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| 13 | [[center: [- [[Characters/MarvelCinematicUniverse Main Character Index]] > Heroic Organizations > [[Characters/MCUDefenders Defenders & Their Allies]] ('''Matt Murdock''' | [[Characters/MCUJessicaJones Jessica Jones]] | [[Characters/MCULukeCage Luke Cage]] | [[Characters/MCUDannyRand Danny Rand]] | [[Characters/MCUFrankCastle Frank Castle]] | [[Characters/MCUKarenPage Karen Page]] | [[Characters/MCUElektraNatchios Elektra Natchios]]) -]]] |
| 14 | ---- |
| 15 | !! Spoilers for all works set prior to ''Spider-Man: No Way Home'' are unmarked. |
| 16 | !!''[[Characters/MarvelComicsMattMurdock Matt Murdock]] / ComicBook/{{Daredevil}}'' |
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| 19 | %%Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=16652838300.89367200 |
| 20 | %%Please don't change or remove without starting a new thread. |
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| 22 | |
| 23 | [[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/a3e8f0c2_c395_457e_bce4_0d5ac51b236c.jpeg]] |
| 24 | [[caption-width-right:300:''"I'm not seeking penance for what I've done, Father. I'm asking for forgiveness... for what I'm about to do."'']] |
| 25 | [[caption-width-right:300:[[labelnote:Click here to see the homemade costume (Season 1)]] https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/c7cfe74e_2af6_4fd9_b714_4890a4d50625.jpeg[softreturn] ''"How do you know the angels and the Devil inside me aren't the same things?"''[[/labelnote]]]] |
| 26 | [[caption-width-right:300:[[labelnote:Click here to see the red costume (Season 1 finale, Season 2, ''The Defenders'', and ''Echo'')]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/daredevilseason2outfit.png [softreturn] ''"You see, unlike your other adversaries, Mr. Fisk, I can break you without breaking a single law."''[[/labelnote]]]] |
| 27 | [[caption-width-right:300:[[labelnote:Click here to see the red and yellow costume (''She-Hulk: Attorney at Law'')]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/e377364b_5585_4e5c_9631_3e38d0581804.png[softreturn] ''"Stealth's the way to go. I've done this a million times."''[[/labelnote]]]] |
| 28 | !!!'''Birth Name:''' Matthew Michael Murdock |
| 29 | !!!'''Known Aliases:''' The Man in the Mask, The Devil of Hell's Kitchen, Red, Daredevil |
| 30 | !!!'''Species:''' Enhanced human |
| 31 | !!!'''Citizenship:''' American |
| 32 | !!!'''Affiliation(s):''' Columbia University (formerly); Landman and Zack (formerly); Nelson, Murdock and Page; Defenders |
| 33 | !!!'''Portrayed By:''' Creator/CharlieCox, Skylar Gaertner (young) |
| 34 | !!!'''Voiced By: '''Creator/YuyaUchida (Japanese dub), Sebastián Plaza and Óscar Olivares, Creator/ConsueloPizarro (young) (Latin-America Chilean Spanish dub), Sebastián Rosas (Latin-America Mexican Spanish dub), Manuel Gimeno, Marta Ullod (young) (European Spanish dub), Philippe Maia (Brazilian Portuguese dub), Creator/BernardGabay (Netflix series, European French dub), Creator/FannyBloc (''Daredevil'', young, European French dub), Creator/SylvainAgaesse (Marvel Studios films & series, European French dub), Mikhail Danilyuk (''Film/SpiderManNoWayHome'', Russian dub) |
| 35 | !!!'''Appearances:''' ''Series/{{Daredevil|2015}}'' | ''Series/{{The Defenders|2017}}'' | ''Film/SpiderManNoWayHome'' | ''Series/SheHulkAttorneyAtLaw'' | ''Series/{{Echo|2024}}'' | ''Series/DaredevilBornAgain'' |
| 36 | |
| 37 | ->''"I can't see, not like everyone else, but I can feel. Things like balance and direction. Micro-changes in air density, vibrations, blankets of temperature variations. Mix all that with what I hear, subtle smells. All of the fragments form a sort of impressionistic painting... A world on fire."'' |
| 38 | |
| 39 | A lawyer from Hell's Kitchen who saved an old man from being hit by a truck as a child. Matt was exposed to dangerous chemicals the truck was carrying and lost his sight as a result. However, the chemicals also [[SuperSenses greatly enhanced his other senses]]. These abilities made him a LivingLieDetector in addition to giving him remarkable spatial awareness. Matt became an extremely versatile gymnast and martial artist as well and decided to take the law into his own hands when the traditional justice system failed. |
| 40 | ---- |
| 41 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 42 | |
| 43 | [[folder:#-F]] |
| 44 | * TenMinuteRetirement: At the start of ''The Defenders'', he hasn't done anything Daredevil-related since telling Karen his secret, out of guilt over Elektra's death and also over losing Nelson & Murdock. While getting ready for a court appearance, he briefly pauses mid-rehearsal when he hears a fight breaking out, but relaxes when he hears the police arriving to defuse the situation and resumes his rehearsing. After the earthquake, the amount of cries for help overwhelms him and he can't resist running to stop some looters and a store owner trying to shoot them with a shotgun. |
| 45 | * TheAce: Matt is ''easily'' the greatest hero of the Defenders, being the most skilled and experienced of all and assuming the role of the unofficial leader with very little resistance. He's one of the greatest martial artists in the setting, has SuperSenses that he's got total mastery over (which allows him to do things most humans could only dream of, such as a "sonar sense" that can give him an edge over everyone else) and he's also an amazingly talented lawyer whom many go to in times of legal crisis. In fact, his sonar sense is so good he catches a brick flying through a window that Peter Parker also picked up on thanks to his SpiderSense. |
| 46 | -->'''Peter:''' ''(astonished)'' How did you just do that? |
| 47 | -->'''Matt:''' [[MathematiciansAnswer I'm a really good lawyer.]] |
| 48 | ** [[spoiler:In ''She-Hulk'' (while he doesn't win the battle) he holds his own effectively against She-Hulk with his skill and agility, despite her being an InvincibleHero with SuperStrength far surpassing his own because he's just that good.]] |
| 49 | * ActuallyPrettyFunny: When Foggy tries to come up with a plan to beat Fisk through the legal system, Matt can't help but grin at his fumbled attempt to do so. |
| 50 | -->'''Foggy:''' Step 1: We work together. Step 2: We come up with a plan. Step 3: We execute that plan. |
| 51 | -->'''Matt:''' ''(grinning)'' [[SarcasmMode That's genius. Come up with that yourself?]] |
| 52 | * AchillesHeel: Matt's heightened senses may allow him to detect things others cannot, but it's also a double-edged sword as it can cause him to suffer SensoryOverload from things that would be less debilitating to someone with average hearing. In ''Series/SheHulkAttorneyAtLaw'', for example, Matt is able to deftly avoid the titular heroine's physical attacks, but is incapable of avoiding her ShockwaveClap, both because the shockwave is too large to evade and because the sound temporarily incapacitates him. |
| 53 | * AdaptationDyeJob: He's redheaded, as in the comics, but his hair is a much darker shade, often looking brunette, but when he's in the right light, the red color is much more obvious. |
| 54 | * AdaptationRelationshipOverhaul: As this is a television series set in the more [[PragmaticAdaptation condensed and realistic version of the MCU based in the Marvel Cinematic Universe]], Matt's relationships were bound to change to a degree from the comic book source material. |
| 55 | ** Matt and his mentor Stick have a more antagonistic relationship than in the comics. It's not helped by the fact that the Netflix version of Stick is an UnscrupulousHero, KnightInSourArmor, GrumpyOldMan. While they did have friction in the comics, it was nowhere near as bad as Stick was more of a PragmaticHero, with noble goals, and only saw killing as a last resort. He was also a bit more compassionate towards Matt and had more JerkWithAHeartOfGold moments than the Netflix version. |
| 56 | ** While Matt and [[{{ComicBook/ThePunisher}} Frank Castle]] are still at odds philosophically, they have a much better relationship than in the comic books. In the comics, Matt and Frank pretty much hate each other and feel at best only grudging admiration for one another's abilities and determination. Here Matt and Frank have a relationship that is more like FriendlyEnemies and the two of them come to understand if not condone the other's point of view. |
| 57 | ** As a result of making his debut in the mainstream MCU after her death, Matt never got to meet Natasha Romanoff and start a romantic relationship with her like their comic book counterparts did. |
| 58 | ** In the comics, Matt and T'Challa are (or have been) surprisingly good friends, with T'Challa being one of the first Marvel heroes to learn Matt's secret identity back in the Silver Age. Here, they never meet at all. |
| 59 | * AdaptedOut: His romantic relationship with [[Characters/MCUNatashaRomanoff Natasha Romanoff]] is entirely omitted and the two never met as Matt didn't appear in the main MCU until after she died. |
| 60 | * AlliterativeName: '''M'''atthew '''M'''ichael '''M'''urdock. Doubly alliterative: His alias is '''D'''are'''d'''evil. |
| 61 | * AlternateCompanyEquivalent: Serves as the MCU equivalent to both Batman (both being vigilante {{Terror Hero}}es whose ideologies were shaped by the loss of a parent(s) and have had [[DatingCatwoman complicated romantic relationships with amoral women]]) as well as to the ''Series/{{Arrow}}'' version of Oliver Queen (helped a lot by the shows being similar in tone and style). In particular, his costume, at least in style, is not dissimilar to [[Film/TheDarkKnightTrilogy Christian Bale's Batman costume]]. |
| 62 | * AlternateSelf: Matt has one alternate-universe counterpart who met Peter Parker/Spider-Man much sooner. |
| 63 | * AlwaysSaveTheGirl: Near the end of ''Daredevil'' season 3, he manages to sneak and break into Fisk's hotel room to wait for him to come back so he can kill him, but then finds out that Fisk wants Karen killed and has tracked her down. [[SadisticChoice He has to choose between sticking to his plan and attempting to kill Fisk but likely losing Karen in the process, or leave to go rescue her and surrender what will likely be his only chance to kill Fisk]], since security will be increased after he leaves so he won't get another opportunity like this. He chooses to leave and go to rescue Karen. |
| 64 | * AmbulanceChaser: Of a rare heroic variety. When he and Foggy first strike out as lawyers in Hell's Kitchen, they're pretty desperate to nab as many clients as possible. Which includes, and not limited to, ''[[WillTalkForAPrice bribing a cop to get the inside scoop]].'' Granted, Matt's not exactly as unscrupulous about this as Foggy, but he's not exactly against it either. Wesley outright calls him an ambulance chaser after Fisk requests him to make a file on Nelson & Murdock. |
| 65 | * AmicableExes: With Karen. She breaks up with him because of how he constantly keeps her in the dark about what's happening with his life, and Matt slowly stops pursuing her as he starts to gravitate towards Elektra, but after Elektra dies and Matt reveals his identity as Daredevil to her, she and Matt start to go back to good terms, with them figuring out if they want to resume their relationship. |
| 66 | * AndIMustScream: After getting [[BoomHeadshot shot in the head]] by the Punisher in their first fight, his hearing starts malfunctioning and gets temporarily disabled. The effects of this is both painful and ''terrifying'' to Matt, who's reduced to shouting and knocking the wall for help, as he relied the most on his hearing out of all his other senses after he lost his eyesight. |
| 67 | * AndThisIsFor: While beating Vladimir Ranskahov to a pulp, he tells him "This is for Claire" as his men kidnapped and tortured her to get information about him. Just before he can land the final blow, however, the cops arrive. |
| 68 | * AntiHero: Matt is a morally ambiguous hero from the get-go, described as being "one bad day away from permanently crossing a line". The very first scene with Daredevil has him brutally beating his enemies, yelling at the victims to run, and then finally turning to the last guy and continuously punching him in the face. Matt is still officially opposed to killing and even comes to blows with his old master Stick over it. He also suffers a moral breakdown over whether or not to kill Fisk for all the death the crime lord has caused. Although, to be fair, Matt is less flawed than most anti-heroes. |
