegadrive, Daredevil was able to expose Black Spectre leading to their take down as a warning.[74]
Teaming with Spider-Man and Punisher, Daredevil took down the crime syndicates, and then with his friends in the New Avengers tricked them into thinking Black Spectre was still active and took the Omegadrive[75] only to be abducted by Latverian forces loyal to Doctor Doom. Upon escape, Foggy begun to questions Matt's sanity, ultimately leading to a fallout between the two. They reconciled once the truth was discovered, but Matt later learned that part of Foggy's stress had been due to the fact that he possibly had cancer, which was later confirmed.[76] Later as Daredevil, Matt was facing against individuals that were being given his powers, he discovered the one responsible for a number of these recent attacks against him was his old enemy Bullseye, who had survived Shadowland, but his injuries had cost him all of his senses except his eyesight.[77] Eventually after the following fight, the container that Bullseye was in was knocked into a vat of toxic waste, costing him his eyesight as well.[78]
Later on, Nelson and Murdock collapsed after it was exposed for what it had done in the past, and Daredevil's identity was again made publicly known, though this time it was intentional. Now unable to practice law in New York State anymore, Daredevil reluctantly left Hell's Kitchen and moved back to San Francisco, but not before confessing his feelings to Kirsten McDuffie.[79] Before going, both he and Foggy were attacked by the Leapfrog. By making it look as if Foggy had died heroically by preventing an explosion from going on the streets, Foggy could now go under the radar.[80]
Superior Iron Man
When Iron Man experienced a moral inversion, he relocated to San Francisco and released a new version of Extremis to the general public, giving the city a free trial for a month before withdrawing the system and charging $99 a day for it. Witnessing Tony's actions, Matt attempted to confront him[81] but was simply thrown out of Tony's penthouse. In recognition of their past collaboration as Avengers, Tony attempted to convince Matt to help him by offering him a new Extremis that restored his sight[82], but Matt refused to accept the bribe, simply using his temporary vision to see Foggy properly before the Extremis effect wore off and he lost his sight once again[83]. Realizing that Extremis had been added to the water supply and was actually triggered by a high-frequency sound trigger generated by the phones, Matt confronted Tony again, but Tony simply retaliated by inflicting minor brain damage on Matt, causing him to forget his discovery as Tony took steps to reconfigure Extremis to be activated by a signal Matt couldn't detect [84].
Personality
Daredevil is a morally righteous hero with a strong sense of law and justice. This has also influenced him into becoming a lawyer. Daredevil objects to total violence and prefers to keep his enemies alive and defeating them rather then slay them. However, Daredevil does have a dark side, and will not hesitate to badly hurt foes in certain circumstances, often when he is under a period of stress.[citation needed]Attributes
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Powers
The Guardian Devil
Nick Fury's intel classified him as power level 7.[86]
- Superhuman Touch: Murdock's sense of touch is so acute that his finger can feel the faint impressions of ink on a printed page allowing him to read by touch,[87] though laminated pages prevent him from touching and thus reading the ink impressions at a much faster pace than a normal person would be able to read.[88][32] The rest of his skin is equally sensitive, enabling him by concentration to feel minute temperature and pressure changes in the atmosphere around him. Even with his senses of smell and hearing blocked, he can feel the presence of a person standing five feet away from him simply by his or her body heat and disturbance of air. A side effect of his sense of touch is Murdock's ability to manipulate his muscles and internal organs. The sense of touch is not just external, but internal too (central nervous system), thereby giving him the ability to have total body control, increasing his strength and reflexes to peak human levels, increasing his agility to enhanced human levels and also giving him the ability to totally numb himself to pain.[citation needed]
- Superhuman Smell: Murdock's sense of smell is so acute that he can distinguish between identical twins at twenty feet by minute differences in smell. He can detect odors of an atmospheric concentration of thirty parts per million. Further, his ability to remember smells enables him to identify any person he has spent at least five minutes with by smell alone, no matter how he or she might try to camouflage his or her natural odor. His powers of concentration are such that he can focus upon a single person's smell and follow it through a crowd of people at a distance of fifty feet.[2]
- Superhuman Hearing: Murdock's sense of hearing enables him to detect an acoustic pressure change of one decibel at a pressure level of seven decibels (whereas the lowest threshold for average human hearing is twenty decibels.) He can hear a person's heartbeat at a distance of over twenty feet, or people whispering on the other side of a standard soundproofed wall. Through practice, Murdock is able to control his hearing acuity, mentally blocking out specific sounds like his own breathing and heartbeat, all ambient sounds to a normal human level of perception, or all sounds but a particular sound he is concentrating upon.
