Daredevil (character)
Daredevil, also known as the Man Without Fear, is a fictional superhero from Marvel Comics who first appeared in 1964. He is the alter ego of Matt Murdock, a blind lawyer who was blinded in a childhood accident involving radioactive material. Despite his blindness, Murdock possesses enhanced senses that allow him to fight crime effectively, employing his martial arts skills as he navigates his dual life as a lawyer and vigilante. The character embodies themes of justice and morality, grappling with the complexities of enforcing the law while taking it into his own hands as Daredevil.
Created during the Silver Age of Comics, Daredevil initially faced challenges in popularity compared to other Marvel superheroes but gained significant acclaim in the 1980s under writer and artist Frank Miller. His character has since evolved through various media, including films and a critically acclaimed Netflix series that highlighted his noir qualities and mature themes. Over the years, Daredevil has become a significant figure in the Marvel Universe, earning recognition for both his compelling storylines and representation of blind characters. The character continues to resonate with audiences, showcasing the enduring appeal and complexity of superheroes in contemporary culture.
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Daredevil (character)
Daredevil is a fictional superhero starring in comics and other media from Marvel Comics since the 1960s. The hero, also known as the Man Without Fear, is a master of martial arts who takes his name from the term "daredevil," which since the eighteenth century has been applied to people who act without regard to risks, such as stunt performers. According to the character’s origin story, in civilian life, Daredevil is the blind lawyer Matt Murdock, who gained superhuman abilities, including enhanced senses, in the accident that took his sight. Though perhaps not as well known as superheroes such as Spider-Man, Batman, and Superman, Daredevil has enjoyed lasting popularity and has been featured in films, television, and critically acclaimed comic books.
Brief History
From the late 1950s to around 1970, comic book superheroes experienced a popularity that recalled the golden age of comic books in the 1930s and 1940s, when modern superheroes were first introduced and characters such as Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman became significant figures in popular culture. The resurgence of superheroes, known as the silver age of comic books, saw the emergence of Marvel Comics as a leading publisher in the genre. Stan Lee, an influential editor and writer at Marvel, and a range of collaborators were responsible for the creation of a stable of superheroes who rivaled the popularity of golden age heroes. Daredevil, introduced in April 1964 with illustrations by Bill Everett and input from artist Jack Kirby, was initially less successful than other Lee creations, such as the Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, Iron Man, and the Incredible Hulk.
Like many of Lee’s characters, Daredevil was a costumed hero who protected the innocent but contained a duality that marked him as distinct from traditional superheroes from the very first issue. According to the character’s backstory, Matt Murdock, a boy reared by his boxer father in the Hell’s Kitchen section of New York City, was blinded when he tried to save a man from an oncoming truck carrying radioactive material. The dangerous substance spilled on young Matt, destroying his eyesight but leaving him with his other senses preternaturally heightened and with a sixth sense acting like radar or echolocation. His hearing allows him to hear through soundproofed walls and to identify people by their heart rhythm, while his sense of touch is sensitive enough to read printed words with his fingertips.
Matt takes on the superhero persona of Daredevil in order to avenge his father’s death, but continues to pursue justice for others in costume even as he also becomes a lawyer. The conflict implicit in Murdock’s profession as an upholder of the law and Daredevil’s status as a vigilante—one who takes the law into their own hands—added a layer to complexity to the character. The blindness of a character committed to the pursuit of justice plays off the mythical figure of "blind justice."
The comic book series Daredevil enjoyed a degree of popularity in its early years, but sales declined as control of the character went through several personnel changes at Marvel. It was not until Frank Miller assumed full duties as writer and artist in 1981that Daredevil acquired the status of a major superhero in the Marvel universe. Sales of the series rose so dramatically that Marvel shifted Daredevil from bimonthly to monthly publication with Miller’s third issue. It was Miller who added Daredevil’s martial arts skills and introduced a slate of characters that enlarged and enriched the stories. Among these were Stick, Murdock’s blind sensei, and ninja Elektra Natchios, Matt’s college girlfriend who becomes a mercenary and an assassin. Miller added a noir complexity to Murdock’s character and made Daredevil one of Marvel’s most successful series and a model for a generation of comic book writers.
Miller left Marvel but returned in 1986 to create Born Again, a seven-part story arc. The title suggests a connection with the ancient birth/rebirth theme that persists across cultures, and both the title and the symbolism, made more powerful by David Mazzucchelli’s illustrations, is Christian, reflecting Murdock’s Catholic faith. The hero’s journey begins with "Apocalypse" and ends with "Armageddon," with rebirth falling in the middle of the seven issues. Miller returned once more in 1993 to collaborate with John Romita Jr. on the five-issue series The Man Without Fear, widely considered among the best work done in Daredevil’s more than fifty-year history. Other creators contributed to the Daredevil mythos, but Miller’s contributions remain definitive. Daredevil’s popularity allowed the character to expand into other media including action figures and a popular video game.
Daredevil Today
In 1998, Marvel ended the regular Daredevil series and introduced an edgier Daredevil as part of its Marvel Knights line, an imprint with more mature themes that targeted teenagers and adults rather than children. Filmmaker Kevin Smith wrote the first story arc of the new series, with illustrations provided by Joe Quesada. Smith’s story earned mixed reviews, but the character’s popularity increased as a string of writers, including Brian Michael Bendis, Ed Brubaker, Andy Diggle, and Mark Waid, added to Daredevil’s exploits into the twenty-first century.
In 2003, a live-action film with Ben Affleck as Murdock/Daredevil and Jennifer Garner as Elektra Natchios enjoyed some commercial success, but critics’ reactions were mixed. A live-action television series that began a collaboration between Marvel and the online streaming service Netflix, with Charlie Cox in the lead role, debuted in 2015 to broader critical acclaim. Twenty-six episodes aired through 2016, and the series was renewed for a third season in July 2016.
The television series, often described as a comic book adaptation for adults, emphasized the noir qualities associated with Daredevil and was praised for being as much a hardboiled detective story as a superhero tale. In 2015, IGN, a games and entertainment media company, listed Daredevil as second best of Netflix’s original programming series, and the American Foundation for the Blind (AFB) presented star Charlie Cox with the Helen Keller Achievement Award for his portrayal of the blind character.
In 2017, Cox again played Daredevil in the superhero team-up series The Defenders miniseries, which aired on Netflix. He continued to revive the role of Daredevil in the Marvel Cinematic Universe productions of Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021), the Disney+ television series She-Hulk: Attorney at Law (2022), and Echo (2024).
Bibliography
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Comtois, Pierre. Marvel Comics in the 1980s: An Issue by Issue Field Guide to a Pop Culture Phenomenon. TwoMorrows, 2014.
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Dockterman, Eliana. “How Netflix's 'Daredevil' Fits into the Greater Marvel Universe.” Time, 10 Apr. 2015, time.com/3815524/daredevil-netflix-marvel-universe/. Accessed 23 Oct. 2024.
Itzkoff, Dave. “With Marvel's 'Daredevil,' Netflix Looks to Build Its Own Superteam.” The New York Times, 6 Apr. 2015, www.nytimes.com/2015/04/07/arts/television/with-marvels-daredevil-netflix-looks-to-build-its-own-superteam.html. Accessed 23 Oct. 2024.
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Whitbrook, James. "A Brief History of Daredevil, Marvel’s Latest TV Hero." Gizmodo, 25 Mar. 2015, gizmodo.com/a-brief-history-of-daredevil-marvels-latest-tv-hero-1693644683. Accessed 23 Oct. 2024.