Giving the Devil his Due. (Why you LOVE Daredevil and don't even know it)

I've liked Daredevil since I was a kid.

I would read my Dad's old collections, and I remember it like yesterday when I first met the Man Without Fear. 

Amazing Spider-Man Vol 1 #16 -Spidey was bamboozled into performing at a circus where the performers were robbing the patrons, via the Ringmaster. (not just a title, but also the character's name) The Ringmaster had a special hat that would hypnotize the audience, and the unsuspecting Spider-Man. Coincidentally enough, there was a person in the crowd who couldn't be subdued by the Ringmaster's hat.

Because he couldn't see it. 

Enter Matt Murdock, Blind Attorney at Law. C'mon guys... this was the free 60's. Sure Matt Murdock's best friend Foggy, and his colleague and new friend Karen Page would take a BLIND guy to the circus! Nowadays, that just wouldn't fly with all the internet opinions, and PC laws, and social justice warriors, and just blatant ridiculousness. Regardless, here they were. Matt Murdock completely unfazed when the whole caper went down. 

Now, I'm sure you've seen the Netflix original series Daredevil by now- and I'm sure you like the rest of America LOVED it. Its grittiness, its honesty, its despair... but let me really tell you why you loved it. You loved it because Daredevil is the hero YOU deserve...but not the one YOU need right now. 

How many jimmies did I rustle? Calm down, and listen. When Matt Murdock was a kid, he raised by his Dad, the pro boxer, "Battlin' Jack" Murdock. (His mom died when he was still a baby [supposedly]) His Dad wasn't a particularly bright man, but he was a good man, and he loved his son. He made sure that Matt hit the books above anything else, and make something of himself, keeping Matt away from playing with the neighborhood kids, and many things kids usually do. Jack was determined that Matt wouldn't just become an "uneducated pug" like he was. That didn't change when Matt pushed an old blind man out of the way of an oncoming truck carrying radioactive material, that splashed Matt in the face, blinding him. While recovering, Matt shortly discovered that with his lost sight,his other senses were amplified to superhuman levels. Nevertheless, he continued living as his father expected and eventually went on to law school, while secretly training with a blind ninja guru, Stick. Jack Murdock however, accepted a fight card with a crooked promoter, and was brutally killed when he refused to lose intentionally in front of his son who was at the bout. Imagine being blind and discovering your mutilated father's corpse. Unlike us, with the luxury of sight, Matt had to feel the blood and twisted, broken bone and skin. Had to smell the perspiration and death. 

This would begin the long and tragic road that would shape Matthew into The Devil of Hell's Kitchen.

Since the character's creation he's been plagued with a combination of triumphs, and tragedies.

However, unlike most caped costumed crusaders, Daredevil is the pinnacle street level heroes. He's concerned only with the 0.9 square mile neighborhood in Manhattan called Hell's Kitchen. (Clinton/Midtown West, if you're gentrified, or someone that says 'gayborhood') The drug pushers, rapists, abusers, thieves.  He's been in love, he manages to hook up with some pretty awesome women. One will be on the big screen fighting Ultron with her teammates in ten days. While others loves go apeshit and become one of the world's premier assassins, or get hooked on drugs and sell his secret identity to the literal Kingpin of crime for a hit of heroin, or another that was simultaneously a schizophrenic psycopath. (I won't spoil it for you Netflix kids) He's deeply flawed. He's a vigilante that woks as lawyer in the daytime. Talk about hypocrisy. But he looks out for his spandex wearing friends- because c'mon- you gotta help the homies!

He's been disbarred from that same justice system, he's been shot, stabbed, broken numerous times. He's a pathological liar, and he's self serving, and occasionally absolute. He once beat the living shit out of Kingpin in public, and declared himself Kingpin of Hell's Kitchen. But he never backs down, and he always rises up. 

He didn't promise to clean up the city that took his father's life, and he damn sure doesn't have the luxury of not working and throwing money at all his problems. He doesn't any great responsibility. He wasn't raised by farmers that have a ridiculously super degree of impression to believe that you must be a boy scout. He doesn't have some agenda where he believes that the world can be a better place one day, or follow some silly creed of  "I never kill" He's just like you, and me. He's relatable. He follows his own weird moral compass. That's who you need, someone that gets the job done whilst doing a really good job of being a hero simultaneously. See, Daredevil is NEVER going to be the guy kids have on their underoos. He's too hood for all that. But he's that reliable tool in the box that will never get replaced. The proof is in the fact that most the goody-gooders of the Marvel Universe know who he is, and know that he routinely puts criminals in traction, yet no one is doing anything about it. They don't even give the Punisher that kind of respect.

Even if they did, would he cower? No. He's the man WITHOUT fear. When you're watching that show- something in you is sensing that complexity. That deep pool of confusion, yet the drive to put on that black jump suit and face Hell's Kitchen every night. Gadgetless. (In the comics he does have the billy club)

You're curious what makes a man hate himself, yet love his home so much. Then you have the Kingpin. Similar tale, different path. Immovable Object meets Unstoppable Force. 

Both characters determined to be better. Both extremely passionate about how they will arrive at their destination. Both extremely wrong, but you understand why it seems right. 

And this is why you love that show. This is why you love this character. Because he is you. He's the means to an end. 

He's you everyday. Flaws and all. He reminds you that the real problems are right outside your window. Right down that alley you pass every day. 

But you probably need a hero that takes you up, up, and away from all that, huh?


P.S. He's also a complete asshole at time. I can't count how many scenes he's said the right thing at the right damn time, that made even ME cringe...