Spotlight: Lawyer by Day, Vigilante by Night

Happy National Superhero Day!

In honor of today being a day to celebrate all of our heroes (as well as our own personal heroes), I thought I could spotlight one of my favorites who doesn’t get enough love.

One of my all time favorite heroes is Daredevil.

Art by Marco Checchetto. (Marvel Comics)

Matt Murdock grew up in the neighborhood of Hell’s Kitchen with his dad who was a boxer.

As a child, Matt Murdock saw an old blind man crossing the street at the same time a truck was speeding towards him.

Matt saved the old man, meanwhile some radioactive liquid fell from the truck and into his eyes.

This caused him to go blind but all his remain senses were heightened.

Soon after, Murdock met with blind martial arts master Stick who taught him how to understand his new abilities.

One of his many abilities is his heightened hearing. He has the capability to hear a person’s heartbeat from more than 20 feet away. The pace of the heartbeat also helps him identify if a person is lying or telling the truth.

As time went on, he graduated from Harvard Law School with his new friend and partner Foggy Nelson.

Daredevil: End of Days #1 variant cover by Dale Keown

Soon after graduation, the two friends decided to start their own law firm under the name of “Nelson and Murdock: Attorneys at Law.”

Matt Murdock/ Daredevil has also had his fair share of love interests in his life.

One of his most prominent relationships was with his old secretary Karen Page. Their relationship was very rocky because Daredevil would always come between them.

The other relationship was his with Elektra Natchios. They met while he was in college and were deeply in love.

Elektra becomes an assassin and one of Daredevil’s foes.

Everything Matt stood for, she went completely against.

Credit to comicvine.com

One of the most notable villains that Daredevil faces is Wilson Fisk aka Kingpin.

Wilson Fisk is a crime boss who pays and knows all the ins and outs of Hell’s Kitchen. He has payed people like cops and district attorneys so that he could never get caught.

He also is the main villain in many of Daredevil’s stories.

The characters from these stories have also been showcased in other media as well.

20th Cent Fox/courtesy Everett Collection

In 2003, the film titled “Daredevil” came out. The cast is lead by Ben Affleck as Matt Murdock/Daredevil, Jennifer Garner as Elektra and Michael Clarke Duncan as Wilson Fisk/King Pin.

The film had an average rating of 5.2/10 from critics and movie goers.

Two years later, a spin-off film about Elektra starring Jennifer Garner came out.

The movie received negative reviews and didn’t succeed in the box office.

Roughly ten years later, Netflix made a deal with Marvel Chair Kevin Fiege about bringing some of the characters to their streaming platform and creating television series.

DAVID LEE/NETFLIX

On April 10, 2015, the television series “Daredevil” debuted on Netflix. Soon after, shows about Jessica Jones, Iron Fist, Luke Cage and The Punisher followed.

The TV show ended up receiving positive reviews from fans and many kept asking for more seasons.

The show was lead by British actor Charlie Cox as Matt Murdock, Deborah Ann Woll as Karen Page, Vincent D’Onofrio as Wilson Fisk/Kingpin and Élodie Yung as Elektra.

In November 2018, Netflix decided to pull the axe on the show and canceled it after three seasons and one mini-series.

Fans were upset and rallied together stating how much they wanted a season 4.

With the deal between Marvel and Netflix, Marvel was unable to use those characters for up to two years after the date of cancellation.

DAVID LEE/MARVEL TELEVISION/NETFLIX

The cut-off date for that deal was November of last year.

With Marvel now able to use the characters, there are many rumors going around that Charlie Cox could be reprising his role as The Devil of Hell’s Kitchen.

After watching the Netflix show myself, I have to say that I have really fallen in love with Matt Murdock and his story as Daredevil.

Just like all the other fans, I have high hopes that Cox will reprise his role and become an official staple and member of the MCU.