| 69 | * ArchEnemy: |
| 70 | ** He and Wilson Fisk eventually become this to each other. It starts out fairly one-sided, with Matt targeting Fisk while Fisk is busy dealing with other things, but by the time he and Fisk have their rematch in the finale the feeling is wholly mutual. |
| 71 | ** At first, Matt had nothing personal against Benjamin "Dex" Poindexter. It's not until Dex murdered Father Lantom in front of him that Matt starts going after him with an UnstoppableRage. |
| 72 | * BadassBoast: Matt delivers one in his [[CrusadingLawyer civilian identity]], to Fisk in prison during "Seven Minutes in Heaven". |
| 73 | -->'''Matt:''' You see, unlike your other adversaries, Mr. Fisk, I can break you without breaking a single law. |
| 74 | * BadassBookworm: He graduated ''summa cum laude''[[labelnote:*]]For those who don't get what this means, it's graduating with highest honors, a feat that is usually mathematically impossible unless you have a record of straight (or nearly straight) "A"s in your grade point average, and in one of what is perhaps one of the most difficult academic disciplines, aside from medicine.[[/labelnote]] from Columbia Law. Triple bonus points for doing so while blind. It's worth noting that none of his "superhero" skills: enhanced senses, martial arts, or lie detection, help in any way with schoolwork. |
| 75 | * BadassInANiceSuit: In his civilian identity, he typically wears a suit and tie as befitting for his work as a lawyer. |
| 76 | * BashSiblings: With the other Defenders. |
| 77 | * BatmanGrabsAGun: While he's very strictly upholds his [[ThouShaltNotKill killing rule]], if he's angered enough or the situation is too dire, he ''will'' break it. He tries to kill Nobu twice, the first time because Nobu beats him bloody in a fight and Matt took the chance to immolate him, and the second time was when he killed Elektra, which pissed Matt off enough to toss him off a building. Nobu survives both attempts, but it does prove that when push comes to shove, Matt's willing to break his no-kill rule. He also spends the majority of Season 3 planning on killing Fisk because of how unstoppable he's become, but he backs out of it when he finally has the chance because he realizes that Fisk will succeed in destroying who he is if he does. |
| 78 | * BaritoneOfStrength: Cox puts on a very deep voice while playing Matt in both his civilian and superhero identity. |
| 79 | * BeatThemAtTheirOwnGame: He defeats Fisk once more in the Season 3 finale by resorting to Fisk's preferred method of silencing or controlling other people: {{Blackmail}}. He demands that Fisk will stay and spend the rest of his life in prison, he won't harm Karen Page or Foggy Nelson, and that he'll keep Daredevil's SecretIdentity a secret or else he will have Vanessa imprisoned for having Agent Ray Nadeem killed. With no way to get around Matt's demands, Fisk accepts the offer to protect his wife. |
| 80 | * BetaOutfit: In ''Daredevil'' seasons 1 and 3, he uses a ninja-like outfit, including a mask with no eye holes. |
| 81 | * BewareTheNiceOnes: Matt Murdock is as sweet and friendly as they come - [[ChickMagnet especially to the ladies]] - but he also has a ''staggering'' capacity for violence and brutality. As Daredevil, he becomes TheDreaded of Hell's Kitchen, beating up bad guys within an inch of their lives. Having said that, [[ThouShaltNotKill he draws the line at killing]], though Frank Castle believes he's "one bad day" away from crossing that line. To Frank's credit, he ''very nearly did'' in his final showdown with Kingpin, but fortunately held himself back, only leaving him ''very'' bloody and beaten. |
| 82 | * BifurcatedWeapon: He can connect his two billy clubs together to make a short staff. |
| 83 | * BigDamnHeroes: He's fond of this, often arriving in the nick of time to save people from dying. Karen is often the rescuee in the majority of these situations, but he's also saved the likes of Jessica Jones and Ray Nadeem a few times. |
| 84 | * BlastingItOutOfTheirHands: While rescuing Frank from the Kitchen Irish, he prevents him from shooting one of the mobsters by throwing his billy club at his handgun. |
| 85 | * BlessedWithSuck: He may be blind, but due to all of his other senses being heightened, he can perceive far more than the average human can. |
| 86 | * BlindJustice: He's a blind man who seeks justice through the law in the morning and through vigilantism in the night. |
| 87 | * BlindPeopleWearSunglasses: As a blind man, Matt wears red-tinted sunglasses. |
| 88 | * BlindWeaponmaster: While Matt usually fights with his fists, he undoubtedly embraces the rest of the "blind warrior" archetype. He's extremely skilled with his billy-club becoming an InstantExpert with it, while before that there were the wooden sticks he got from Stick. |
| 89 | * BloodKnight: A running theme is the question of whether Matt just likes beating people to a pulp or not. Signs thus far suggest that he does, and being around Elektra [[ToxicFriendInfluence seems to make it worse]]. Just being with her or fighting alongside her makes the Devil in him really comes out and he is greatly internally conflicted over it. In the Season 2 finale, he finally acknowledges that he ''needs'' to be Daredevil to feel complete. By the opening to ''The Defenders'' Season 1, he's been treating his adrenaline fix as an addiction, with his friends agreeing about it as such, including medication to keep him from going out. In Season 3, after coming back from "dying" at the end of ''Defenders'', he goes out at the first possible opportunity, well before he's properly healed, to beat up some thugs. |
| 90 | * BornLucky: Stick considers him this, as the chemical accident that made him lose his eyesight didn't kill him, but instead it gave him superpowers. |
| 91 | * BoxingBattler: He takes a bit after his father, who was a professional boxer, and his opening stance is a classic boxer's stance. |
| 92 | * BreakHisHeartToSaveHim: He distances himself from Foggy and Karen as ''Daredevil'' season 2 goes on, thinking that it will be safer for them if he's not part of their lives anymore. It doesn't keep, and after Karen gets kidnapped by the Hand, he realizes it's better to let Karen in on the secret. After he returns from the "dead" in Season 3, he switches back and forth between following this mentality to keep them safe from Fisk, then letting them in when he needs their help, then going back to this once they're put in danger again, before finally abandoning it for good in the season finale. |
| 93 | * BreakoutCharacter: Daredevil has been one of the lesser-known Marvel heroes for quite a while, never quite reaching the popularity of heroes like ComicBook/SpiderMan or the ComicBook/XMen. After the acclaim of the Netflix series, his popularity has skyrocketed, with his series being considered one of the ''best'' Netflix shows. Daredevil's role in the Marvel TV-verse has even been compared to the way ''Film/IronMan1'' ended up kicking off the MCU. It's no wonder that he was the first character from the Marvel Netflix shows to be introduced in a proper MCU film, specifically ''No Way Home''. It's quite telling that his upcoming series on Creator/DisneyPlus is revealed to come with ''18 episodes'' which is by far the most amount of episodes in any Marvel Creator/DisneyPlus show so far. |
| 94 | * BridalCarry: How he lifts Elektra when they break into a mansion and when she gets poisoned fighting The Hand. |
| 95 | * BringIt: His response to Fisk threatening to kill him for foiling and ruining his plans for Hell's Kitchen? Pocket his billy clubs and say "Take your shot." |
| 96 | * BrokenAce: Despite being one of the most (if not ''the'' most) competent street-level heroes in the MCU, Matt clearly suffers from abandonment issues as a result of [[ParentalAbandonment his father getting killed when he was a child, growing up without a mother, and being abandoned by Stick]] and maintaining a SecretIdentity clearly takes a massive toll on him emotionally as it [[KeepingSecretsSucks strains the relationships he has with the people he deeply cares about]]. He begins to resolve these issues and becomes a straighter example of TheAce by the time he makes his debut in the mainstream MCU however. |
| 97 | * BrooklynRage: Born and raised in Hell's Kitchen, and the kind of guy you seriously don't want to piss off. |
| 98 | * BroughtDownToBadass: Even after the massive physical trauma he suffered over the course of ''The Defenders'' causes his DisabilitySuperpower to go on the fritz in Season 3, he's still able to fight through tons of goons with ''just'' his combat training. |
| 99 | * BulletproofVest: He asks for a new armored costume from Melvin Potter but he collects it before "the process" is complete, so only the black portions are bulletproof. The red portions (the majority of it) will only stop a knife from coming in at certain angles. |
| 100 | * BullyingADragon: While interrogating Fisk in regards to Frank Castle's escape from Ryker's, he threatens to have Vanessa's visa revoked so she can't ever return to America. This gets him violently assaulted by Fisk. |
| 101 | * TheBusCameBack: Over three years after ''Daredevil'' was cancelled, Matt at long last makes his return, and in a fully-fledged Marvel Studios film no less, in ''Spider-Man: No Way Home''. |
| 102 | * ButHeSoundsHandsome: During ''Daredevil'' Season One, he smiles every time Karen gushes over his alter-ego. |
| 103 | * ByronicHero: As an individual, Matt is complicated. He's an intelligent lawyer who studied at Columbia, has opted for vigilantism, and sincerely cares about the people from Hell's Kitchen. On the other hand, he is also prone to UnstoppableRage and is not above crippling the bad guys. In Season 3, he has [[TookALevelInCynic taken a level in cynic]] as he undergoes a crisis of faith, is cold and distant with his friends in an effort to push them away, and plans on killing Fisk as he believes it's the only way to stop him. He's also a controversial figure in-story, dividing opinions and driving others away in his fervent pursuit of his ideals. However, Matt has not yet become convinced that he's an evil man (though he's nearly constantly questioning it). |
| 104 | * CallingTheOldManOut: Does this to Father Lantom when he finds out that Sister Maggie is his mother and that he always knew but never told him. He comes to sorely regret this as this was the [[PartingWordsRegret last conversation he had with him before he got killed by Dex.]] |
| 105 | * TheCameo: |
| 106 | ** He appears in a [[SmallRoleBigImpact very brief but important]] role in ''Spider-Man: No Way Home'' where he serves as a lawyer for Peter Parker and gets the charges against him dropped. |
| 107 | ** He shows up briefly in a Blip-era flashback in ''Echo'' where he fights the titular character along with some of Fisk's goons and wins. |
| 108 | * CaneFu: While fighting off Fisk's assassins alongside Ray Nadeem on their way to the courtroom, he uses his cane as an ImprovisedWeapon to knock out some of those assassins. |
| 109 | * TheCasanova: Matt could give Tony Stark a run for his money. According to Foggy, he has the requisite string of exes, but there's no hint of any of them ending on a bad note, and the only times he's shown in romantic flings are briefly with Claire and later with Karen in the present day and with Elektra in flashbacks. From what we see on screen, Matt's actually TheCharmer combined with ChickMagnet. |
| 110 | * TheCavalryArrivesLate: Played for laughs in the last episode of ''She-Hulk'', where he literally drops out of the sky to help Jen, only for her to tell him that she already saved the day. [[spoiler:This was because he got shoehorned into the finale by K.E.V.I.N. since Jen wanted to see him again.]] |
| 111 | * ChainPain: Early on in ''Daredevil'' season 2, he uses the chain Frank tied him up in to knock him out and later take down several Dogs of Hell members. |
| 112 | * CharacterCatchphrase: Tends to favor "Not so much" when out of costume, "We good?" when in it, and "I'm going to ask you again. Think about your answer" when he's interrogating someone. |
