Daredevil: Marvel's Most Cohesive Character

hello stranger and welcome to the author's anvil here we not only share educational content around the world of writing and storytelling but also dive deep into topics that i find interesting i've had a bit of a run doing these in-depth video essays about comic book characters and so for this third one i'd like to talk about one of marvel's lesser talked about characters daredevil as of the writing of this video i haven't actually experienced that many daredevil stories but have thoroughly enjoyed the ones that i have he has some darker grittier storylines that i enjoy and i think his powers are pretty cool but what has really struck me about the characters so far is how tightly written and cohesive he is what do i mean by a cohesive character well the merriam-webster dictionary defines cohesion as an act or state of things sticking together tightly or being unified in the context that i'm going to be presenting in this video then a cohesive character is one which is written to have their personality themes and traits tightly written together to be consistent and nicely interwoven a non-cohesive character for example could be written to have grown up as a loner on a desert planet which would mean that they would almost certainly have poor people skills but would still be charismatic and able to get along well with others they might also have an inconsistent theme around their character with the writer saying one moment that they represent how extraordinary gifts can come from anyone of any background and then the next moment saying that you need to be born special to be special if someone were to write this hypothetical character then it would be very odd as their backstory would not support the personality or themes presented but i'm sure nobody would ever do that anyway so with the idea of a cohesive character explained we can now dive into the man without fear himself and begin to look at why i think he's such a well-written character and how he is marvel's most cohesive character i'm jon this is the author's anvil and i hope you enjoy the character of daredevil first made an appearance in marvel's daredevil issue number one in 1964 looking a little different than how we know him today that glorious butter yellow suit that you can see on the screen now would thankfully switch the iconic maroon just six issues later in daredevil number seven as it was seen as too unrealistic that a stealthy crime fighter would dress in such a bright color his origin story however has remained very consistent for a comic book character matt murdock grew up in the rough new york neighborhood of hell's kitchen under the eye of his dad battling jack murdock a boxer who was forced to do dirty work on the side for a local crime gang in order to keep himself and his son afloat one day matt saved someone from being hit by a truck but at the cost of being blinded by the radioactive chemicals that the truck was carrying the chemicals however improved his other senses to a superhuman degree after the accident his father was killed by the crime gan who he unwillingly served because he refused to throw a fight in their favor leaving matt as an orphan this instills in matt a desire to see crime punished not only in the predictable path of becoming a superhero vigilante but also to become a lawyer by day he splits his time then between fighting within the legal setting of a courtroom and fighting outside of the law in the back alleys and peers of hell's kitchen let's now take a closer look at his powers as just said daredevil is unique in the fact that he is blind while his other senses are heightened and honed to a super degree this gives him a sort of radar sense similar to the echolocation skills that bats and dolphins use basically this means that he can paint a mental picture of his surroundings based on how sounds and smells reflect around his environment in a way this skill means that he actually sees a lot better than everyone else since he can determine what's behind above and below him without needing to turn his head and he of course can navigate dark places without needing a flashlight his sense of touch is also so good that he can read words on physical objects like newspapers by running his hands over the ink like braille daredevil is a skilled hand-to-hand combatant having been trained by another blind man stick and several martial arts and olympic level gymnastics he wields a multi-purpose staff that has a mechanized grappling hook inside of it the two halves can be broken into a giant nunchuck linked by a chain or can even be completely separated into two separate batons thanks to his day job as a lawyer matt murdock himself is confident charismatic and highly intelligent specializing in criminology and investigative skills daredevil does have some weaknesses however his radar sense does not allow him to reach digital screens or surfaces that have been laminated and like superman his heightened senses can be used against him sudden loud noises or overly pungent smells at best throw off his echolocation and at worst cause him intense pain his increased sensitivity to taste and touch also means in some comics that he is easier to drug and poison it's finally worth noting that daredevil does not have superhuman strength he is in peak physical condition and is a master martial artist but he still has to be extra careful against villains who exceed normal human limitations on a personal note matt's biggest flaw is his repressed anger that was born due to childhood bullying and the injustice of what happened to his father this repressed anger can make him rash and push him into doing some pretty dark things that we'll delve into later there is much more to daredevil's background some of which we will go over later in this video but i think we've covered enough to move on to the actual meat of the video so to start off with why daredevil is such a cohesive character we just need to look at his aesthetics and basic premise matt murdock becomes a superhero back in his home neighborhood of hell's kitchen and literally dresses as a devil to strike fear into the hearts of criminals while yes very on the nose i actually really like it it shows a certain horizons of humor from the character and it's just a nifty idea to have his name and aesthetic tied to the place that he protects there are very few other heroes if any who have this sort of cohesion i guess spider-man web slings a lot through central manhattan i'll see myself out but seriously the closest marvel hero who i could think of would be our favorite canuck wolverine whose namesake is of an animal found in canada but wolverines are actually also found in alaska most of the nordic countries and russia so he's not actually as cohesive as he first seems but going back to daredevil another aspect of his aesthetic that i find really cohesive is his blindness not only is his blindness linked to his name given the fact that he performs incredible gymnastic feats despite his disability but it also links to his day job as a lawyer very often the allegorical statue of lady justice is depicted with a blindfold to put forth the idea that the law should be impartial to how someone looks when judging them matt murdock is a skilled lawyer who is blind and although his echolocation means that he can see in a functional sense it does not give him the details of someone's face for him