If you went to a local comic book store and randomly selected a single issue of Daredevil, its first few pages would likely provide all the back-story you need, even if you had never read a comic before. For the unacquainted, allow me to introduce the protagonist in question: Show
Stan Lee and Bill Everett created the character (with artistic input from Jack Kirby) in 1964. In classic comic book fashion, his origin story involved not only the accidental gift of uncanny abilities but the murder of a parent. Matt was raised in the New York City neighborhood of Hell’s Kitchen by his father “Battlin’ Jack” Murdock, a hardscrabble boxer. After the mob murders Jack for refusing to take a fall in a fight, his son dedicates his life to the pursuit of justice as both an attorney and a vigilante. Comic book fans have long known that Murdock/Daredevil is a Catholic superhero.2 Fans of Marvel Studios films and shows came to know this as well when he got his own Netflix series in 2015. The first episode of the series, “Into the Ring,” opens on the aftermath of the accident that blinded Murdock as a boy before it hard cuts to the dark interior of a confessional booth. “Bless me Father, for I have sinned,” an adult Murdock recites. “It’s been . . . it’s been too long since my last confession.” “I’m not seeking penance for what I’ve done, Father,” Murdock [End Page 112] admits as the scene closes. “I’m asking forgiveness for what I’m about to do.”3 Remarkably, Marvel Studios decided to open one of the first attempts to expand its cinematic universe to television with a conversation between a Catholic and his confessor. While one could make the case that Daredevil’s Catholicism has been implicit all along—he’s always been a working-class Irish American kid from New York, after all—it was not until Frank Miller began writing for Daredevil that the character’s faith was made explicit.4 Miller, who grew up as one of seven children in an Irish Catholic family in Vermont, is most famous for his Batman stories (most notably, The Dark Knight Returns and Batman: Year One).5 But he first made his name drawing and writing Daredevil in 1979. By the time his initial run on the series ended in 1983 he had become “the most coveted talent in the industry.”6 Miller took what felt like a kitschy knock-off of brand Spider-Man and turned it into a gritty crime noir comic that forced readers to confront the “ugly physical violence” at the heart of the superhero genre itself.7 Making the character Catholic was part and parcel of this transformation. In fact, Miller later quipped that Daredevil “had to be Catholic, because only a Catholic could be a vigilante and an attorney at the same time.”8 The character has been canonically Catholic ever since. In this essay I want to ask two follow up questions. First, what, precisely, does it mean to call Daredevil “Catholic”? And second, what—if anything—can Daredevil teach us about US Catholicism? marvel’s daredevil (2015-2018) as catholic noirThe extent to which Murdock’s religiousness features in any given story—and indeed, whether it features at all—depends of course on the artists involved. Some center other elements of the Daredevil mythos (secret ninja societies, for instance). Most of the time Catholicism seems more like stained-glass window dressing, offering a thematic or aesthetic palette without much depth: fistfights in front of altars, vaguely religious themes, jokes about Catholic guilt. The Netflix series Marvel’s Daredevil (2015-2018) stands out as... All Series
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Daredevil: The Man Without Fear #5Miller, Romita
Daredevil: The Man Without Fear #4Miller, Romita
Daredevil: The Man Without Fear #3Miller, Romita
Daredevil: The Man Without Fear #2Miller, Romita
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Can Daredevil feel fear?We know that Matt Murdock's superhero identity is Daredevil, but ever since his debut issue in 1964, he's also been known as The Man Without Fear. As many would assume, that probably means that he's fearless, brave, and daring. While the latter two descriptives are correct, Matt Murdock most certainly feels fear.
When was Daredevil first called the man without fear?Daredevil: The Man Without Fear is a 1993 five-issue comic book miniseries starring Daredevil, written by Frank Miller, illustrated by John Romita Jr.
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. Who is known as the man without fear?Daredevil: The Man Without Fear covers the extensive origin story of Marvel's Daredevil written by Frank Miller. To put it bluntly, this comic is amazing. It is one of the most well-written comics I have ever read.
What is Matt Murdock afraid?Matt's fear of losing his powers is so deeply embedded in his psyche that he occasionally projects it onto other people. He exists in an interesting space as a blind person who also has superhuman enhancements that he feels he can't live without.
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Why is Daredevil The Man Without Fear?
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