- Lie Detection: By listening, feeling and/or smelling, Murdock can tell whether a person is lying by sweat, changes in body temperature and heartbeats (though he can be fooled by a pacemaker and those able to keep calm under pressure.)[89]
- Superhuman Taste: Murdock's sense of taste enables him to detect the number of grains of salt on a pretzel. His ability to remember tastes enables him to determine every ingredient of a food or drink he tastes, as long as there are at least twenty milligrams of that substance present.[2]
- Superhuman Balance: It is a common misconception that balance isn't a sense, but Murdock's balance centers give him equilibrium on par or above Spider-Man.[citation needed]
- Telepathy: Due to Stick's training, Murdock has displayed minor telepathic abilities.[citation needed]
- Radar Sense: A form of Human Echolocation via low wave projection, according to one theory, a energy within certain portions of the electromagnetic spectrum. The signal emanates from sending regions of his brain, after which it travels outward, bounces off objects around him, and returns to receiving regions of his brain. In any event, with this ability, Murdock synthesizes a very close analogue of three-dimensional 360% human sight.[citation needed]
- Radar Substitute: An offshoot to Radar Sense this ability is the combination of all other sense (Excluding Radar Sense) and can allows to increase the stability of it as well as to be used as a sub-par replacement.[citation needed]
- Person Identification: All of Murdock's senses help identify people by the specific patterns of their heartbeat, smell, touch, sound, and even Radar appearance as it allows to "see" through objects, specifically clothes (Though albeit obscure).[citation needed]
Template:New Power Grid
Abilities
Professional Attorney: Murdock is a skilled lawyer, specializing in criminal justice. His law practice is considered one of the sources to his emotional strength and success in crime-fighting. [citation needed]
Devout Catholic: As a devout Roman Catholic, Murdock has the mixed benefits and access to certain resources and contacts/allies through the Catholic parishes of Hell's Kitchen (modern day Clinton). As a lawyer, Murdock can also access additional assets in the form of safe-houses and sanctuary of the Church for his clients should local law enforcement resources become either compromised and or cannot be relied upon in witness protection cases. Murdock can also make use of contacts in the form of the Catholic Clergy giving him vital information regarding the movements of street gangs, the various mafia of the NYC area, pimps, and other elements of the criminal underworld in order to allow Matt to be more successful in battling the criminals of Hell's Kitchen. [citation needed]
Interrogation Expert: Murdock uses many different interrogation methods to extract information from criminals. His knowledge of criminology and torture is unerring and often overwhelming.[citation needed]
Gifted Intellect: Murdock's intelligence and brain functions have always been apparent, long before he was affected by radiation, his midnight training, A+ morning schooling and little need of sleep is an testament to that. [citation needed]
Expert Detective: He has shown to be an expert detective using his intellect to figure out complex problems and hyper-senses to find clues and evidence to crime scenes.[citation needed]
Expert Tracker: With the aid of his hyper-senses, Murdock is able to track objects and people from miles away with ease.[citation needed]
Master Acrobat: He is classed as a superb-Olympic athlete, gymnast, acrobat, and aerialist due to constant training and exercise since his preteens.[citation needed]
Weapons Proficiency: Murdock is proficient in wielding various weapons through his Ninjutsu training. [citation needed]
Expert Marksman: He is a skilled marksman capable of throwing his sticks with great accuracy. Murdock is also skilled with most projectile-like weaponry, archery and has been shown utilizing military-grade weaponry in extreme situations.[citation needed]
Expert Stick Fighter: He is an expert in wielding all types of stick weapons which include staffs, batons, nunchaku, and paired short sticks.[citation needed]
Master Martial Artist: Murdock is a skilled, self-taught boxer due to watching his father compete and has been heavily trained in the ninja arts by Stick, a senior master and member of the secret order The Chaste. Nick Fury, former director of S.H.I.E.L.D, commented that there are only a handful of individuals that know what Matt Murdock knows, referring to the Chaste. Stick helped him control his powers and taught him valuable fighting techniques with stealth, vanishing, to even life-energy(chi/ki)control. Murdock is well educated in the functioning of the human body as well as martial arts techniques that target pressure points enabling him to paralyze limbs of an individual's body or the entire body altogether. He's disabled eye sight, speech, induced pain, and even has knowledge of pressure points inducing death. Murdock's fighting style blends Boxing with Ninjutsu, Judo, Aikijujutsu and other disciplines such as Jujutsu, Capoeira, Eskrima, Aikido, Wrestling, and Kung Fu to varying degrees. His skills have proven so exceptional so as to enable him to easily defeat or stalemate some of the greatest fighters on Earth. He has fought opponents such as the Black Panther, Taskmaster, Iron Fist, Captain America, Sabretooth and Wolverine to standstills, even impaling Wolverine with a sword while the mutant was in a feral state due to brainwashing by the terrorists known as Hydra.[citation needed]Weaknesses