| 113 | * CelebrityParadox: In ''Film/IronMan3'', ''Series/DowntonAbbey'' is said to be Happy Hogan's favorite show and an episode of it is played on his hospital TV near the end of the film. Creator/CharlieCox played the Duke of Crowborough in the first episode of the show and to make things weirder, Happy would eventually meet Matt and hire him as his attorney in ''Film/SpiderManNoWayHome''. |
| 114 | * CharacterDevelopment: |
| 115 | ** As his series wears on, Matt's hatred for criminals (especially [[ArchEnemy Fisk]]) gradually begins to overwhelm him, to the point where his ThouShaltNotKill rule gets put in question time and again. After Nobu kills Elektra, Matt becomes so enraged he willingly tosses him over the edge of a building, fully intent on murdering him and only failing by sheer luck. Worse yet, when Fisk takes back his role as the BigBad of the series in Season 3, Matt decides that death is the only thing that could possibly put him down. But in the end, he decides he can't cross that line after all. |
| 116 | ** His addiction to violence worsens as the series goes on, and though he makes sincere attempts to adjust himself throughout the show, going out there and beating up criminals time and again proves to be the only thing that fulfills him beyond helping innocent people. |
| 117 | ** A little more subtle than most examples, but at the end of Season 1, Matt begins to let people into his (vigilante) life and start to actually take their advice rather than ignoring them, most notably getting the Daredevil armor. |
| 118 | * CharacterTics: |
| 119 | ** Matt grips the handle of his cane tightly with both hands when under stress. |
| 120 | ** He has a tendency to stand with both hands on his hips when he's having a private meeting in an office. |
| 121 | ** Creator/CharlieCox has stated that Matt compulsively puts his glasses on when he's around Karen because he feels like she can see through him. |
| 122 | ** When listening to a distant sound, he will tilt his head sharply. It's never explicitly stated, but this is almost certainly a use of binaural hearing to help him locate the source of the sound, in much the same way dogs do. |
| 123 | * CharlesAtlasSuperpower: |
| 124 | ** His superpowers help him maintain a heightened awareness of his surroundings that rival even Spider-Man's SpiderSense, and give him extra agility[[note]]As he lets slip to Foggy while drunk in a flashback during Recap/Daredevil2015S1E10NelsonVMurdock, the chemical spill enhanced his senses such that the spins hit him worse; the spins are about balance, not sight[[/note]]. Beyond that, his physical abilities are all the result of pushing an otherwise normal human body to the limit. Plus, Murdock boys have got the devil in them. |
| 125 | ** Taking it a step further in his return in "She-Hulk" where he demonstrates speed and agility that rivals Spider-Man. |
| 126 | * ChickMagnet: Karen Page, Claire Temple, Elektra Natchios, and Jennifer Walters have all been attracted to him, with the latter two having also slept with him at least once. Even ''[[VillainessesWantHeroes Vanessa Marianna]]'' flirts with him gently when she meets him at her art gallery. And apparently, this is a ''very'' recurring thing for him as Foggy openly complains about it several times. Even ''Titania'', who only knows his identity as Daredevil, openly fangirls over him and a couple of Jen's female relatives flirt with him at the family dinner. |
| 127 | -->'''Jen:''' Bruce [Banner] smashes buildings. I smash fourth walls and bad endings. And sometimes Matt Murdock. ''[[[NoFourthWall smirks at the camera]]]''. |
| 128 | * ChronicHeroSyndrome: Matt's inability to take a break for a night, combined with his need to pursue the truth in court, affects both his personal and professional life. Matt starts having serious problems in the beginning of the first ''Defenders'' season, as while he's put aside his Daredevil costume, he still finds himself driven to go out and fight to protect people in Hell's Kitchen. Foggy even brings him some casework for similar ''pro bono'' cases he's been doing, hoping that it will help keep Matt busy when he gets the urge to go out and beat up criminals on the streets. |
| 129 | * CivvieSpandex: |
| 130 | ** He borrows Jessica's scarf to cover his face when going to confront The Hand in Midland Circle. |
| 131 | ** During his first fight with Benjamin Poindexter, he dons a black beanie and zipper sweater that he took from a coat rack. |
| 132 | * CombatPragmatist: Matt isn't just a skilled fighter, he's an absolutely ''brutal'' one as well. He'll pick up whatever he can use as an ImprovisedWeapon, pick up hard objects such as stone or guns to use as projectiles, break and shatter bones, and continue throwing punches even when the opponent is defeated. |
| 133 | * ComicBookMoviesDontUseCodenames: He only picks up the Daredevil name at the end of the first season, until then being known simply as "the man in the mask", "the Devil of Hell's Kitchen" or "the man in black". Ironically, Matt is the ''only'' one of the four Defenders to try and maintain a secret identity. |
| 134 | ** Eventually subverted in Season 2. The character is called Daredevil a lot throughout the season (although sometimes "The Devil of Hell's Kitchen" is still used). The subtitles even change from calling him "The Man in the Mask" to "Daredevil". |
| 135 | ** Entirely averted in Season 3, in which the "Devil of Hell's Kitchen" moniker is completely dropped, and his alter ego is exclusively referred to as Daredevil. |
| 136 | ** And again in ''She-Hulk: Attorney at Law'', where he identifies as Daredevil to Jen. |
| 137 | * CoolShades: |
| 138 | ** Since he's blind, Matt wears a pair of red sunglasses to hide his occluded pupils and to obscure the fact that his eyes might not necessarily be directed towards whomever he's speaking to. |
| 139 | ** Matt's red Daredevil costume also sports a pair of blood-red lenses over the eyes. |
| 140 | * CostumeEvolution: The suit he wears in ''Series/SheHulkAttorneyAtLaw'' is similar in shape to the suit from his series but the cowl is now a muted yellow instead of a solid red. |
| 141 | * CovertPervert: Foggy talks about how Matt used to ask attractive women if he could touch their faces to get an idea of what they looked like--with Foggy both creeped out and envious about how his blind friend always seems to know which women were hot in advance--and in their introductory scene Matt gets a female realtor to [[HandsOnApproach lead him around]] while Foggy rolls his eyes in the background. Not that Foggy isn't willing to take advantage of Matt as a RomanticWingman; on first meeting Matt he quickly realizes that [[WeaknessTurnsHerOn women will be drawn to his handsome roommate who was so tragically blinded]]. |
| 142 | * CoveredWithScars: Because of the number of fights he gets himself into as Daredevil, Matt's body is covered in cuts and bruises, many of which are stitched up. |
| 143 | * TheCowl: To contrast TheCape that many Avengers like Captain America or Spider-Man are known for. Matt is a TerrorHero who snoops around in the shadows of the night, striking fear into the hearts of criminals. |
| 144 | * CrisisOfFaith: After almost dying during the events of ''The Defenders'' and losing half of his hearing, Matt spends most of ''Daredevil'' season 3 bitter at God for constantly making him suffer, even comparing himself to "God's perfect soldier" [[Literature/BookOfJob Job]], who got nothing but misery for his trouble. It's left ambiguous at the end of the season if Matt has resolved his issues with God, but he at least isn't cursing His name anymore. |
| 145 | * CruelToBeKind: He frequently attempts to sever ties with Foggy and Karen because he believes that their association with him will only give Fisk more reason to come after them. Unfortunately for Matt, he never succeeds because they're just as determined to do the right thing as him so they willingly put themselves in danger even without him. |
| 146 | * CrusadingLawyer: His goal is to use the legal system to make Hell's Kitchen a much better place. This doesn't quite work out as planned, leading to a career in superheroics. |
| 147 | * CunningLinguist: He speaks fluent English and Spanish, having studied the latter at college. However, he cannot speak or understand Russian or Japanese. As a blind person, he learned to read Braille. He also knows some French, able to speak it with Elektra, and identified the Islamic call to prayer (which he mistook for music). |
| 148 | * CursedWithAwesome: Due to his enhanced senses, Matt has to concentrate, or else everything will override his sensory perceptions. |
| 149 | * CuttingTheKnot: When Jessica tells him that she has pictures of him climbing onto a roof using parkour, he just grabs her camera and smashes it against a wall. |
| 150 | * DangerTakesABackseat: Upon hearing of Fisk's release in the beginning of season 3, he infiltrates the hotel he's been held in, goes to the parking lot and confronts his attorney by entering the backseat of his car and strangling him in an attempt to get information about Fisk. |
| 151 | * DarkIsNotEvil: In spite of wearing all black, and later donning a devil outfit, he's a heroic character. |
| 152 | * DeadpanSnarker: One of the snarkiest characters in both his series and ''The Defenders'' (which is saying something considering that the latter especially is a WorldOfSnark). Sometimes crosses into DisabledSnarker when he cracks wise about his blindness; see below. |
| 153 | * DeadPersonConversation: He spends most of the episode "Revelations" conversing with a hallucination of his long-dead father Jack. |
| 154 | * DeathSeeker: At the beginning of Season 3, Matt gets into a fight with two robbers and loses. Instead of finding the resolve to continue fighting, he uncharacteristically tries to get them into finishing him off just to show how broken and cynical he's become. |
| 155 | * DentedIron: Like his father, Matt's main superpower is, as Claire notes, his "incredible ability to take a beating". Combine a tough Irish constitution with Stick's mystical training and Matt can keep going when most people would be in a coma. |
| 156 | ** He receives several deep gashes during his fight with Nobu. While it doesn't noticeably slow him down during the fights when he returns to action, he re-opens the stitched wounds and requires more time to heal between fights. By ''Daredevil'' season 2, he's pretty much reached CoveredInScars status. |
| 157 | -->'''Matt:''' Yeah, the Russians like their knives. At least, I think it was the Russians. |
| 158 | ** At the start of Season 3, he is definitely this after surviving a building dropping on him which has left him deaf in one ear and left his senses out of wack making him "blind" again. He does eventually fully recover but his injuries end up severely impeding his ability to fight for the first few episodes. |
| 159 | * DestinationDefenestration: |
| 160 | ** During his fight with a resurrected Elektra in the Midland Circle, she punches him into an opaque glass window, taking their fight into a small office room. |
| 161 | ** On both ends during the final fight against Fisk and Dex, he hits Dex into a window and breaks it, which takes their fight outside Fisk's penthouse. Dex then returns the favor by throwing him back into the penthouse through a window. |
| 162 | * {{Determinator}}: Like his father in the ring, what really makes him a formidable opponent is his ability to keep on fighting no matter how many hits he takes. It's really showcased in "Cut Man" when he's sporting broken ribs and stab wounds, yet still takes on about a dozen guys singlehandedly to rescue a young kidnapped boy. During the fight he's obviously completely exhausted and in pain, and several times needs to lean against a wall to catch his breath, but he still manages to disable every single mook and rescue the boy. |
| 163 | * DidntThinkThisThrough: Minor case, but when a brick is thrown through the Parkers' window Matt catches it, stunning the Parkers (and Happy) with the sudden and inexplicable display of superhuman reflexes. Which was completely pointless as, being Spider-Man, Peter's own hand was raised to catch the brick himself and would have done so if it had flown another few inches. There's a moment of clear regret on Matt's face as he realizes he just nearly outed himself for nothing. |
