Line #25 ComicBook/DaredevilMarkWaid


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/daredevil_vol_3_1.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:Back to basics.]]
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4	''Daredevil'' is a 2011 superhero comic book series from Creator/MarvelComics. It is the third series to use the ''ComicBook/{{Daredevil}}'' title.
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6	From 1998 to 2011, ComicBook/{{Daredevil}} had gone to some pretty dark places. The book had sent Matt Murdock through hell ''over and over again''. So Creator/MarkWaid thought it was time for it to become a bit more fun, so when it was relaunched in volume 3, Waid and artists Marcos Martin, Paolo River, Javier Rodriguez, and Chris Samnee returned the character to his more "swashbuckling" persona.
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8	Which wasn't to say that the book couldn't get dark: it could and it did. At one point, Matt's father's remains are dug out by the Mole Man and Matt thinks he's going crazy. During one crossover with Spider-Man and the Punisher, Daredevil protects a MacGuffin called the Omegadrive from being taken by Black Spectre and other evil organizations. But the book also introduced Kirsten [=McDuffie=], a new ADA who teases Matt about being Daredevil, and really fun moments like Matt entering a Christmas party with a sweater proclaiming "I Am Not Daredevil."
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10	Matt is eventually beaten by a new villain, Ikari, who has all of Matt's powers, but isn't blind. Defeating Ikari and Lady Bullseye, Matt and Foggy realize the real villain behind everything is Bullseye, who has become completely paralyzed and is seeking revenge against Matt. Even after defeating Bullseye, Matt still feels the pull of hopelessness and Waid finally gives him a reason: he has UsefulNotes/{{depression}}. Meanwhile, Foggy himself is diagnosed with cancer and begins treatment.
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12	Eventually, in order to stop the Sons of the Serpent from taking over the city's law enforcement, Matt goes on the witness stand and reveals to the entire world that yes, he really ''is'' Daredevil. Disbarred from practicing law in New York, Matt decides that he'll go to the one city where he previously practiced law: San Francisco.
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14	Relaunched again, ''Daredevil'' vol 4, by Waid and Chris Samnee, saw Matt, Foggy, and Kirsten living in San Francisco, with Foggy getting cancer treatments until he has to fake his own death (again). Matt has trouble when confronted with the Purple Children, the children of the Purple Man, who stir up his depression again, but manages to work on it with Kirsten's help. Matt then decides to write and sell his autobiography to Kirsten's father, but this was interrupted by the Owl, who had gained new powers. Defeating the Owl and outsmarting the Kingpin (again), Matt returned to his friends as [[ComicBook/SecretWars2015 the world turned white]].
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16	----
17	!!Tropes in Mark Waid's ''Daredevil'' run:
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19	* AlwaysSomeoneBetter: [[spoiler:Ikari, Daredevil's EvilCounterpart, is played as this, as a heavily skilled and similarly empowered mook of Bullseye who has the ability to see. During each fight, Ikari brutalizes Matt, despite Matt's years of training and experience, and is only defeated by outside forces and later killed offscreen entirely.]]
20	* AndIMustScream: The ultimate fate of Bullseye in #27. After a demonically possessed Daredevil killed Bullseye in ''ComicBook/{{Shadowland}}'', Lady Bullseye manages to resurrect him, but he's completely paralyzed, has lost all his senses except his eyesight, and needs to be placed in an iron lung. Bullseye comes up with a rather elaborate plot to torment Daredevil and ultimately kill him. He fails and in the process loses his sense of sight. One of the most vicious, psychotic, and frightening villains in the Marvel Universe is now, in the words of Daredevil, "a living brain in a flesh and bone coffin."
21	* ConstantlyChangingName: A RunningGag is that Kristie keeps changing the name on the door of the law firm every time it appears.
22	* ContinuityOverlap: Waid and Samnee's ''Daredevil'' ran parallel to the then-current Marvel Universe (2011-2015) and acknowledges and/or is affected by developments in other books:
23	** ''ComicBook/FearItself'': Waid's run opens in the aftermath of the event and the death of [[spoiler: Bucky Barnes. This actually ends up being a plot point when Captain America tries to bring Matt in for ''Shadowland''. Matt deduces Steve's uncharacteristic anger is less about ''Shadowland'' and more about Steve projecting his guilt and anger over Bucky's trial (in Ed Brubaker's run) and death onto Daredevil.]]
24	** Greg Rucka's ''Punisher'': The Rucka-era Frank intersects with Matt during the ''Omega Effect'' crossover.
25	** ''ComicBook/SuperiorSpiderMan'': Otto Ocatavius-as-Peter shows up partway through the 2011 volume.
26	** ''ComicBook/OriginalSin'': The 2014 volume ties into the event, using the Watcher's visions to advance Matt's character arc as he finally discovers [[spoiler:why Maggie Murdock really left Jack when Matt was still a baby]].