Blindness : Daredevil is blind. While his Senses help him overcome this, it becomes a problem for him to navigate and fight when his heightened senses are scrambled or can't detect anything.[citation needed]
- Sense Precision: Daredevil's extent to discern pictures or video images are limited, and he can only guess at colors based on the amount of heat they are absorbing or reflecting. If nothing is being emitted (By a person or thing) that would trigger his heightened senses Daredevil wouldn't be able to detect it, like when a sniper bullet fired outside the range of his sense of hearing was able to badly injure him.[citation needed]
- Sound and/or Smell Peak: Daredevil's superhuman senses render him extraordinarily vulnerable to odors and/or excessive noise, which can temporarily weaken his Radar Sense. Under extreme circumstances he can be easily immobilized, suffer great pain and/or left disorientated. Once the disruptive effects wear off, Daredevil's Radar Sense is able to return to its normal calibration.[citation needed]
Radar Sense Disruption: Though uncommon-- in unique situations (where multiple objects, sounds, temperatures, and smells, are in close proximity) Daredevil's Radar has been known to fail leaving him to rely on his other senses.[citation needed]
Non-Superhuman Physical Conditioning: As Daredevil's powers do not give him any kind of superhuman physical ability, Daredevil is as susceptible to physical injury and disease as any other normal human, often having to rely more on strategy than strength when up against a superhuman opponent.[citation needed]Paraphernalia
Equipment
- Daredevil Suit: Daredevil has used four costumes in the course of his career as a crime fighter: his original yellow-and-black costume, his modern red costume, a black-and-red armored costume that was used temporarily, and a newer black-and-red costume which was used during the Shadowland saga. When Murdock experienced a psychological break, each of his first three costumes came to be focuses for three distinct separate, distinct personalities within Murdock. Since that time, Murdock has resolved his psychological problems, and now exclusively uses the red costume. The horns on his costume are antennae that can pick up radio waves, allowing them to serve as a police scanner. While possessed by The Beast the horns on his costume were transformed into larger devil horns when it fully awakened, and were reverted back to normal when The Beast was removed from Matt Murdock's body.[citation needed]
Weapons
- Matt currently wields a multi-purpose cane that has many different modes. Its initial form is two short sticks held together by an extendable cable. It can be configured into a nunchaku- like weapon to a manrikigusari (a long rope/chain weapon with two weights on its ends), dual short sticks which can be wielded in a pair, staff, or a cable with a grappling hook. The weapon can also be adjusted to combine both sticks into a larger stick. The weapon is held by a holster on the side of Matt's left leg.[citation needed]
- Billy Club: Daredevil's billy club is a multi-purpose weapon, it has a retractable microphone, a miniature tape recorder, chamber for firing projectiles, and a wire cable which allows the club to be used as a grappling hook, it can also be used as either as a baton or a cable.[citation needed]
- He also wore wrist blades on his arms during his time in The Hand, but he no longer uses them. [citation needed]
Transportation
- Daredevil usually travels by foot across city rooftops with the grappling hook and cable in his billy club.[citation needed]
Notes
- Stan Lee has stated Daredevil's Radar Sense is better than Spider-Man's Spider-Sense.[citation needed]
- Daredevils senses reach 75 yards minimum in all directions (A 150 Yard, 360 degree, circle of awareness) without any concentration needed.[citation needed]
Trivia
- Daredevil and the Black Widow were comics' first unmarried couple to live together.[citation needed]
- Murdock's favorite spot in the city is the top of the Chrysler Building.[76]
- Daredevil was portrayed by Ben Affleck in live-action on the (2003) motion picture Daredevil.
- In 1984, the origin story of Daredevil involving a boy saving an old man from being run over by a truck and the radioactive isotope would serve as the inspiration for the origin story of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and the mutagen that would mutate them in their original Mirage Comics appearance and the later media adaptions as well.