| 164 | * DisabilityNegatingSuperpower: Blinded since a young age, Matt's other [[SuperSenses senses were heightened to the extent]] where they are able to completely compensate for his lack of sight. |
| 165 | * DisabilitySuperpower: While he lost his eyesight years ago, he can "see" with his other heightened senses. |
| 166 | * DisabledSnarker: |
| 167 | ** When the realtor, who is showing Foggy around the office they are looking to buy, says they'll need to flip a coin to see who gets the office with a view, Matt says he's fine with Foggy having it. |
| 168 | ** Also: |
| 169 | --->'''Foggy:''' Softball! When are we getting a company team together?\ |
| 170 | '''Karen:''' We only have three employees, Foggy.\ |
| 171 | '''Matt:''' At least two of them aren't blind. |
| 172 | ** From ''The Defenders'': |
| 173 | --->'''Misty Knight:''' As of right now, you're a person of interest. A witness to a crime.\ |
| 174 | '''Matt:''' A witness? What, you want me to describe how they sounded, Detective? |
| 175 | * DramaticUnmask: He unmasks himself after rescuing Ray Nadeem and his family from Fisk's assassins in order to gain his trust. |
| 176 | * TheDreaded: His vigilantism is starting to make criminals of New York afraid of him. |
| 177 | * DualWielding: Matt's billy club can split into two shorter batons. Beforehand he used two wooden sticks that Stick gave him. |
| 178 | * EnterStageWindow: He always enters and leaves an apartment this way when he's visiting or breaking into it as Daredevil, because the neighbors would find it incredibly alarming that a masked vigilante is inside an apartment complex and would likely call the police. |
| 179 | * EroticAsphyxiation: He grabs Elektra by the neck while having sex with her in the boxing ring of Fogwell's Gym. |
| 180 | * EstablishingCharacterMoment: Gets one as a kid, selflessly saving an old man at the cost of losing his eyesight to chemicals. |
| 181 | * EveryoneLovesBlondes: His primary love interest in his own series is the blonde-haired Karen Page. |
| 182 | * ExperiencedProtagonist: By the time of ''She-Hulk'', he's actually one of the most experienced superheroes around, being the resident defender of Hell's Kitchen for over a decade. He's even popular enough that celebrity influencer and media mogul Titania gushes over him. During his short team up with Jen Walters, he takes the lead despite her being the obvious powerhouse. |
| 183 | * EyeScream: He got a vat of chemicals sprayed into his eyes in a car accident. |
| 184 | * FatalFlaw: His tendency to push people away and keep them in the dark about what's going on with his life. This lead to his law firm falling apart, Karen ending their romantic relationship, and several arguments with Foggy. Even when Karen and Foggy finally know that he's Daredevil, he still pushes them away which just makes it harder for all of them to accomplish taking down Fisk. |
| 185 | * FightsLikeANormal: Matt possesses SuperSenses, but those alone are not what allow him to fight crime, along with the fact they are there to compensate for his lack of sight in the first place. What really allows him to kick ass is his absolute mastery of martial arts. |
| 186 | * {{Foil}}: To [[Series/SheHulkAttorneyAtLaw Jennifer Walters/She-Hulk]]. They're both lawyers who also double as superheroes. Jen works at a big law firm and is the face of one of its law divisions, while Matt runs his own law practice and primarily does pro-bono work. Jennifer's identity as She-Hulk is known to the public while Matt keeps a SecretIdentity as Daredevil. As She-Hulk, Jen favors using her SuperStrength to finish situations quickly while Matt favors his agility and prefers to take his time by using stealth. Lastly while Jen had just received her powers and has only recently started being a superhero, Matt has had his since he was a child and has been a superhero for almost a decade now. |
| 187 | * FourTemperamentEnsemble: In the Defenders, he's Sanguine. |
| 188 | * FragileSpeedster: He becomes this in Season 3. He's still quite swift and agile but he can't take as much punishment as he used to [[DentedIron as a result of the injuries he sustained from Midland Circle]]. |
| 189 | * FrameUp: |
| 190 | ** ''Daredevil'' season 1: |
| 191 | *** Fisk bombs several buildings around Hell's Kitchen that belong to the Russians, and also pays a sniper to shoot several cops, then blames it all on the Devil of Hell's Kitchen. It takes quite a while for Matt to get people to believe that he wasn't the real perpetrator. |
| 192 | ** Fisk also does this to both his Matt Murdock and Daredevil identities in Season 3: |
| 193 | *** Fisk is able to gain his power by acting as an informant on other criminals. After Matt survives multiple attempts on his life from Fisk, Fisk retaliates by falsely naming him as a crooked lawyer who managed numerous illegal schemes for him, sending the FBI on a manhunt for Matt. |
| 194 | *** He also forces Melvin Potter to make a new red Daredevil suit (which Matt was currently not using, since his own was destroyed at Midland Circle), then has Benjamin Poindexter wear it while conducting attacks and committing murders in a newspaper office and a church, in order to discredit Daredevil in the eyes of New York's populace. |
| 195 | * FriendToAllChildren: The reason Matt first put on the mask? To help a little girl when the law couldn't. The reason he got ambushed and beat to a pulp in the second episode? He was trying to rescue a kidnapped boy. The reason he got into a fight with Stick? His mentor killed a child. Matt is consistently compelled to defend kids to the point the compulsion can be exploited. His own rough childhood probably plays a part. |
| 196 | * FriendsRentControl: Karen and Jessica both wonder how Matt can afford his spacious corner apartment; by the time Jessica visits, he's a pro bono lawyer and thus earning less money than he was at Nelson & Murdock. Both times, Matt points out that the illuminated billboard across the street makes the value of the flat absolutely plummet, so rent is quite cheap despite the comparatively luxurious living space. It's also been implied that Matt may have inherited Elektra's money after her death. |
| 197 | [[/folder]] |
| 198 | |
| 199 | [[folder:G-N]] |
| 200 | * GeniusBruiser: A master martial artist who graduated top in law school and one of the best attorneys out there. |
| 201 | * GeniusCripple: Matt graduated summa cum laude in law school despite being blind. |
| 202 | * GenocideSurvivor: His cameo appearance in ''Echo'' confirms that he survived the Snap as it was set in the five years before half the population was restored thanks to he Avengers' efforts. |
| 203 | * GlassCannon: In Season 3, his resilience and pain tolerance have gotten weaker as a result of his [[DentedIron severe injuries from the Midland Circle]]. He still hits hard though and he hits even harder when he wraps Muay Thai ropes around his hands but it only takes a few hits for his opponents to dominate him in a fight. |
| 204 | * GoodIsNotNice: Matt is mostly a nice person but that's because he vents a lot of his aggressiveness being Daredevil, willing to torture and pound criminal's faces in way past necessity. He also tends to slip Foggy with most of the work he accepted due to his double life. |
| 205 | * GoodIsNotSoft: He goes for bone breaks to incapacitate his opponents and can be quite brusque when dealing with civilians as Daredevil. But he's as gentle as possible when dealing with potentially traumatized victims, especially children. A good example of this is "Cut Man", where he tears through a small army of human traffickers, then takes his mask off so the little boy he's rescuing won't be scared. |
| 206 | ** He is also ''extremely'' gentle when he rescues Claire, pulling her into his arms for a heartfelt, comforting hug once she starts crying in relief, sharing a brief HeadbuttOfLove, and whispering, "I'm here. I have you." It's a fantastic foil to the moment before, where he brutally beat the man who hurt her, as he instantly transitions into being sweet to her. |
| 207 | * GoodLawyersGoodClients: It zigzags. |
| 208 | ** Matt decides to defend Karen Page in the pilot, despite her lack of money to pay them, because he knows she's innocent. |
| 209 | ** At the same time, one of Nelson & Murdock's first paying clients is John Healy, a clearly guilty sociopathic hitman, who they defend for the substantial fee (and, on Matt's end, to help him burrow into Fisk's organization). |
| 210 | ** Early on in the series, he mentions his desire to do this. It's why he and Foggy set up their tiny law-firm rather than take a lucrative job with Landman and Zack. |
| 211 | ** He chooses to defend Grotto despite being a former gangster since he believes that he really does want a second chance. Upon learning that he has murdered innocent people, he's visibly horrified (though he refuses to let the Punisher kill him). |
| 212 | ** Matt ultimately decides to defend Frank Castle, a very controversial decision given [[KnightTemplar what he is]], all because as Daredevil, Matt was able to see the good in Frank and felt he did not deserve the death penalty. |
| 213 | ** In ''No Way Home'', Matt manages to get all the criminal charges on Peter Parker dropped despite Peter being ConvictedByPublicOpinion. |
| 214 | ** In ''She-Hulk: Attorney at Law'', he travels all the way to LA to assist a man who made him a new suit. Though in this case, the guy's innocent... just not entirely ''pleasant''. |
| 215 | * GrapplingHookGun: In the ''Daredevil'' Season 2 finale, Melvin makes him an improved version of his billy clubs that has a grappling line built inside it. He uses this to throw Nobu off a roof in their final battle and later uses it in ''The Defenders'' to choke Sowande in an attempt to [[JackBauerInterrogationTechnique torture him into revealing what happened to Elektra.]] |
| 216 | * GreyAndGrayMorality: Matt is a firm believer of this. In fact, this is one of the main reasons why he refuses to kill. As evidenced in his dialogue with Frank Castle, he believes that there is no such thing as pure evil. |
| 217 | -->'''Daredevil:''' A human being who did a lot of stupid shit, maybe even evil, but had one small piece of goodness in him. Maybe just a scrap, Frank, but something. And then you come along, and that one tiny flicker of light gets snuffed out forever. |
| 218 | * GuileHero: When he's not beating up people as his Daredevil persona, Matt is a CrusadingLawyer able to use his vast knowledge of the law to twist his opponents into submission. |
| 219 | * {{Hallucinations}}: In Season 3, he hallucinates his father or Fisk when he's by himself, both of whom represent his conflicts with his own morality. |
| 220 | * HandicappedBadass: He can kick your ass in a fight and in the courtroom - even if he's blind. Well, mostly kind of blind sort of. |
| 221 | * HandwrapsOfAwesome: He puts on some Muay Thai ropes before coming to save a kid who's been kidnapped by the Russians. In Season 3, he wears boxing wraps before upgrading to Muay Thai ropes bigger than his previous ones in order to deal more damage in fights. |
| 222 | * HeroOfAnotherStory: |
| 223 | ** His appearances in ''Spider-Man: No Way Home'' and ''She-Hulk: Attorney at Law'' are this as the events that happened in his own series are largely disconnected from both stories. |
| 224 | ** ''Echo'' establishes that not only did Matt survive Thanos's snap, but that he was active as Daredevil during the five year interim where half the universe was reduced to dust. Outside of briefly getting into a skirmish with the titular character and some of Fisk's goons, what else he did during that time period is unclear. |
| 225 | * HeWhoFightsMonsters: As described above, Daredevil is described as someone who is one bad day away from crossing the line, and like Batman, his no-killing code is the thing that keeps him from becoming as bad as the criminals he fights. |
| 226 | * HesBack: |
| 227 | ** After apparently dying in the Midland Circle Crisis at the end of ''The Defenders'', he makes his return in the beginning of Season 3 of his own series. Downplayed, though, in that it takes him a while to recover and he has a few false starts first. |