27	* DeathByOriginStory: Issue #11 mocks this trope. Daredevil delivers a TheReasonYouSuckSpeech to ComicBook/ThePunisher's female partner, shooting down her contention that heroes can only be driven by the deaths of their loved ones. Given the popular trend toward heroes being defined by tragedy, Daredevil's comments seem downright ''meta''.
28	* DisabilitySuperpower: The run plays around with the limitations of Daredevil's "vision". While his sense can allow him to perceive shapes around him, it's still nearly impossible for him to perceive color or other visual details (for instance, someone holding up a tablet with the image of the Jester's public identity, he can make out the shape of the tablet, but can't see what's on the screen.) In another issue, while pursuing the Mole Man into Subterrania, he moves through what he perceives to be an empty tunnel. The first panel shows his surroundings through the eyes of his radar sense. The next panel shows what his surroundings as normal where the bumpy-looking walls are actually hundreds of gigantic creatures remaining perfectly still, watching Matt pass.[[note]]This seems to ignore that Matt's previously been shown to have acute enough hearing that he can detect living beings just by their heartbeats.[[/note]] Thankfully, none of them attack him. He also has had trouble fighting undead opponents, as their body temperatures are typically low enough that he can't sense their body heat and they lack a heartbeat for him to hear. Matt also gets in serious trouble when he encounters Ikari, an assassin who [[EvilCounterpart has the same powerset as him]] [[spoiler:sans blindness]].
29	* ILetGwenStacyDie: In issue #11, Daredevil [[TakeThat rather conspicuously]] calls out ComicBook/ThePunisher's partner Cole for believing in this trope -- there are millions of cops and firefighters who simply want to do what's right, and claiming that they aren't as driven as someone with a dead loved one is a "vomitous insult".
30	* KarmaHoudini: Professor Leopold York in the issue #12 flashback. Matt and Foggy successfully prove he tried to frame the latter for plagiarism (to get him expelled). As York's tenured, however, nothing comes of it beyond a quiet apology for the 'misunderstanding' from Columbia. The only consolation is York leaves both of them alone for the rest of their education and allows Foggy to pass (albeit while still taking one last petty potshot at Foggy on his way out the door).
31	* LighterAndSofter: Mark Waid accepted the offer to write ''Daredevil'' on the condition that he could move the series away from the overwhelming bleakness that had dominated the character for the better part of thirty years. Surprisingly, the results have been rather successful.
32	* LosingYourHead: One arc has Daredevil break up a {{human traffick\|ers}}ing ring with the twist that the lynchpin is a new villain named Coyote who has replicated [[ThinkingUpPortals the Spot's powers]]. Coyote uses special collars with his portal abilities to indefinitely separate peoples' bodies from their heads, keeping them on shelves in a room, the disorientation and horror of the situation making them compliant laborers for various illicit operations.
33	* NebulousEvilOrganisation: The second arc of the Mark Waid series involves Black Spectre and rival organizations AIM, Hydra, the Secret Empire, and Agence Byzantine all gunning for DD's head.
34	* NotSoHarmlessVillain: The run does this with the Jester. For years, he was nothing more than a C-list [[PracticallyJoker Joker knockoff]] who no one took seriously, in-universe or out. Now he is a diabolical mastermind with a love of chaos and a need to make Matt's life hell. It culminates in him cheerfully crossing the MoralEventHorizon when he [[spoiler:makes Foggy Nelson hang himself just to spite Matt]].
35	* ObfuscatingDisability: A possibly unintentional example. [[spoiler:Daredevil assumes that his EvilCounterpart Ikari has the same disability as him because of having the same SuperSenses. Ikari ends the illusion when he suggests that Daredevil grab a ''red'' bat to use as a weapon, at which point Daredevil [[OhCrap realizes he's screwed]].]]
36	* OneDialogueTwoConversations: In issue #17, a flashback to the early days of their law office shows Matt and Foggy having a spat about the division of workload. Foggy accidentally makes an insensitive remark about sight and apologizes, but artwork implies that Matt's retort to this was actually obliquely referring to his double life as Daredevil.
37	* OpenSecret: As of Mark Waid's run, virtually everyone suspects Matt is Daredevil -- forcing him to play the bumbling blind man in an attempt to throw people off his scent. It hasn't been working too well, and Matt's career is in danger.
38	* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Daredevil delivers one in issue #11 to Rachel Cole (as well as anyone who believes that TrueArtIsAngsty), as documented in the ShutUpHannibal entry below.
39	* RequiredSecondaryPowers: Bruiser can shift his center of mass to make himself super-strong or make it difficult for Daredevil to flip him. Using his radar sense, Matt can detect that Bruiser's body can't handle the changes to his body made by the power, so he concentrates on one shattering bone and hits it, escaping from Bruiser.
40	* RunningGag: "I'm not Daredevil."
41	* SaveTheVillain: Daredevil saves Bullseye from drowning in radioactive chemicals in the latter's latest appearance. However, he is left a prisoner in his own body due to the injuries that accumulated over time.
