Matt Murdock : DAREDEVIL - "The Man Without Fear" featurette

“The key to change... is to let go of fear.” --Rosanne Cash
Know your CBM Character - DAREDEVIL. This feature answers the questions - Who he is? What are his abilities? What are the changes he underwent? Who has portrayed him in Comic Book Movies?

Who is DAREDEVIL?
DAREDEVIL is Matt Murdock, blinded by radioactive waste when he was young, the same radioactive materials heightened his other remaining senses. He grew up a successful defense attorney, but at nights he clad himself in red and prowls the rooftops of Hell's Kitchen as its guardian devil.

DAREDEVIL was created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist Bill Everett, with inputs from Jack Kirby. His first appearance was in DAREDEVIL #1 (April 1964).

What are his powers and abilities?
Note: Due to the nature of comicbooks being an on-going tale, the character's powers along with his appearance, is in a constant state of flux.

Superhuman Senses: DAREDEVIL has superhuman senses of smell, taste, touch, balance, and hearing.

Radar Sense: DAREDEVIL can also sense the proximity and arrangement of objects about himself.

Telepathy: Due to training with a master warrior of the Chaste, known only as Stick, DAREDEVIL has displayed minor telepathic abilities.

Abilities
Gifted Intellect: Matt has a high IQ; he's an accomplished strategist as well as an expert in interrogation, disguise, medicine, science and detective work.

Expert Detective: DAREDEVIL 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.

Expert Tracker: With the aide of his hyper-senses Matt is able to track objects and people from miles away with ease.

Interrogation Expert: Matt uses many different interrogation methods to extract information from criminals. His knowledge of criminology and torture is unerring and often overwhelming.

Professional Lawyer: He is a skilled lawyer, specializing in criminal justice.

Master Acrobat: DAREDEVIL is classed superb-Olympic athlete, gymnast, acrobat, and aerialist due to constant training and exercise. His reflexes and agility are equally remarkable and are on par with the finest human athletes.

Weapons Proficiency: DAREDEVIL is proficient in wielding various different weapons, but prefers his billy club.

Expert Marksman: He is very accurate in throwing projectile like weaponries.

Expert Stick Fighter: Matt is an expert in wielding all types of stick weapons which range to staffs, batons, nunchaku, and paired eskrima sticks.

Master Martial Artist: DAREDEVIL has also been trained in the ninja arts by Stick, DAREDEVIL's fighting style blends American-style Boxing, Ninjutsu, Judo, Aikijujutsu toshin-do, taekwondo, capoeira and wushu, most notably Stick Fighting with his acrobatic ability.

What are the changes he underwent?

1. 1st appearance
DAREDEVIL debuted in DAREDEVIL #1 (April 1964). The character's original costume design was a combination of black, yellow, and red, reminiscent of acrobat tights. He only had one D as a logo on his chest for the first 4 issues, on the 5th issued of December of '64 it became the more familiar DD logo.

2. Red
A year after his first appearance in DAREDEVIL #7 (April 1965). Matt Murdock dropped the bright yellow of his costume and went for a blood red hue. He maintained the principal design of his previous costume. This red costume becomes his standard uniform, the iconic DAREDEVIL look.

3. Armor
We are back in the 90s again my friends (if you've been following my articles, or a geek since then you would have an idea what you are in for). It was in '93s Fall From Grace storyline that DAREDEVIL gets beaten up badly by his villains. He then decided that he needs a new more protected costume. Using biometric materials and a small amount of adamantium, he makes a new Red & Black protective armored costume. But by issue DAREDEVIL #344 the suit got torn and DAREDEVIL was back in his red threads.

4. Ninja outfit
During the limited series DAREDEVIL : Man Without Fear (1993), which is a retelling of DAREDEVIL's origin he briefly wore a ninja-esque costume prior to using the name DAREDEVIL. The costume consisted of sweat suit, a bandana and a cane.

5. Flying Blind
In 1998 DAREDEVIL issues #376-379. In Flying Blind, DAREDEVIL went undercover as a S.H.I.E.L.D spy but woke up in France with no memory of who he is (call Jason Bourne he wants his life story back). He knows he is in some sort of a mission and is compelled to don tights and fight crime. The costume he wore shows his complete face and has a billy-club holster on his chest. Eventually he will regain his memory.

6. Secret War
During 2005's Secret War event a small group of heroes had a secret mission in Latveria, all of the heroes on that mission wore modified costumes, this included DAREDEVIL. The costume retains DAREDEVIL silhouette with some elements harkening back to his armor costume like the chin guard, his color scheme is also modified with black added to his purely red regular costume and he now sports a small stylized DD symbol on his left chest rather than the large logo emblazoned on the middle.

7. Father
Also in '05 was the DAREDEVIL: Father limited series. We see DAREDEVIL, fighting a super-powered street gang, in a kendo outfit complete with a katana and a motorcycle (this is what makes comics good).

8. Captain Universe
In January of 2006, we see DAREDEVIL with the powers of Captain Universe. Matt got his sight back when he has the Captain Universe powers bestowed upon him but has to give them up again in his battle with AIM and his quest to help the struggling cosmic entity.

9. Shadowland
In the Shadowland storyline DAREDEVIL was possessed by a demon known as ’The Beast’. DAREDEVIL wore a new Black costume to reflect the dark times he is undergoing. But after the event and the demon exorcise out of him, he returned to his red costume.

DAREDEVIL in Live Media
1. Rex Smith
DAREDEVIL first live adaptation was in the 1989 television movie, The Trial of the Incredible Hulk. DAREDEVIL's alter-ego Matt Murdock is helping to prove Hulk's alter ego Bruce Banner's innocence. DAREDEVIL's origin in this version involves Murdock being inspired by a police officer to become a hero. DAREDEVIL's costume here looks similar to the black outfit pre-DAREDEVIL ninja outfit in DAREDEVIL: Man Without Fear limited series, but the show predates iit by 4 years.

2. Ben Affleck
A DAREDEVIL movie was released In 2003 and starred Ben Affleck starred as the titular character. Matt Murdock had a cameo in 2005 Elektra movie but the scene was deleted, it was later included in the Director's Cut. (I hope someone out there could post these cameo here).

sources : http://www.comicbooked.com/comic-closet-daredevil/ : http://blog.newsarama.com/2010/08/13/agent-of-s-t-y-l-e-the-fashion-super-senses-of-daredevil/ : http://www.comicvine.com/daredevil/29-24694/ : http://marvel.wikia.com/Matthew_Murdock_(Earth-616) : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daredevil_(Marvel_Comics)

This is the 13th article in my Know Your CBM Character series. Any requests and suggestions for an article for this series write it down in the comment section BELOW.

This article is requested by:
Ban
do one on DAREDEVIL!!! come on please!!! :D

Note: Any error in the article above, if any, just blame it on my age, humanity and ignorance. Just be sure to check the comment section for the corrections, any error I made will surely be pointed out and corrected by much bigger geeks (because there will always be a bigger geek out there).
-This has been PollMaster inviting you to the geekside.

And to those who have read until this part you get a quadruple high-5 from the actors of 1975's failed DAREDEVIL & Black Widow TV show.

P0llMaster
5/4/2011
DCMU

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