| 228 | ** He also spends most of Season 3 DarkerAndEdgier, since he TookALevelInCynic, suffered a crisis of faith, and multiple times expressed his intention to leave his Matt Murdock persona behind entirely. [By the end of the season, though, he's calmed down and mostly returned to his old self, regained his faith, and decided to live as Matt Murdock again, even agreeing to go into business once more with Foggy and Karen. |
| 229 | * HealingFactor: His mentor Stick taught him how to go into a meditative trance that accelerates his body's natural healing ability. Good thing too, because Matt racks up an astounding number of broken bones and cuts throughout the series. |
| 230 | * HearingVoices: During Season 3 Matt starts seeing hallucinations of Wilson Fisk after the real version was released from prison who continuously mocks and berates Matt for his failures and that he will never win until he is ready to kill. Later on in the season he also starts having hallucinations of his father after finding out that Sister Maggie was his mother all along who tells his that she left them because she could see "the devil" in them. |
| 231 | * HeartbrokenBadass: In ''The Defenders'', he's still mourning over Elektra's death, to the point that he's given up on being Daredevil completely. In the meantime, he's doing ''pro bono'' law work for disadvantaged people in Hell's Kitchen. He and Karen Page are back on speaking terms, but are not quite sure about resuming their romantic relationship. In the first episode, he is seen going to confessional and opening up to Father Lantom about how difficult Elektra's death has been on him: |
| 232 | -->'''Father Lantom:''' This other life you led. Is your heart still with it [Daredevil], or is your heart with the one who walked through it by your side?\ |
| 233 | '''Matt:''' Elektra?\ |
| 234 | '''Father Lantom:''' Yeah.\ |
| 235 | '''Matt:''' I do miss her. But how do I know that the things she brought out of me were wrong?\ |
| 236 | '''Father Lanton:''' From what you've told me about her, I think she'd be happy about how well you're doing. \ |
| 237 | '''Matt:''' Maybe. Or maybe she'd tell me I'm abandoning that life and with it, her memory.\ |
| 238 | '''Father Lantom:''' You're not abandoning Elektra, you don't have it in you. What you're doing, we call that 'moving on'. Purgatory is a place for the dead, Matthew, not the living. There's nothing wrong with letting people go. She'll find her peace. I pray you find yours as well. |
| 239 | * HelloAttorney: He's played by the handsome and well-built Charlie Cox, so natch. |
| 240 | * HeroicBastard: His parents weren't married. |
| 241 | * HeterosexualLifePartners: He's been this with Foggy Nelson since their college days, as best friends who start a law firm together and are clearly very close. Unfortunately, their friendship starts to fall apart in Season 2 as a result of the strain caused by Matt's double life, and it remains broken through ''The Defenders'' and the beginning of the third season, even though it's clear that they still do care about each other a lot. Luckily, by the end of Season 3, they've patched things up and are back to being this again. |
| 242 | * HidingTheHandicap: He does this whenever he disguises himself to infiltrate a location, such as when he pretends to be a delivery man to enter the Presidential Hotel in a failed attempt to assassinate Fisk or when he stole Foggy's ID and pretend to be him to enter Ryker's. |
| 243 | * HumanShield: While fighting off the Dogs of Hell, he grabs one of their members and points a revolver in the back of his head to save an old man from being attacked by them. He then knocks him out and reveals that the revolver doesn't have bullets anymore before chuckling and beating the rest of them up. |
| 244 | * HyperAwareness: Comes from his SuperSenses. |
| 245 | * {{Hypocrite}}: He upholds the law in court while breaking it on the streets. He's fully aware of this, but feels that he needs to [[StartXToStopX break the law in order to protect it]]. |
| 246 | * IconicAttributeAdoptionMoment: He doesn't get his iconic red devil costume and billy club from the comics until the final episode of Season 1, where they are treated as a big reveal. |
| 247 | * IKnowYoureInThereSomewhereFight: Realizing that Elektra's been brainwashed after being resurrected, he attempts to remind her of who she is in their subsequent fights. She eventually regains her memories partially because of this. |
| 248 | * TheIdealist: He's very hopeful, some would say naïve, in his vision to improve Hell's Kitchen, especially given that his resources are so limited. |
| 249 | * ImprobableAimingSkills: Normal for the character, though they don't show up until the second season. He procures some billy clubs and bounces them off walls. Sometimes he catches them on the rebound, not too dissimilar to Cap and his shield. He also manages to drop a fire extinguisher on a Russian mafioso's going down the stairs by calculating the precise timing in which he should let go of the extinguisher and managed to stop a microphone thrown by Benjamin Poindexter from hitting Vanessa Marianna by throwing a plate at it. |
| 250 | * ImprovisedWeapon: During his fight with Fisk and Dex in the series finale, he picks up two glass sticks from a fallen chandelier and uses them as makeshift Kali sticks similarly to how he used the wooden sticks or the billy clubs he used in the previous seasons. |
| 251 | * InSeriesNickname: |
| 252 | ** Stick tends to refer to him as "Matty". |
| 253 | ** Frank Castle always calls his alter ego "Red". |
| 254 | ** His alter ego receives several--the Man in Black, the Man in the Mask, the Devil of Hell's Kitchen--before the populace eventually settles on Daredevil. |
| 255 | * IntergenerationalFriendship: With Father Paul Lantom, who's known him since he was a boy and who Matt frequently visits to talk about his life as Daredevil. |
| 256 | * InTheBlood: He remembers his grandma saying that the Murdock boys have the Devil in them, and his father was known for sometimes snapping during boxing matches and looking possessed instead of going down, explaining where Matt's BloodKnight tendencies come from. |
| 257 | * InsistentTerminology: He's ''very'' particular about correctly categorizing his mooks: "Henchmen" [[UndyingLoyalty are true believers]], while "goons" [[OnlyInItForTheMoney are only in it for the money]]. Jen settles the debate with [[BuffySpeak "hench-goons"]]. |
| 258 | * InvulnerableKnuckles: '''Averted.''' His knuckles are constantly bruised from the fights he's had and he or somebody else has to frequently clean and patch them up. |
| 259 | * IWorkAlone: He repeatedly insists he can't be part of a team because it endangers Karen and Foggy. |
| 260 | * JackBauerInterrogationTechnique: Matt regularly beats what he wants to know out of people, sometimes even using more-creative and horrible ways of hurting them than his fists. Fortunately, the primary problem with torture (the victim saying whatever the torturer wants to hear to make it stop) is at least partially countered by being a LivingLieDetector. |
| 261 | * JerkassHasAPoint: Foggy admittedly has some fair points when calling Matt out for his vigilantism, among other lectures Matt was admittedly deserving of. However, the fact that Foggy ''never'' gives Matt a break and made some pretty ''unfair'' accusations made Matt entirely justified in telling Foggy he's sick and tired of apologizing for what he is. |
| 262 | * KillTheLights: A favorite tactic of his while taking on multiple combatants is to disable the lights so they have a hard time seeing him while he's using his SuperReflexes and SuperHearing to its full extent in the dark and taking them out. |
| 263 | * KryptoniteFactor: He depends on his hearing more than his other remaining senses. The enemy who challenges him the most is the Hand, who train to slow their heartbeats and minimize their breathing, and move in almost complete silence. |
| 264 | * TheLeader: Discussed. Stick thinks Matt should lead the Defenders, but Matt doesn't think he's leader material. He becomes something of an unofficial leader in the final episode, as the others ultimately follow his decisions. |
| 265 | * LetsYouAndHimFight: How he and She-Hulk met. Jen gets a panicky call from a client of hers saying he's under attack, and when she arrives finds him being attacked by a guy in a devil costume. She quite naturally comes to the conclusion he's the bad guy and attacks. It's only after she's unmasked 'Devil Guy' as Matt Murdock she learns her client had actually kidnapped the person he'd been up against in court, and Matt was trying to rescue him. |
| 266 | * ALighterShadeOfGrey: Towards the Punisher. He is no angel, but unlike Frank, he has great distaste for killing and almost always tries to outright avoid doing so. |
| 267 | * LightningBruiser: As shown in ''She-Hulk: Attorney at Law'' and ''Echo'', he's become much faster and stronger since we last saw him as he's able to take out thugs more quickly and can even casually dodge and evade hits from ''[[TheBigGuy She-Hulk]]''. |
| 268 | * LivingLieDetector: He's able to figure out if the person he's talking to is lying based on sensing their heartbeat. Foggy is ticked off to learn this years into their friendship, considering it an invasion of privacy. |
| 269 | * TheLostLenore: While he's presumed "dead" following Midland Circle, he becomes one for Karen. |
| 270 | * MadeOfIron: Despite being stabbed, getting a few ribs broken and nearly suffocated, it only takes a short time and some emergency first aid for Matt to recover enough to take on a dozen Russian gangsters armed with guns. Barely. This is the second episode of the first season and it's clear he's about to collapse at the end of that ''awesome'' fight. |
| 271 | * McNinja: Matthew is 100% Caucasian-American and while it's debatable whether the fighting style Stick taught him qualifies as ninjitsu, a lot of what Daredevil is falls under the category of "ninja"; his costume emphasizes practicality (his black suits emphasize maneuverability, while his red suits are for protection), he is not above using his civilian identity or fake identities as disguises (''Hensōjutsu''), he's handy with a bo (Bōjutsu), disarmament (''Jittejutsu''), short-sticks (''Shugijutsu''), throwing weapons (''Shurikenjutsu'') and hand-to-hand (''Jujutsu''), is a master of stealth (''Intonjutsu''), has used weather conditions to his advantage (''Tenmon''), and [[TerrorHero he employs a lot of scare tactics to psychologically intimidate his enemies]]. |
| 272 | * MrFanservice: Not so much in the first season, but there are multiple separate occasions in the second season where he appears in only a pair of boxers, seemingly for no reason at least once. Let's be honest, though, the first season had him shirtless ''a lot''. |
| 273 | * MovieSuperheroesWearBlack: His first outfit is all black (with a bit of red piping), in an {{Homage}} to a costume from Creator/FrankMiller's ''Man Without Fear'' OriginsEpisode. Melvin eventually builds him a red devil costume in the Season 1 finale, though it does sport black armored parts and is generally far darker than the more brightful red of the comic costume. In Season 3, he goes back to the black outfit after his red one was destroyed from the Midland Circle collapse in ''The Defenders''. Then, by the time of ''She-Hulk: Attorney at Law'', he has a new suit made that is red and yellow. |
| 274 | * MuggleAndMagicalLoveTriangle: Has one develop in Season 2, as Matt tries to juggle his newfound romantic feelings for Karen Page while also fighting the Hand with his old college flame, the also Chaste-trained Elektra Natchios. |
| 275 | * MySensorsIndicateYouWantToTapThat: He can pick up on a girl's attraction to him via hearing their heartbeats with his SuperSenses. He manages to pick up on Karen's attraction to him while they were playing pool with this method and does the same to Jennifer Walters while they were planning out how to take out a warehouse full of goons. |
| 276 | * MythologyGag: The recolored version of his red Daredevil suit in ''She-Hulk: Attorney at Law'' is a reference to his first ever outfit in the comics. |
| 277 | * NeckSnap: He does this to a hallucination of Fisk after beating him to a pulp. He was about to do the same thing to the real Fisk in their final battle, but he decides not to go through with it at the last second. |
