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| “ | Sometimes, I think I accomplish more with my fists than with my law firm. Sometimes, I don't really care. All I know is that the Kitchen's quiet tonight. | „ |
| ~ Daredevil |
| “ | Been walking a while now. Weeks, maybe. Always south, southwest, orienting by the feel of the sun on my face. Took the bus for as long as I could stand it. The noise, the stench--too much. But out here in the badlands there's nothing. It's what I need. Nothing. Nothing but the hiss of the wind in the needlegrass and the endless, hypnotic tread of boot heels on dusty asphalt. Nothing to fear. I don't think about what I'm walking away from. I don't think about anything at all. I just walk. | „ |
| ~ Daredevil |
Matthew Michael "Matt" Murdock, also known as Daredevil, is one of the main protagonists of the Marvel Universe, specifically serving as the titular main protagonist of the franchise of the same name and a major character in The Avengers and The Defenders franchises.
He was blinded in an accident which also bestowed him a type of radar-sense that enhanced all his other senses to a greater extent than a normal human being. He becomes a costumed vigilante after the death of his father as well as a lawyer. His work as a vigilante and courage has earned him the title of The Man Without Fear and became one of the archenemies of the Kingpin, Bullseye, and the Hand. He has also been a member of the Defenders, the New Avengers, the Manhattan Defenders, and Marvel Knights.
Daredevil was created by the late Stan Lee, the late Steve Ditko, the late Sol Brodsky and the late Bill Everett, and first appeared in Daredevil #1 in February of 1964.
Biography[]
Background[]
Matt Murdock grew up in New York City in Hell's Kitchen, as such crime and poverty were everyday sights for him. Matt was born into poverty however his father, Jack, worked tirelessly as a boxer to save up for Matt's future to give him a life, leaving Matt with a decent college fund considering his home-life. As a result of his fathers tireless efforts, Matt applied himself to the study of law.
One day, Matt saw a blind man in his neighborhood about to be hit by a truck and pushed him out of the way. The man was saved but the truck spilled some of it's cargo, toxic waste as it turned out, and hitting Matt, blinding him. Though Matt got prompt medical attention the damage to his eyes was extensive and he was permanently blind.
Matt was still attending law-school when the accident occurred and had to keep up his studies in-between learning to adapt to being blinded. Matt spent every spare moment he wasn't studying law to adapting himself to getting by without sight. Matt began to adapt quickly to being blind until his remaining four sense were extremely heightened. Matt was also able to retain detailed information, practically forever, down to the smallest details.
There is much ambiguity to how much of this was due to the mutation from the waste and how much was natural human adaption, but whatever the case Matt wound up with senses that made him more sensitive to his surroundings than he had ever been when he had his sight. By the time, Matt had earned his law degree he was able to get by better than people with their sight were, being able to track people by smell, detect when they were lying via heartbeat and hear people coming from over 50 feet away.
Vigilante of Justice[]
By the time Matt passed his bar exam, he had developed peek human senses. Matt had also been training himself physically more and more as his studies allowed so he could allow his reaction time to correspond with his new senses. Jack Murdock was starting to making a name for himself as a boxing contender and invited Matt to one of his matches that promised to be a land-mark match.
Jack would find that the game was to be fixed and he was to take a fall, however, Jack could not bare to lose intentionally with his son as witness and refused to play along. Jack won but the game's fixer did not take kindly to the upset and just minutes after the fights concluded Jack was killed on the street.
Matt made up his mind to avenge his father though, after Matt had gotten his money and licensing together to start his own law-firm with his friend Franklin "Foggy" Nelson he decided to take justice into his own hands. Matt dressed up to protect his identity and used his tracking skills and athletic training to find, incapacitate and bring in the fixer and his crew.
The identity the papers gave Matt's vigilante persona was "The Death Defying Daredevil", Matt liked the name and kept it. He would go on to reuse his alter ego to track criminals he could not touch through the legal system and bring them to justice.
Friends and Foes[]
He has fought against many villains such as the Kingpin and Bullseye. Another of his chief enemies however is also his former lover Elektra, and the two have since had a very strained, complicated, and frequently hostile relationship. Daredevil has also had romantic relationships with his secretary Karen Page and fellow superhero Black Widow. He maintains a good friendship with Spider-Man, and the two know one another's secret identities.
While at first Foggy did not know of Matt's secret life as Daredevil, he would eventually find out and the initial shock and outrages of keeping it from him, Foggy became Matt's confidant and helped cover for him on the job when his masked life needed to be tended to over his working one.
Powers and Abilities[]
While Daredevil is blind, his other senses are heightened, such as hearing, smell, and touch. He is also great at athletics, and is a master of stealth. He is also great with a lot of weapons, such as sword, sticks and staffs, and is a master martial artist.
