Marvel is a huge company. They’ve got more comics and characters than you can count. Matthew Murdock, also known as Daredevil, the man without fear, is one of those costumed heroes. Daredevil is a superhero that has been around since the 1960s. He was created by Stan Lee and Bill Everett, two powerhouse creators at Marvel Comics. This era in the 1960s was crazy, mostly due to the incredible slew of characters being created and introduced at that time at the company.
Creators like Stan Lee, Steve Ditko, and Jack Kirby were making icons that would cement themselves in the pop culture zeitgeist. Characters like the Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, the Hulk, Thor, Doctor Strange, and Iron Man, just to name a few. Daredevil was one of these characters that was introduced around this time. He’s a street-level hero; instead of going on space-faring adventures like the Avengers, he concerns himself with Manhattan, or more specifically, Hell’s Kitchen. It just so happens that Daredevil is one of the most underrated comic characters in Marvel’s pantheon.
The Man Without Fear
Screenshot by Nicolas ScagnelliDaredevil has had comics since the 1960s, like I mentioned earlier. I find his character really interesting, because when you compare him to other characters like Spider-Man, he’s both similar and one of a kind. He’s a street-tier vigilante that deals with fighting crooks and supervillains, but he is also blind. All his other senses are heightened, so he can “see” better than anyone with eyes can.
What makes Daredevil such a well-written character is his day-to-day life. Matt Murdock is a lawyer by day and a vigilante by night. In the hands of a good writer, his personal life can be just as, or sometimes more interesting than, his superhero exploits. Usually it’s drama with who he and his partner in crime, Foggy Nelson, are representing. A lot of the time, it will also be regarding his romantic life. Daredevil always sees someone, and the constant push and pull of that, along with his superhero antics, make for a stellar soap opera.
The Most Consistent Character
I’ve been talking about the character in a broad sense, but what about the comics themselves? Well, Daredevil is in an interesting spot. He’s not the company mascot like Spider-Man, and he’s not as well known as the A-listers like Iron Man, Captain America, or the X-Men. So Marvel Comics usually gives the writers and artists working on Daredevil creative control over whatever they want to do. Daredevil is a character that has had a shockingly consistent run in the comics.
Many of his runs are beloved by fans due to how little the editors at Marvel restrict the creative team. Look at a character like Spider-Man. In the past close to two decades, the main-line Spider-Man books have been very divisive amongst fans due to the way the characters have been written. Daredevil fans have all pretty much been loving his comics in recent memory due to how the writers have all written him in a way that lines up with his character while also taking new directions for the story that make sense and are satisfying. It’s a miracle, really.
Daredevil in Recent Media
Screenshot by Nicolas ScagnelliDaredevil, in recent years, has been just what he always has been: consistent. The 2019 Zdarsky run that continued in 2022 was excellent. Chip Zdarsky and Marco Chechhetto are an incredible team, and that run was very enjoyable, particularly the first half. Daredevil’s newest run by Ahmed and Kuder is also good. It’s not as good as the previous one, if you ask me, but I’m still enjoying it a lot. In other media, Daredevil’s had some television and movie adaptations. His Netflix series, which started in 2015 and ended in 2018, was incredible. Charlie Cox was born to play the character.
The last time we saw Daredevil in Marvel movies or shows was in 2021 and 2022 with Spider-Man: No Way Home and She Hulk, respectively. He certainly deserves his own standalone series. There is one in the works, but there seem to have been some behind-the-scenes issues with the writing and balancing the superhero and law things. It’s interesting because the first and third seasons of the Netflix show were perfect. I loved them. And I love this character. His future seems a little uncertain when it comes to television, but his comics are going strong. I hope this piece makes you check out at least one or two of his comics. They’re worth the read!
About the Author
Nicolas Scagnelli is a young and ambitious writer. He graduated with a degree in English with a concentration in Creative Writing at Binghamton University. As an undergrad, he published over 60 op-eds for the campus newspaper, Pipe Dream. Nicolas has his own personal blog, Lunch with Nick, where he posts daily about various topics ranging from entertainment to music to mental health. Other than writing, Nicolas loves to spend time in the gym, reading, listening to music, and hanging out with family and friends.
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