| 278 | * NiceGuy: One of the main reasons Matt became a vigilante in the first place; he cares a lot about people. |
| 279 | * NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: |
| 280 | ** Frequently inflicts these. Justified, since he's not super-humanly strong like Captain America, and therefore can't knock guys out in one or two punches. Sometimes, however, he inflicts these on people he interrogates and beats people longer than necessary. |
| 281 | ** Comes close to killing Frank after he shoots Grotto and only stops beating him to try and save the latter. |
| 282 | ** Receives them, too, like Fisk nearly killing him ''twice'' in the first season, and also getting shredded by Nobu. Ain't no drama like a superhero drama 'cause a superhero dram won't stop hitting you until you're bones and blodd begging for mercy. |
| 283 | * NonAnswer: When someone throws a brick through a window and he catches it, Peter asks how he did that. His answer: "I'm a really good lawyer." |
| 284 | * TheNoseKnows: Besides sound, he can also locate people and objects by smell, even if they are on the other sides of walls or on different floors of a building. He's also able to tell Eugene Patilio was using jet-fuel for his outfit from across the room. |
| 285 | * NotSoDifferentRemark: |
| 286 | ** A few characters often draw comparisons between him and Fisk due to his willingness to do whatever it takes. |
| 287 | ** Frank Castle says that Matt is only one bad day away from being him. Proven somewhat right in the end, as Matt indeed resorts to lethal force on Nobu after being pushed far enough, even though he isn't the one who ultimately kills him. |
| 288 | * NotSoSimilar: After finding out Benjamin Poindexter's past through the tape he stole from his apartment and comparing it to his own, he ultimately tells Sister Maggie that they're nothing alike because at heart, Dex is an evil psychopath while he himself is not. |
| 289 | * NotSoStoic: |
| 290 | ** When Foggy finds out about his double life, the two have a falling out that reduces Matt to tears. |
| 291 | ** He breaks down crying after admitting to Karen that he can't take down Fisk alone when he and Foggy have a falling out. |
| 292 | ** He cries as [[DiedInYourArmsTonight Elektra dies in his arms]] after getting stabbed by Nobu. |
| 293 | ** Dex killing Father Lantom as a result of the latter getting in his way to stop the former from killing Karen drives him into rage as he starts attacking Dex more brutally and aggressively. |
| 294 | ** Sheds at least one tear when Frank Castle explains "Penny and Dime". |
| 295 | [[/folder]] |
| 296 | |
| 297 | [[folder:O-S]] |
| 298 | * ObfuscatingDisability: He pretends that his abilities are on par with those of most other blind people. In truth, his super-senses and intense training make him capable of feats the vast majority of humans (sighted or blind) couldn't even conceive of attempting. However, this does mean that when people find out about his vigilantism they assume he's faking being blind ''entirely''. |
| 299 | * OffscreenMomentOfAwesome: [[spoiler:Though we sadly don't see it, Matt is able to get every single criminal charge against Peter Parker dismissed during Peter's offscreen trial in ''Film/SpiderManNoWayHome'', which only emphasizes just how good of a lawyer he is. Unfortunately, he's unable to do anything from the court of public opinion, outside of catching a brick thrown through a window.]] |
| 300 | * OnceASeason: If Daredevil is in a show (especially his own), he ''will'' fight in some kind of hallway or narrow corridor once per season. |
| 301 | ** In the second episode of the first season, the signature "Daredevil hallway fight" is established when he raids a human trafficking safehouse held by the Russians. The entire fight is single-take, and from a single camera angle looking straight down the hall. |
| 302 | ** In the second season, he fights in both a hallway ''and'' a staircase against a horde of Dogs of Hell brutes, with one of his fists duct-taped, all the while carrying an unconscious Frank Castle. |
| 303 | ** The third season of his series has arguably the single most impressive version of this: An absolutely breathtaking, single-take ''eleven-minute long tracking shot'' of Matt escaping the prison after Fisk sets up an ambush. To note, there's even a dialogue scene ''without breaking camera.'' |
| 304 | ** In ''The Defenders'', as the group raids the Midland Circle building, the fight is staged very similarly to the hallway fight of ''Daredevil's'' first season. |
| 305 | ** Becomes an outright RunningGag in ''She-Hulk: Attorney At Law'' at this point. As Matt and Jen raid Leap-Frog's Lily Pad, Matt begins his assault in a proper show of badassery in, naturally, a long, dark hallway full of bad guys to beat up. But before he can finish off the rest of the mooks, She-Hulk smashes right down through the ceiling and dispatches the hench-goons instantly, completely stealing his thunder in the process. |
| 306 | * OneManArmy: On the low end. On one hand, enemies ''don't'' immediately go down just because Matt pastes them one. It can take a full minute for him to disable a single grunt. On the other, pretty much anyone -- including most of the world's [[ElitesAreMoreGlamorous most exceptional military operatives]] -- would get ground into hamburger if they tried to take on a dozen healthy, blooded fighters on their own ground with nothing but their bare hands.[[labelnote:*]]Specifically, the only other person in the MCU to pull off a stunt like that was '''''[[Film/{{Thor}} that big blonde alien warrior prince with the magic hammer]].'''''[[/labelnote]] ''Matt can do it with a [[GameBreakingInjury home-stitched stab wound in his side]].'' |
| 307 | * OutsideRide: His first scene as Daredevil in ''She-Hulk: Attorney at Law'' involves him doing this. |
| 308 | * PaletteSwap: The new Daredevil suit he wears in ''She-Hulk: Attorney at Law'' that Luke Jacobson made for him looks a lot like the suit Melvin Potter made for him but with a yellow cowl and all of the black portions recolored into red or yellow. |
| 309 | * ParentalAbandonment: |
| 310 | ** Where his dad made a HeroicSacrifice not fixing a fight he was supposed to fix, Matt's mom's absence is never really explained. His mother finally appears in ''Daredevil'' season 3, though Matt doesn't find out that she's his mother until over halfway through the season. |
| 311 | ** Matt viewed Stick as a father-figure, though he eventually left Matt when he saw that he was getting too attached to Matt. |
| 312 | * ParentalIssues: He has "daddy issues" with both his actual father Jack Murdock and his subsequent father figure Stick, having lost both either to death or from being abandoned. Stick tried to raise him to be coldblooded but suddenly abandoned him when Matt started expressing filial affection; this abandonment and rejection has left Murdock with difficulty forging real emotional connections, despite his determination to not let Stick define him. |
| 313 | * PassingTheTorch: In the finale of ''The Defenders'', he tells Danny to "protect my city" when he attempts to perform a HeroicSacrifice. Danny goes through with it under the belief that Matt had died. |
| 314 | * LeParkour: Complementing his skill at martial arts, Matt is a master ''traceur.'' It serves him well chasing bad guys around the city. |
| 315 | * PercussiveTherapy: Matt wails on some punching bags at Fogwell's when he's frustrated or despondent. There's an implication that it's also why he punches people - he sometimes keeps hitting well after the fight's obviously over or he has the info he needs in an interrogation. |
| 316 | * PermaStubble: Seems to be perpetually befuzzed, regardless of time or day. About only time he's appeared clean-shaven is in a flashback to his college days. |
| 317 | * PistolWhipping: During his signature hallway fight in Season 1, he uses guns as clubs. |
| 318 | * PayEvilUntoEvil: To name one example, his first real act as Daredevil was to beat an abusive father to the point where he spent a month in hospital eating through a straw. |
| 319 | * PositiveFriendInfluence: |
| 320 | ** To Elektra, when his unflinching belief in her goodness keeps her from joining the Hand after being revealed as the Black Sky. |
| 321 | ** To Frank Castle, who, despite choosing to fully embrace his "Punisher" persona in the end, is at least won over enough by Matt's unwavering belief against taking a life to admit that it's not a choice one should make (or at least not if it's not what one believes in) and actually talks Matt out of considering killing the Blacksmith. |
| 322 | ** To Danny Rand, helping mature him from a revenge-driven human weapon into a genuinely altruistic superhero with his HeroicSacrifice at Midland Circle. |
| 323 | ** To Jen Walters, helping her overcome her self-esteem issues and embrace her unique position of helping people as both a motivated and clever lawyer as well as a powerful superhero when the law fails. |
| 324 | * PrecisionGuidedBoomerang: He can ricochet his billy club off of hard surfaces before hitting whatever or whoever target he wants to hit before it bounces off said target back to him. |
| 325 | * PrimaryColorChampion: In ''She-Hulk: Attorney at Law'', his new costume is red and yellow, which are the same colors as his father's boxing robes. |
| 326 | * PurpleIsPowerful: The armored Daredevil suits made for him are purplish-red and provides him a lot of protection that allows him to survive ordeals that would kill a normal human like a shot to the head or a collapsing building. |
| 327 | * ReallyGetsAround: Much like the source material, he's this. Foggy often complains about how frequently he hooks up with beautiful women and assumes that this is often the reason as to why he's constantly unavailable. [[spoiler:At the end of his appearance in ''She-Hulk: Attorney at Law'', he has a one-night stand with the titular character which both of them found very pleasurable. In the Season 1 finale, they appear to be going steady, at least enough for him to meet her parents.]] |
| 328 | * RealMenLoveJesus: Matt struggling with his vigilante activities and his faith in God are a source of drama throughout the seasons. |
| 329 | * RedBaron: The criminals refer to him as the "Man in the Mask" or the "Man in Black". He also gains the title of the "Devil of Hell's Kitchen" from the press, even before he dons the familiar red outfit. By the end of the season, it has morphed to "Daredevil", but the Hand leaders still call him the old "Devil of Hell's Kitchen". |
| 330 | * RedEyesTakeWarning: Invoked. His mask includes red lenses, both to hide his blindness and make him appear more demonic, in order to intimidate the criminals he fights. |
| 331 | * RedIsHeroic: He is a crime-fighting vigilante who wears a red costume. |
| 332 | * ReligiousBruiser: A devout Catholic, he spends a good portion of the series talking to a priest, trying to iron out the moral difficulties in being a vigilante. |
| 333 | * {{Roofhopping}}: This is his primary method of following someone without getting spotted and traversing the city. |
| 334 | * RuleOfSymbolism: Very often, Matt has his glasses off (when in civvies) or his helmet off (when in costume) when he is most vulnerable. Such as when he's admitting to Karen that he'd give anything to see the sky one last time, or during his climactic fight with Elektra during ''The Defenders''. |
| 335 | * RulesLawyer: {{Pun}} aside, he uses a technicality that exists in New York state law to get Healy released and later justifies his climactic fight with Fisk by pointing out that the man is a fugitive and he was conducting a citizen's arrest. |
| 336 | * {{Sadist}}: When interrogating Semyon with Claire, he tells Semyon that part of the reason why he's a vigilante is that he enjoys inflicting pain on people who deserve it. After he's knocked unconscious, Claire strongly disagrees with that sentiment. While Matt most likely said that to intimidate him, Season 2 in particular portrays him as loving the adrenaline and thrill of fighting. |
| 337 | * SanitySlippage: In ''Daredevil'' season 3, he starts hallucinating Fisk and is much more prone to rage. He overcomes it in the end when he decides to spare Fisk after realizing that giving in to his anger and killing Fisk will destroy his character. |
| 338 | * SaveTheVillain: |