Portrayals[]
Films[]
- In the titular 2003 film, he was portrayed by Ben Affleck, who also played Batman in the DC Extended Universe, Chris Wolff in The Accountant films, AJ Frost in Armageddon and also voiced Joseph in Joseph: King of Dreams.
Television[]
- In Trail of the Incredible Hulk, he was portrayed by Rex Smith.
- In Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, he was voiced by Frank Welker, who famously voices Scooby-Doo and Fred Jones in the Scooby-Doo franchise and Garfield in the titular series, and also voiced Flit in Pacahontas, Rajah in Aladdin, Pegasus in Hercules Cri-Kee in Mulan, Thunderbolt in 101 Dalmatians II: Patch's London Adventure, Jerry Mouse in Tom and Jerry: The Magic Ring, Gabriel Van Helsing in his werewolf form in Van Helsing, Were-Rabbit Wallace in Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, and Road Runner in The Looney Tunes Show.
- In Spider-Man: The Animated Series, he was voiced by Edward Albert.
- In the 1990s Fantastic Four, he was voiced by Bill Smitrovich.
- In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, he is portrayed by Charlie Cox, who received critical acclaim for his portrayal.
Video Games[]
- In Spider-Man: Web of Fire he was voiced by Dee Bradley Baker, who also voiced Wallabee Beetles in Codename Kids Next Door, Klaus Heisler in American Dad!, Gary in the "Sleepy Time" episode of SpongeBob SquarePants, Appa and Momo in Avatar: The Last Airbender, Viewtiful Joe in the titular series, Captain Rex, Commander Cody, Commander Wolffe, Echo, Fives, Screech, Hunter, Wrecker and the Clone Troopers in the Star Wars series, Perry the Platypus in Phineas & Ferb, Naga in The Legend of Korra Reuben in Minecraft: Story Mode, and Eda Clawthorne in her curse form in The Owl House'.
- Baker reprised his voice for the character in the 2000 Spider-Man video game.
- In Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects, he was voiced David Kaye, who also voiced Clank in Ratchet & Clank, Hugo in Barbie as Rapunzel, Noddy in Noddy's Toyland Adventures, Clay Bailey in the Xiaolin series, Optimus Prime in Transformers: Animated, and James Gordon in Batman: Arkham City.
- In The Punisher, he was voiced by Steve Blum, who also voiced Tank Dempsey in the Call of Duty zombie series, Joseph Gibson in Bionic Commando, Urdnot Grunt in the Mass Effect series, Vincent Valentine in Final Fantasy VII, Spike Spiegel in Cowboy Bebop, Bo' Rai Cho in Mortal Kombat X, and Sub-Zero in Injustice 2.
- Blum reprised his voice for the character in Lego Marvel Super Heroes.
- In Marvel: Ultimate Alliance, he was voiced by Cam Clarke, who also voiced Beau Neville in Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island, Flounder in The Little Mermaid: Return to the Sea, and Clay Kaczmarek in Assassin's Creed II.
- In Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2, he was voiced by Brian Bloom, who also voiced Adam "Kane" Marcus in the Kane & Lynch series, Yuri in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, William "B.J." Blazkowicz in the MachineGames Wolfenstein series, Nick Reyes in Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, and many others.
- Bloom reprised his voice for the character in Marvel Heroes, Marvel Super Hero Squad Online and Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order.
- In Lego Marvel's Avengers, he was voiced by Roger Craig Smith, who also voiced Sonic the Hedgehog in the titular series, Ezio Auditore da Firenze in the Assassin's Creed series, Chris Redfield in the Resident Evil series, Batman in Batman: Arkham Origins, Captain America and Bucky Barnes in Captain America: The Winter Soldier - The Official Game, and Kyle Crane in Dying Light.
Quotes[]
| “ | I will fight. Forever. For everyone, whether they know it or not. Whether they are watching or not. I will always fight. | „ |
| ~ Daredevil. |
| “ | Logan--most people, when they talk the way you're talking.....look, I've lost more loved ones than I can count. I've Been there. I've seen this. You can't live in fear. | „ |
| ~ Daredevil. |
Trivia[]
- Ranked 37th Greatest Comic Book Character by Empire.
- Ranked 10th on IGN's Top 10 Comic Book Heroes in 2011.
- Ranked 21st on Wizard magazine's 200 Greatest Comic Characters of All Time.
- According to the late Stan Lee, Daredevil's radar sense is better than Spider-Man's spider-sense.
- He fought the fellow superhero Nightwing in the 99th episode of DEATH BATTLE! and lost.
- He is classified as a level seven by Nick Fury.