to be as prejudiced against them as most other lawyers could be i don't have too much to say about his actual costume but it would be a missed opportunity if i didn't highlight how well it represents well a devil most superheroes and supervillains have very cohesive costumes tied to their name and theme but some less so so i thought i might as well bolster my argument with this simple checkbox that daredevil ticks and also i do think subjectively the costume is really freaking dope so i wanted to shout it out anyway i want to talk about something now that really makes daredevil unique as a superhero it is a common trope in comics the main character has to grapple with the ethics of working inside the law against their own personal judgement and labeling this as a trope is not a criticism by the way everyone in life has a unique view on justice the law and morality in general and so when you have these larger than life characters with these incredible powers it is always interesting to see how they justify their vigilantism daredevil takes this trope however and adds several more layers to it first of all the fact that he's a lawyer by day is really interesting as he is supposed to be someone who uses the law in its strictest boundaries to deliver justice to criminals already then the troop that we just talked about is being squeezed for all its worth as the character and we the audience have to wrestle with whether matt murdock the lawyer is the more effective deliverer of justice or daredevil the vigilante both have their pros and cons which are explored in various stories but no matter which side of the fence you sit on it is always enjoyable watching how matt grapples with it the next layer of daredevil's ethics and the moral conflict that he's put through is with something completely different in daredevil's better stories especially the netflix tv show matt murdock is religious specifically a catholic and this again puts his vigilantism into moral question daredevil's stories are set in a rougher reimagining of hell's kitchen and often have darker themes at their center than stories involving characters like spider-man or iron man these darker stories have darker villains in them such as kingpin who runs new york's largest crime syndicate or elektra a chaotic assassin who incidentally also serves as a twisted love interest for matt there are times dealing with such people that daredevil considers crossing the iron line of killing them to make the world a better place the repressed anger that we talked about earlier that he's kept inside of him due to his childhood of being bullied and his father being murdered also contributes to him teetering on that line at times legally someone like the kingpin would be given the electorate chair if they were properly condemned in american court and perhaps ethically one could argue that killing him as a vigilante would be the most efficient way of removing his evil from the world but daredevil has a third moral system to consider his religious beliefs if he were to commit such an act as killing the kingpin then by catholic metrics his soul would be damned and his god appalled at him just check out this clip from the daredevil netflix tv show where he's consulting with his priest i'm not seeking penance what i've done for her i'm asking forgiveness for what i'm about to do that's not how this works that's a great clip that shows how daredevil is thus not only in conflict with the law and his personal ethics but with his spirituality as well i gave the extreme example of killing just there but daredevil is often in conflict with his spirituality even when it's just committing acts of violence and i think this brings such a depth to his character that very few other superheroes if any possess we often forget in superhero stories that our main characters are inherently violent people and that even punching someone with super strength could be enough to permanently injure somebody daredevil raises this point in himself much more than other superheroes do and i think it's always interesting when it's in the religious setting he's a character who goes to confession and wrestles with the redemption of his soul even when his vigilantism is in the service of helping innocent people interesting stuff aside i'd now like to bring this section into another point about his cohesiveness as a character matt murdock is a catholic who has chosen the literal antichrist of his religion for his vigilante persona there are so many different ways to interpret this choice that various writers have used perhaps it is just an intimidation factor like batman to strike fear into the hearts of criminals even in this secular time that we live in there are many who still hold religious beliefs and would see the image of a devil as terrifying or you can see this choice as a point of humor for matt who is just using a devil image ironically given his personal beliefs or this choice has a darker motivation behind it maybe matt sees himself as an extension of the devil because of the violent acts he performs it could be a kind of self-flagellation and an expression of shame because of the kind of person that he perceives himself to be whichever way you interpret it the fact that daredevil's ethics are tied to the catholic faith is not only super interesting but also very cohesive so given everything that we've just talked about i think it's pretty fair to say that daredevil is not only one of marvel's coolest or most interesting superheroes but he's in my humble opinion at the brand's most cohesive from his general aesthetic to his themes to his ethics he really has been written to have everything about him tightly knitted together cohesion in a character is a really neat thing as it makes them not only far more realistic but also makes it easier for writers to deliver themes to the audience through that character if we want to explore religious ethics and superheroes it makes far more sense to do that with a religious character like daredevil than with a non-religious character like hawkeye i'm not saying it can't be done i just think it's a lot more effective to do it with a character who already cohesively exhibits that theme but anyway there are many superheroes in the marvel franchise who are cohesive perhaps you'd like to let me know who you think is the most tightly written in the comment section below however for me it is most certainly daredevil who takes the cake and i am excited for the stories of his that i'm yet to discover thank you very much for watching this was a shorter but i hope still interesting video to make daredevil had a spike of popularity back when the netflix tv show came out and it looks like for better or worse that he's coming back into the mcu within the next couple of years so we'll see how that uh turns out i hope any writers who are watching we're taking notes down because there is so much we can learn from daredevil when it comes to characterization uh i hope this video really showed what a fantastically cohesive and well-written character he is but anyway thanks again so much everyone for watching do tune in to the channel for more educational and essay content around storytelling hope you have a fantastic day and keep writing

Channel: Author's Anvil

Views: 38,310

Keywords: #daredevil, #marvel, #storytelling, #superheroes

Id: oaGJdLtg5VU

Length: 14min 2sec (842 seconds)

Published: Mon Sep 19 2022