Daredevil

Real Name
Matthew Michael Murdock

Occupation
Crime fighter, lawyer

Citizenship

U.S.A.

Place of Birth

New York City

Known Relatives

Jonathan "Battling Jack" Murdock (father, deceased), Grace Murdock (mother, deceased), Milla Donovan (estranged wife)

Group Affiliation

Formerly Defenders, "Marvel Knights"

Education
Daredevil possesses a high school diploma and a Juris Doctor (doctorate of law) from Columbia University. He also possesses the equivalent of a self-taught masters of applied sciences in mechanical engineering.

Height
6'0"

Weight
200 lbs.

Eyes
Blue

Hair
Red

Powers
In compensation for his lost sight, Daredevil’s other four senses have been preternaturally enhanced.

His sense of touch is sensitive enough to detect the faint impressions of ink on paper, allowing him to read by touch. He is also able to feel minute changes in temperature and pressure, enough to sense a human body at a distance of five feet, due to body heat and air disturbance. His sensitivity to heat allows him to sense the temperature of people and objects in order to determine whether a person is alive, how long they have been dead if they are not, and other changes in body temperature such as blushing or the heating up associated with various emotional states, as well as residual body heat on an object, or how recently a machine has been in use.

Daredevil’s sense of smell is enhanced enough to distinguish individuals by their natural odors, and remember and identify them no matter how they attempt to mask their scent, as well as track that individual scent through a crowd of people at a distance of roughly 50 feet.

His sense of taste is sharp enough to enable him to detect the number of grains of salt on a pretzel. His ability to remember tastes enables him to determine every ingredient of a food or drink he tastes, as long as there are at least 20 milligrams of that substance present.

Daredevil’s enhanced sense of hearing enables him to detect an acoustic pressure change of 1 decibel at a pressure level of 7, whereas the average human can only detect a sound as low as 20 decibels. He can even hear people speaking through a standard soundproofed wall. Daredevil is also able to hear a heartbeat from 20 feet away, as well as identify people by their individual beat rhythm, or detect whether they are lying or not by the changes in their heartbeat, though a pace maker or self control will confuse his reading. Not only does Daredevil’s hearing allow him to be constantly aware of his own heartbeat, blood circulation, breathing, physical movements, etc, but he is also able to hear and sense the same attributes in other people. One of the primary ways he does this is by hearing the reverberations made by ambient sounds on objects and people, giving him a sonar-like sense of where things are, and how dense they are. And while he is able to block out a good amount of background noise, he can also be excessively disoriented by unexpected loud noises and can be confused when immersed in the wash of sound from a busy crowd.

Along with the enhancement of Daredevil’s normal senses, he has gained another sense which he calls his Radar Sense. According to one theory, this sense reacts to an emission of electromagnetic energy a mutation in his brain has caused, reading the reverberations of this energy as a 360º, 3-D map of objects. This “sight” is not perfect, and can only give Daredevil an impression of the exact physical shape of objects, not a literal one. Closely overlapping objects can also confuse this sense.

The mutations that have heightened Daredevil’s level of sensitivity have also increased his awareness of other forms of electromagnetic radiation. He is capable of detecting and identifying any electromagnetic radiation on the standard scale; from radio waves, (which he can only detect, not understand the message) all the way to gamma waves, and everything in between. He is also able to judge the strength of a given radiation and even differentiate between individual colors by the amount of radiation they give off. At very close range, Daredevil is able to detect the micro voltage of a human being’s brain. 

Abilities

Daredevil possesses the strength, speed, agility, and endurance, not to mention acrobatic and gymnastic skills, of an Olympic-level athlete. Through a combination of the tutelage of Stick and self-training, Daredevil is a master of a unique martial art form, which is a hybridized form of American boxing and the Japanese arts of ninjutsu, judo and aiki-jujutsu. Martial arts training has given him an immense degree of concentration and personal control over his body and energy, or Ki. Daredevil is also an accomplished criminal trial lawyer. 

Other Info

Pretty close to what Daredevil the movie shows, Matt Murdock gained his powers when he saved a man from an oncoming truck and it spilled radioactive cargo that made him blind, but it did enhance his other senses.

Matt learned martial arts from martial arts master named Stick, and through this Matt mastered his senses and became an awesome fighter. (Click on Stick's name to learn more about him.)

His father (a professional boxer) was murdered by agents of the Fixer for refusing to throw a fight. (Not Kingpin, who killed Murdock's father in Daredevil the movie. Click on the link above to learn more about Fixer and the Kingpin.)

Daredevil has loved and fought alongside both the Black Widow (who will be in the next Iron Man movie, Iron Man 2) and Elektra. Something interesting to point out, Elektra learned martial arts from the same martial arts master as Daredevil: Stick. (Click on the above links to learn more about the different Marvel characters. Note: They are Marvel female characters so beware of the risque pictures.)

Daredevil and the Punisher both fight crime, but Daredevil disagrees with the Punisher's lethal tactics. Daredevil even shot the Punisher to prevent him from killing a drug-dealer. However, Daredevil has worked with the Punisher when necessary. Another person that Daredevil often battles is Bullseye. And pretty much every time, Daredevil beats Bullseye. (Click on the above name of the characters to learn more about them and their connection to Daredevil.)

Daredevil uses a billy club, disguised as a blind man's walking stick. It contains thirty feet of aircraft control cable, which is connected to a case-hardened steel grapnel. Also, Daredevil's first costume was yellow, black, and red, which was made from his father's boxing robe (this is shown in the fifth picture posted. And above that, is the short-lived red and black armored outfit Daredevil used).

If you would like to learn more about the life of Daredevil, including some of the experiences teaming up with other Marvel characters such as Spider-Man and Wolverine, click on the following link, http://www.marvel.com/universe/Daredevil_(Matthew_Murdock).

Daredevil appears in the 2003 film named Daredevil (shown as the top photo in the second picture posted above). Marvel Studios has reclaimed the rights to the Daredevil character and has released the Netflix TV series named Marvel's Daredevil. This version of the Daredevil starts in a black ninja-like outfit and then finishes Season 1 with a newer red-armored version (shown as the bottom two photos in the second picture posted above.)