42	* ShutUpHannibal: Daredevil pulls off a lovely one against Cole, a female protege of ComicBook/ThePunisher. Also a TakeThat against the DarkerAndEdgier school of comic book storytelling.
43	-->'''Cole:''' You know what gives me the strength? My ''[[DeathByOriginStory loss]]''. We're alike that way, I imagine. Admit it, ''nobody'' who's a stranger to that particular pain could ''ever'' be as driven as us.\
44	'''Daredevil:''' ''Never''... ''[throws his staff at her face, purposefully missing it by mere ''millimeters'']'' ...Don't you ''ever'' say that to me ever again, that is a ''repellent'' statement, it's a ''vomituous insult'' to every cop, every ''fireman'', every soldier ''alive'' who steps up to fight for those who can't! ''[points finger] [[SincerityMode I am sorry]]'' [[SincerityMode for your]] ''[[SincerityMode loss]]'', [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech but if you]] ''[[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech genuinely believe]]'' that only the ''death'' of a ''loved one'' can motivate a human being to take up a ''cause''...then get your ''pathetic cynical [[PrecisionFStrike ass]]'' out of my ''way'' so ''I can do my job''!
45	* SignificantWardrobeShift: During the San Francisco run, without his secret identity, Matt decides to discard his regular costume for a completely red three-piece suit, but he goes back to the classic costume in the end.
46	* SillyRabbitCynicismIsForLosers: In issue #11, Matt encounters a female protégé of the Punisher (who lost her fiancé) and tries to sympathize with her by bringing up heroes who also lost loved ones. However, when she says that nobody can be as driven as her and Matt without a tragedy, he ultimately throws his billy club at her face, and gives a speech stating that the idea that you need a tragic event to fight for justice is ludicrous.
47	* SuddenlyEthnicity: Done deliberately. Daredevil finds out that the NYPD has been infiltrated by members of the white supremacist group the Sons of the Serpent, and thus realizes that any of the cops in the courthouse with him could be one of them. One of the officers is a young woman in a pair of CoolShades, who eventually removes them [[TheReveal to reveal]] that she's Asian-American. This then assures the reader that there's no way she could be one of the Serpents.
48	* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome:
49	** After Bendis and Brubaker mostly danced around it during their runs, Waid explicitly confronts the impact of Matt's outing on Nelson and Murdock's caseloads. The question of whether Matt's a vigilante or not is tainting their cases and they keep getting hit with repeated mistrials thanks to stunts from prosecutors or opposing attorneys. It's what forces Foggy and Matt to adjust their business model to now serve as legal/self-representation consultants.
50	** The aftermath of the Coyote incident. While Matt's vindicated that he was being gaslighted and set up, it does ''not'' automatically heal the rift Coyote caused between him and Foggy. Foggy said and did things to Matt that can't easily be taken back (and likewise, Foggy's arguments about Matt's mental health ''aren't'' entirely wrong). Of course, Foggy's anger and behavior were also being influenced by the likely impending cancer diagnosis.
51	* TakeThatAudience: When the Punisher's new apprentice is cornered by Hornhead, she gives a small rant about how the only people who are actually serious about being heroes are those who've suffered tragedy. DD chews her out and gives a long rant about how he finds this line of thinking disgusting as, while he himself ''has'' suffered tragedy (in fact, probably more tragedy than any other character in comics), he finds the idea that doctors, police officers, fire fighters, and heroes who are heroes because they want to do good are somehow not as heroic as he is just plain disrespectful and appalling to think. It's almost definitely an AuthorFilibuster aimed at fans who think that the only interesting heroes are the DarkerAndEdgier, angsty, miserable sort, which is a line of thinking that Creator/MarkWaid is well-known for hating with a passion, but the speech is still pretty awesome and befitting Daredevil's character.
52	* TheTopicOfCancer: In the second half of the run, Matt discovers that Foggy has cancer. Complicating matters is right around this time Matt has gone public with his identity, so people know he's a friend of Daredevil, which means that if he checks into a hospital to try and have it treated, any villain who wants to settle the score with Daredevil could target him. This forces Matt to [[DeathFakedForYou fake Foggy's death]] while he undergoes treatment in secret.
53	* VoiceWithAnInternetConnection: Parodied. Kirsten provides directions to Matt over an earpiece as he's getting re-adjusted to San Fransisco's geography. However, when he starts asking for the sort of hyper-detailed information that the trope can usually supply, she flatly tells him that she's getting all her info from Google Maps.
54	* WhamEpisode: Issue #36 ends with [[spoiler:the New York Bar Association reluctantly disbarring Matt for previous perjury (i.e., denying being Daredevil on record) and the questionable ethics and legality of his vigilantism. As Kristen points out, it's nearly impossible to get onto another state's bar unless you've practiced law there before... and Matt ''did'' previously work in San Francisco, California, prompting a move]].
55	* WhamLine: "Try the red one". [[spoiler:Matt had assumed Ikari was blind like him until this moment.]]

Context ComicBook / DaredevilMarkWaid