| 339 | ** While he initially planned to stop them, Matt saves a bunch of looters from being gunned down by a pawnshop owner. |
| 340 | ** During the final battle of Season 3, he stops Dex from killing Fisk and Vanessa as he needs them both alive to issue his final ultimatum towards Fisk. |
| 341 | * ScrewTheMoneyIHaveRules: Matt convinces Foggy to quit Landman & Zack despite them being guaranteed a lucrative position at the firm because he doesn't want to spend his life protecting guilty corporations. |
| 342 | * SecretIdentity: One of the select few ones in the MCU, and the show goes to great lengths to explain why they are so rare - superheroics are a full-time job, and Matt's life as Daredevil makes his life as a lawyer practically impossible to maintain due to injuries and time. |
| 343 | * SecretKeeper: As of ''Daredevil'' Season 3, he's one of the few people who knows that Karen is James Wesley's killer after Karen admits it to him following his fight with Dex at the Clinton Church. |
| 344 | * SensoryOverload: Due to his SuperSenses, it took training from Stick before he could overcome it, and yet he still suffers from it. He even has silk sheets because cotton feels like sandpaper to him. |
| 345 | * SlasherSmile: Noticeable in Season 2, where he's visibly enjoying many of his fights. |
| 346 | * SmallRoleBigImpact: |
| 347 | ** His appearance in ''Film/SpiderManNoWayHome'' is incredibly important for Peter Parker going forward. Were it not for him representing Peter in court, the webslinger would likely be behind bars for most of the movie. |
| 348 | ** In ''Echo'', Daredevil only appears in the very first episode to take down some of Fisk's goons, but his fight with Maya Lopez cements Wilson Fisk's faith that Maya will be a valuable asset to his organization. |
| 349 | * SmallStepsHero: Many characters note that he really didn't have a big picture in mind when he first started putting on the mask. He just wanted to start punching bad guys until the world was fixed. |
| 350 | * StealthHiBye: More than half the time, Matt's appearances among the bad guys (and sometimes the good guys) come with him just ''appearing'' in a spot he wasn't standing in a moment ago when the camera panned away. |
| 351 | * StepIntoTheBlindingFight: A common advantage that he uses while fighting several opponents is to KillTheLights so he has a much easier time taking them on because they can't see in the dark while he can use his super senses to detect them and take them out one-by-one. |
| 352 | * StockSuperheroDayJobs: He works as a lawyer when he's not Daredevil and he uses his position as one to help his vigilantism as Daredevil and vice-versa. |
| 353 | * TheStoic: Compared with Foggy, he's quite collected and soft-spoken. |
| 354 | * SuicideByCop: An inversion, Suicide by Criminal. At the beginning of ''Daredevil'' season 3 he tries to go out and fight crime like normal before he's fully recovered from Midland Circle, and gets his ass kicked by some thugs in the process. Already suffering from an existential crisis, in his despair he offers himself up for the thugs to kill, but they are chased off by the police. |
| 355 | * SunglassesAtNight: Wears sunglasses during the day and at night, [[JustifiedTrope because he's blind.]] |
| 356 | * SuperHeroOrigin: The ColdOpen shows him getting chemicals splashed in his eyes as a kid, which granted him heightened senses. |
| 357 | * SuperHearing: He can clearly hear conversations, heartbeats and even breaths from several meters. He was able to hear and memorize the sound of James Wesley's watch ticking, and hear Claire's bones shifting as she breathed. |
| 358 | ** He can focus on what he hears; in a crowded courtroom with the judge speaking, he heard a juror's heartbeat accelerate when James Wesley entered the room. If he focuses hard enough, he can take it up a notch by distinguishing distinct sounds and voices - whilst on top of a building surrounded by busy streets - to detect one specific vehicle full of hostages. |
| 359 | ** Hearing the changes in people's heartbeats allows him to predict how they feel and what actions they'll take, such as attack or run. He was also able to memorize the pattern of Wesley's watch so he could follow the latter. |
| 360 | ** When forced to improvise while fighting extremely stealthy Hand ninjas, he was able to effectively keep track of their movements by listening to their breaths and the sound of their swords cutting through the air. |
| 361 | ** His hearing also makes him an adept thief, as he was able to skillfully bypass Benjamin Poindexter's combination safe. |
| 362 | ** Jennifer Walters aka She-Hulk explicitly refers to his powers as "echolocation", a term Matt almost never used to describe them in the show and seems to consider an oversimplification, [[DistinctionWithoutADifference even though it is for all intents and purposes indistinguishable from it.]] |
| 363 | * SuperReflexes: His sense of balance is superhuman, giving him excellent equilibrium, coordination, dexterity, reflexes, and agility, resulting in high levels of acrobatic and gymnastic ability. His dexterity and reflexes were enhanced even before his training with Stick, as he could effortlessly catch keys thrown to him while hearing the sound they made. He can instinctively react to oncoming blows nearly effortlessly with the use of his other senses, such as avoiding attacks with a sharp weapon at close quarters by hearing the noise of its approach. |
| 364 | ** During his cameo in ''Film/SpiderManNoWayHome'', he's able to catch a brick intended for Peter Parker before Peter can [[OffhandBackhand without looking at it or even getting up from his chair]]. Whilst the brick would have to pass Matt to reach Peter, it ''does'' demonstrate that Matt's reflexes are on-par with those of Spider-Man. When asked how he did that, he only replies that [[NonAnswer he's a]] ''[[NonAnswer very]]'' [[NonAnswer good lawyer]]. |
| 365 | * SuperSenses: Though he's blind, all his other senses are heightened, to the point that he can detect slight changes in air pressure or temperature and track by scent and sound. This is his main asset to the Defenders, who rely on him to monitor unknown territory for enemies. |
| 366 | ** He knows when there's an open wound by tasting copper in the air, he can identify the sounds of fractures, and he has "X-Ray fingers" that can analyze the extent of an injury. |
| 367 | ** He's also a LivingLieDetector who can monitor a person's heartbeat to see if they are lying. |
| 368 | ** In the ''Defenders'' he also states he can "hear neon" as in the neon lights, much to Luke's confusion. |
| 369 | * SupermanStaysOutOfGotham: |
| 370 | ** A variant, as he and Jessica Jones actually cover the same neighborhood, but she still doesn't want him involved in her fight against Kilgrave out of fear that he'd only provide another mind-controlled superhero. This is ironic since in the comics, Kilgrave started as a Daredevil villain and Matt's heightened senses rendered him immune to Kilgrave. |
| 371 | ** In Season 3, Fisk pretty much takes over the NYPD and the involved FBI offices. He becomes so dangerous, that even Daredevil plots to just straight-up kill him. Yet, he decides not to reach out to Frank Castle who would be ecstatic over this type of scenario. |
| 372 | * SuperWindowJump: |
| 373 | ** After defeating Nobu and then getting beaten up by Fisk afterwards, he escapes James Wesley's attempt on his life by jumping out the window and landing into the ocean. |
| 374 | ** In the Season 2 finale, he makes his entrance to save Karen and a bunch of hostages by jumping through the window and taking down multiple Hand ninjas in the room. |
| 375 | * SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: Thanks to his enhanced senses, Matt's blindness doesn't slow him down in the least when it comes to crime-fighting. However, he is still unable to perform simple actions such as reading text on paper or viewing things on screens. For example, after finding the blueprints for Midland Circle, he needs Jessica to describe them to him. |
| 376 | * SwissArmyWeapon: Matt can split his billy clubs into two and [[DualWielding use it as eskrima sticks]], [[BifurcatedWeapon combine it to make a short staff]], [[PrecisionGuidedBoomerang use it as a projectile]] than can return to him via ricocheting or through its steel fiber cable, use said steel fiber cable as a [[GrapplingHookGun grappling line]] to climb buildings or to ''strangle people'', or simply use it to turn his clubs into nunchakus. |
| 377 | [[/folder]] |
| 378 | |
| 379 | [[folder:T-Y]] |
| 380 | * TakeUpMySword: His last words to Danny before he stays behind to try to redeem Elektra before they're both seemingly killed is to tell him to protect New York. |
| 381 | * TalentedButTrained: Stick calls him one of the most naturally talented fighters he has ever known, and Matt doesn't let his talent go to waste and trains to improve his skills. If he has no cases on his plate, he goes training in the gym wailing at a punching bag or meditating. |
| 382 | * TeamMemberInTheAdaptation: Daredevil was never a team member of ''ComicBook/TheDefenders'' in the comics, a highly different team from the MCU-version where Daredevil was a founding member. However, after the show came out, a new team called the Defenders was introduced to the comics, including Daredevil. |
| 383 | * TheTeamNormal: While he does have heightened senses, he's the most "normal" out of all of the Defenders, not possessing enhanced physical attributes like all of the others do. There's also the fact his SuperSenses are there to [[DisabilityNegatingSuperpower compensate for]] [[HandicappedBadass his lack of sight]] to begin with and he otherwise FightsLikeANormal. |
| 384 | * TechnicalPacifist: He [[ThouShaltNotKill won't kill]] if he can avoid it, but uses a lot of violence against enemies, [[BloodKnight and even enjoys it]]. |
| 385 | * TeethClenchedTeamwork: Somewhat with Elektra. While she pisses him off to no end, it's pretty obvious that he enjoys working with her, going by the constant smile he keeps fighting. It's also shown that even with Karen and him beginning a relationship, Matt still has lingering feelings for Elektra. |
| 386 | * TerrorHero: He plans to clean up crime by inflicting violence to keep criminals in fear of him. His [[BigRedDevil second costume]] in particular evokes a demon. |
| 387 | * ThatManIsDead: Subverted. After his near-death experience in ''The Defenders'', he plans to abandon his civilian identity for good and to fully concentrete on bringing Kingpin down as Daredevil. He tells his best friend Foggy as such early in season 3. However, over the course of the season he learns he can only overcome his enemy by being both Matt and Daredevil. |
| 388 | -->'''Matt:''' I'm not back. Matt Murdock isn't gonna be a part of me anymore. I'm leaving him behind. |
| 389 | * ThirdActStupidity: Suffers from this in ''Daredevil'' season 3, while facing off against Dex. Matt never thinks to add head protection regardless of how many times a thrown object hits him in the face. He gets Muay Thai wraps for his fists though. |
| 390 | * ThouShaltNotKill: |
| 391 | ** The first protagonist in the MCU who hasn't killed anyone directly and makes a point of not doing so, despite his large number of anti-heroic traits. Though after the murder of Mrs. Cardenas, he was actually planning on murdering Fisk and ultimately attempts to defy this by shoving Nobu off a roof, though this doesn't end up being how Nobu dies. |
| 392 | ** In Season 2, both Frank and Elektra shake his standing on this, and when Elektra is almost fatally injured after Matt distracts her by preventing her from killing he stops saying anything about it to her during fights. When Nobu kills Elektra, he stops caring about the fact that Frank is sniping the ninjas around him, and even throws Nobu himself off a roof. Although once again, Nobu lives through it... until Stick got him. |
| 393 | ** For most of Season 3, he's fully planning to avert this and kill Fisk when he gets the chance, feeling it's the only way to stop him. So far throughout the season, he unveils a much more brutal fighting style than we've seen previously out of him and appears much laxer with following this rule in extenuating circumstances, such as when he directs Nadeem to fire at several dirty cops, and listening for their heartbeats to know where they are. In the end, though, he's unable to go through with it and decides that Fisk doesn't get to destroy who he is, choosing to send him back to prison instead and playing this trope straight once more. |
