DareDevil is the newest comic book television show on the block. The show is produced by a team effort, Netflix, Marvel and ABC Studio and is exclusively airing on Netflix. It follows the same format as every original show on Netflix, which is a full season, simultaneous release. The show is highly successful for many reasons, some of which goes to the fact that you have elements people can relate to in Matt Murdock, who becomes DareDevil. The elements people can relate to separate him from other superheroes as he is more human and appears to be an everyday superhero, rather then the one in a billion superhero. DareDevil is a great show that can only be watched on Netflix.
The show, DareDevil, owes much of it success to the character of Matt Murdock. Matt is a complicated character as he is down to earth. Matt is not a billionaire, playboy, or super strength alien, from another planet. Rather, he is a kid who became blind at the age of 9, saving somebody’s life. A few years later, after he became blind, he discovered that he had a heightened sense of smell, hearing, and the ability to anticipate people’s movements. This makes him a minority, on multiple levels. Right from the beginning he becomes blind, which is a physical challenge that he faces. Secondly, when he is still a kid he loses his father. This makes him a relatively poor, blind, kid without any parents or support. The fact that he comes from this background and is raised out of it, to go to college and graduate, becoming a lawyer, shows perseverance. This ability despite his blindness, parentless, and relatively poor background, he still accomplishes being an attorney and makes us as viewers fall in love with the character of Matt Murdock, he is the underdog.
What further enhances our love for Matt, are his morals. Matt became blind based on his action on his morals. Matt saw an older man going to get hit with a car and pushed him out of the way. As a result, Matt was hit and chemicals began to spill into Matt’s eyes, causing him to go blind. In viewing this, we see somebody so selfless willing to put themselves at risk to save another person in the city that they love despite harm coming to their own body. This action raises questions about our own morals and what we would sacrifice to save another persons life, if we would be willing to sacrifice anything at all.
Furthermore, Matt Murdock furthers the topic of morals in his day job as a lawyer. He is constantly taking cases with people that cannot afford his services or are in desperate need of legal assistance. Part of the reason why he is engaging in this is due to an incident that occurred when he interned at a law firm. The issue at the law firm was a person who had received cancer, disclosed information to his doctor how he got cancer for treatment purposes, and was being sued for that. This instance raised a moral issue for Matt as he realized that if he wanted to help his city he could not do it through a big law firm but rather had to start his own. Once he started his own firm he helped 2 clients who were considered to be underdogs, and the city was treating improperly.
Finally, Matt’s character has a realistic feature to him. As Matt begins to realize that being a lawyer and representing clients the city was depressing, is a start to fixing the city, but is not enough. As a result, he begins to wear a mask and patrol the city attempting to destroy crime and restore justice, protecting innocent lives. His vigilant methods begin to work, as there is only so much a lawyer can do, they are bound by the law, while a masked man is not.
This ideology of Matt Murdock is one of the main reasons the show is successful, as it shows that sometimes people have to cross a line and get dirty, to bring forth a definition of justice back. In this case, Matt has to bring justice to the city he loves, despite the physical challenges of being blind and he will never see the city he loves. This issue raises questions of morality, how far he needs to go to save something he loves. At one point he contemplates the idea of killing, as he fears once he starts to kill he will continuing to do it. Secondly, as this masked man his morals begin to be affected and he feels that he has indirectly been responsible for 2 deaths. Finally. a third question arises with the masked hero: Do the ends justify the means. All throughout the entire first season these questions are asked, answered and re-asked in a different way that exposes the mind of a superhero and what goes through their thoughts.
You can pick up Daredevil: The Man Without Fear here.