- Matt Murdock suffers from depression.[90]
See Also
- 1550 appearance(s) of Matthew Murdock (Earth-616)
- 32 appearance(s) in handbook(s) of Matthew Murdock (Earth-616)
- 203 minor appearance(s) of Matthew Murdock (Earth-616)
- 364 mention(s) of Matthew Murdock (Earth-616)
- 29 mention(s) in handbook(s) of Matthew Murdock (Earth-616)
- 2142 image(s) of Matthew Murdock (Earth-616)
- 279 quotation(s) by or about Matthew Murdock (Earth-616)
- 6 victim(s) killed by Matthew Murdock (Earth-616)
- 8 item(s) used/owned by Matthew Murdock (Earth-616)
Links and References
- Daredevil article at Wikipedia
- DD Resource
- Daredevil screenplay (unproduced)
- Official webpage at Marvel.com
- Daredevil bio at MarvelDirectory
- Man Without Fear fan site
- The religion of Matt Murdock, Daredevil
- "Secrets, lies - and lawyers!", Douglas Wolk, Salon.com, January 5, 2006. Retrospective of the Bendis/Maleev run.
References
- ↑ Civil War Battle Damage Report #1
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 Daredevil #1
- ↑ Daredevil: The Man Without Fear #2
- ↑ Daredevil #168
- ↑ Daredevil #5
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Daredevil #8
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Daredevil #25
- ↑ Daredevil #2
- ↑ Daredevil #3
- ↑ Amazing Spider-Man #16
- ↑ Daredevil #4
- ↑ Daredevil #6
- ↑ Daredevil #7
- ↑ Daredevil #9
- ↑ Daredevil #10
- ↑ Daredevil #11
- ↑ Daredevil #12
- ↑ Daredevil #13
- ↑ Daredevil #14
- ↑ Daredevil #15
- ↑ Daredevil #16
- ↑ Daredevil #17
- ↑ Daredevil #18
- ↑ Daredevil #19
- ↑ Daredevil #20–21
- ↑ Daredevil #22–23
- ↑ Daredevil #24
- ↑ Daredevil #26
- ↑ Daredevil #27
- ↑ Daredevil #28
- ↑ Daredevil #29
- ↑ 32.0 32.1 Daredevil #30
- ↑ Daredevil #31
- ↑ Daredevil #32
- ↑ Daredevil #33–34
- ↑ Daredevil #35
- ↑ Daredevil #36–37
- ↑ Daredevil #38
- ↑ Daredevil #39–40
- ↑ Daredevil #42
- ↑ Daredevil #43
- ↑ Daredevil #44–45
- ↑ Daredevil #47
- ↑ Daredevil #48
- ↑ Daredevil #49
- ↑ Fantastic Four #50–55
- ↑ Fantastic Four #39–40
- ↑ Fantastic Four Annual #3
- ↑ Daredevil #130
- ↑ Daredevil #131
- ↑ Daredevil #135–137
- ↑ Daredevil #138
- ↑ Ghost Rider (Vol. 2) #20
- ↑ Daredevil #190
- ↑ Daredevil #220
- ↑ Daredevil #227–233
- ↑ Daredevil #254–260
- ↑ Daredevil #205
- ↑ Daredevil #340
- ↑ Daredevil #319–325
- ↑ Daredevil #345–347
- ↑ Daredevil #353
- ↑ Daredevil Vol2 #9 15
- ↑ Daredevil (Vol. 2) #31
- ↑ New Avengers #33
- ↑ New Avengers #11
- ↑ Daredevil #512
- ↑ Daredevil (Vol. 3) #1
- ↑ Daredevil (Vol. 3) #4
- ↑ Daredevil (Vol. 3) #5
- ↑ Daredevil (Vol. 3) #6
- ↑ New Avengers (Vol. 2) #16
- ↑ Daredevil (Vol. 3) #10
- ↑ Daredevil (Vol. 3) #10.1
- ↑ Daredevil (Vol. 3) #13
- ↑ 76.0 76.1 Daredevil (Vol. 3) #23
- ↑ Daredevil (Vol. 3) #26
- ↑ Daredevil (Vol. 3) #27
- ↑ Daredevil (Vol. 3) #36
- ↑ Daredevil (Vol. 4) #5
- ↑ Superior Iron Man #1
- ↑ Superior Iron Man #2
- ↑ Superior Iron Man #3
- ↑ Superior Iron Man #4
- ↑ AVX: Vs #4
- ↑ Secret War From the Files of Nick Fury #1
- ↑ History of the Radar Sense #4
- ↑ Daredevil: Reborn #1
- ↑ Daredevil #184
- ↑ Daredevil (Vol. 4) #10
- ↑ Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z #3
- ↑ Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z Vol 1 3
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