| 394 | * ThreePointLanding: In ''She-Hulk: Attorney at Law'', he does this after climbing down and jumping out of a parking lot to catch up to Leap-Frog's car. This is also how he drops in on the final episode. |
| 395 | * ThrowingYourGunAtTheEnemy: |
| 396 | ** During his fight with a group of Russians, he steals a handgun from one of them, releases the magazine, tosses it at one mook, [[PistolWhipping pistol-whips]] another, before finally throwing the handgun at yet another mook. |
| 397 | ** He does it again in Season 2 while fighting Hand henchmen in a rail yard. He picks up one of their sub machine guns and throws it at another henchman's head. |
| 398 | ** While stopping a pawnshop owner from killing a bunch of looters in ''The Defenders'', he picks up his shotgun and throws it at another armed pawnshop owner to knock him down and incapacitate him. |
| 399 | * TimeShiftedActor: Skylar Gaertner plays him as a child during flashbacks while Charlie Cox plays him as an adult for the entire series. |
| 400 | * TogetherInDeath: He attempts this with Elektra at the end of ''The Defenders'', planning to fight and redeem her in order to make sure that she doesn't get out of Midland Circle when it explodes. It's subverted when he manages to survive while what happened to Elektra is [[UncertainDoom ambiguous.]] |
| 401 | * TookALevelInBadass: |
| 402 | ** By Season 2, he has better equipment and can now fight people who can mask their heartbeat easier than with his fight with Nobu. His multiple fights with Nobu in Season 2 shows that Matt is close to his level if not on par, with the fights going one way or the other instead of being completely one-sided. |
| 403 | ** In ''She-Hulk: Attorney at Law'', he's fully recovered from the injuries he sustained from Midland Circle and has improved his acrobatic skills to the point where he can evade and dodge attacks from the titular character, who's a ''much'' faster LightningBruiser than Fisk, and he can curbstomp several thugs easily in contrast to him visibly struggling and putting more effort in doing so on his own series. |
| 404 | * TookALevelInCheerfulness: In ''She-Hulk: Attorney at Law'', he's a lot more lighthearted and optimistic than he was before. It's surprisingly even more visible when he's being Daredevil, in contrast to his more angsty and brooding demeanor as the persona in his own series. |
| 405 | * TookALevelInCynic: Following his experiences in the first two seasons and ''The Defenders'', Season 3 has Matt suffering a crisis of faith, planning to cut ties completely with Karen and Foggy and even deciding to abandon his no-kill rule to stop Fisk once and for all. Thankfully, he gets better by the end of the season, after he reconnects with his friends, regains his faith and successfully ends Fisk's schemes without killing him. |
| 406 | * TookALevelInJerkass: Following the defeat of Fisk in Season 1, Matt becomes more brash and overconfident in his abilities as Daredevil throughout Season 2, neglecting his duties to Foggy and Karen as he spends more and more time with Elektra. The firm's collapse and his meeting with an incarcerated but still very dangerous Fisk help to snap him out of his hubris, leading to the humbling journey he takes throughout Season 3. By ''She-Hulk'', he has come full circle and has [[TookALevelInKindness Retaken A Level In Kindness]]. |
| 407 | * TragicHero: Matt is a troubled individual with much internal struggle with his morals, but he's a good man who's dedicated to protecting his city. However, his devotion to the cause has often alienated him from those close to him and he's constantly driven to the edge. He's been beaten down and put through more misery by his enemies than most of the core Avengers, but he always stands strong, believing God will show him the way. |
| 408 | * TranquilFury: It's clear he holds down a reserve of intense rage, but he keeps it firmly lidded.[[RageBreakingPoint Until he doesn't]]. |
| 409 | * TrespassingToTalk: He breaks into Ray Nadeem's basement to inform him that the Daredevil who attacked the Bulletin is an impostor and that the impostor is in the FBI's ranks. |
| 410 | * TripleShifter: Matt works during the day as a lawyer and spends his nights as a vigilante. This catches up with him in Season 2 when he has Frank Castle's trial and his battles with the Hand at the same time. He oversleeps and is late for opening statements and later his injuries mean that he cannot show up to court at all. Foggy has to take over the case and by the end of the season, Matt's reputation as a lawyer is in tatters. |
| 411 | * TroubledButCute: He's a handsome and athletic man who has abandonment issues as a result of being an orphan at a young age and being abandoned by his mentor and often suffers because of the toll the life of a vigilante has on him and his loved ones. |
| 412 | * UncertainDoom: Like many other characters whose focus waned after their respective series ended, Matt's status during the Blip was an unknown. [[spoiler:''Echo'' confirms that he survived the snap, and became active once more as Daredevil during those five years as he and Fisk were at each other's throats once again.]] |
| 413 | * UnstoppableRage: Matt's friendly and largely calm exterior masks deep, seething anger that turns him into a whirling dervish whenever he hits his RageBreakingPoint. When this happens, he'll tear through everyone in front of him and the last opponent will be beaten to within an inch of their life until he's gotten the last of his anger out. This is a well-known family trait (his father would use his rage to pummel boxing opponents) and the people of Hell's Kitchen would all say that the Murdock boys have the devil in them. |
| 414 | * UrbanLegendLoveLife: The closest thing to an intimate relationship is the one Matt begins to form with Karen in Season 2, yet until he learns the truth about Matt's nighttime pastime, Foggy always assumes Matt is busy with a girl, has a spare phone for them, etc. Though, Season 2 does show his past relationship with Elektra, which does shed some light as to why Foggy would assume this about Matt. |
| 415 | * UseTheirOwnWeaponAgainstThem: Matt frequently disarms his opponents of their firearms and either [[PistolWhipping hits them with it]] or [[ThrowingYourGunAtTheEnemy throws it at them]]. |
| 416 | * VigilanteMan: His whole MO as Daredevil. He hunts down and beats up criminals in the night to protect Hell's Kitchen. Foggy even labels him a vigilante in "Nelson v. Murdock" when he finds out about his double life as Daredevil. |
| 417 | * WeakButSkilled: Compared to Jessica Jones and Luke Cage, Matt lacks SuperStrength or endurance and has a tougher time against multiple opponents. However, he is by far the most skilled in combat, training in a variety of styles such as Boxing, Wrestling, Judo, Taekwondo, Muay Thai, Aikido, Capoeira, Wushu, Kung Fu and Brazilian jiu-jitsu, with his heavy experience in fighting and decades of training more than making up for what he lacks in raw power. |
| 418 | * WellIntentionedExtremist: Matt fears that he could become a worse criminal than those he targets in his crime-fighting career, and Frank Castle and Elektra challenge that belief. |
| 419 | * WhatTheHellHero: A ''lot''. It's pretty good for reconciling the hero's survival despite some of the odds he faces. Without these moments, the fact that he's still alive would be a persisting head-scratcher. |
| 420 | ** Foggy calls him out at first for keeping his abilities and identity as Daredevil a secret. And just for being Daredevil in general and fighting outside the law. |
| 421 | ** And again for not letting him know what he was doing with Elektra during the Frank Castle case. |
| 422 | ** The other Defenders call him out for not letting them know about his past with Elektra, the woman who was trying to kill them the whole time. |
| 423 | ** This biggest one though, is probably hitting Dex's berserk button and sicking him on Fisk's wedding. By this point, it's pretty impossible for Daredevil to guarantee people won't die because of this, and he doesn't really care. |
| 424 | * WhatYouAreInTheDark: |
| 425 | ** After Nobu kills Elektra, Matt tosses him off the roof of the building they're on in an attempt to kill him, seemingly proving that if pushed enough, Matt ''will'' break his ThouShaltNotKill rule. However, when he has Fisk at his mercy by the end of Season 3, he ultimately decides not to kill him and let him face justice. |
| 426 | ** Late in Season 3, he manages to break into Fisk's heavily-guarded hotel suite and has the perfect opportunity to assassinate him when he gets back. When he finds out that Fisk has located Karen and is going ti have her killed, however, he gives this opportunity up and goes to save her without hesitating. This shows that he cares way more about protecting the people he cares about more than stopping his enemies. |
| 427 | * WhoAreYou: When he confronts the man who attacked the ''Bulletin'', Benjamin Poindexter, he asks him this question before they start fighting: |
| 428 | -->'''Matt:''' Who are you?\ |
| 429 | '''Dex:''' [[EvilKnockoff I'm Daredevil.]] |
| 430 | * WithMyHandsTied: Cuff his hands behind his back, he'll kick your ass while cuffed, ''then'' get free. |
| 431 | * WorfHadTheFlu: His losses against Benjamin Poindexter in Season 3 can be attributed to him still recovering from the severe injuries he suffered from the Midland Circle collapsing on him. He's not as strong, acrobatic, and resilient as he used to be as a result of these injuries and thus it only takes a few hits for Poindexter to overpower and dominate him in a fight. If Matt was in top shape during these fights, he would've flattened Dex easily. |
| 432 | * WorkingClassHero: He comes from a working-class background and mostly handles ''pro bono'' legal work for disadvantaged people in Hell's Kitchen who can't afford the higher-priced firms. |
| 433 | * WorkingWithTheEx: He and Elektra work together in Season 2 to investigate the Yakuza. In Season 3, he and Karen work together in taking down Wilson Fisk. |
| 434 | * WouldntHurtAChild: And he absolutely despises people that do. |
| 435 | * WrestlerInAllOfUs: He often uses wrestling moves such as suplexes and dropkicks in combat. |
| 436 | * YouKilledMyFather: Subverted since, despite Elektra's encouragement to do so, Matt cannot bring himself to kill his father's murderer Roscoe Sweeney, and chooses to hand him over to the NYPD. |
| 437 | * YoureInsane: He says this to Frank Castle because of his murderous crusade on crime. Frank, who takes being called this ''[[BerserkButton very]]'' [[BerserkButton personally]], knocks him out cold. |
| 438 | [[/folder]] |
| 439 | |
| 440 | !!Variants |
| 441 | [[folder:Your Friendly Neighborhood Matt Murdock]] |
| 442 | !!''Matthew Michael Murdock / ComicBook/{{Daredevil}}'' |
| 443 | [[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/3777ca3d_ff8e_4ad4_a327_59c13297174c.jpeg]] |
| 444 | !!!'''Species:''' Enhanced human |
| 445 | !!!'''Citizenship:''' American |
| 446 | !!!'''Voiced By:''' Creator/CharlieCox |
| 447 | !!!'''Appearances:''' ''Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man'' |
| 448 | |
| 449 | A Variant of Daredevil who encounters a version of Spider-Man being mentored by Norman Osborn. |
| 450 | ---- |
| 451 | * AdaptationalRelationshipOverhaul: In the main universe, Spider-Man never encountered Matt as Daredevil and the two only interacted once onscreen. They will also meet with Peter still having a secret identity known only to a few people. |
| 452 | * CompositeCharacter: His suit is based on his red costume but with the black color scheme of his homemade costume. |
| 453 | * MythologyGag: His suit looks similar to his ComicBook/{{Shadowland}} suit in the comics. |
| 454 | * RedEyesTakeWarning: They're much more pronounced due to being much brighter and his cowl being black instead of red. |
| 455 | * TronLines: He has red lines on his black suit. |
| 456 | [[/folder]] |
| 457 | ---- |
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