Lets Talk: Daredevil

As my first complaint I want to talk about Daredevil. For those of you who do not know who Daredevil is....

.....that’s him. I think it’s time he was talked about.

History

As a brief history Matt Murdock was raised in Hell's Kitchen (not to be confused with the Ramsay edition) by his father, Jack Murdock, who was a boxer. When Jack was suppose to throw the fight but didn't, he was killed by gangsters. Matt being the sensible type decides to put on some superhero clothing and defeat the gangsters that killed his father. Henceforth he has called himself Daredevil.
The Character

The most interesting thing about Daredevil is the fact that he is blind and a lawyer. His superhuman powers consist solely at having superhuman senses. He has four super sharp senses. That’s it. He isn't about to reach Superman's level of power. Comic book writers consistently point out that the hardest part of writing a Daredevil story is keeping him alive. As a lawyer, Matt fully believes in the justice system and that it works. This also means that he refuses to kill anybody and decides to put all criminals through the justice system. This has created some amazing story lines of Daredevil and Punisher butting heads, but that’s another subject for another day. The best part about Matt is his ability to lose absolutely everything, pick himself up and start over from scratch. This includes having his building destroyed, having 2 of his girlfriends be murdered, as well as being beaten within an inch of his life. Every time a moment like this happens in his history he picks himself back up and carries on. What works for Daredevil is his ability to come out of the ashes of destruction and new man, stronger than ever before (just try and see Superman accept the loss of any of his supporting cast). This doesn't mean that Matt is a bad hero; it just makes him more realistic as a hero. He can't be everywhere at once and his villains do target his loved ones and property. Speaking of which...
The Villains

Let’s talk about Daredevil's villains. Now, can you think of any off the top of your head? Okay Kingpin and Bullseye don't count. It’s easy to remember a hero's arch nemesis, but can you remember any others? I didn't think so. The major problem with Daredevil is that he doesn't have very memorable villains. The most memorable rogues’ galleries in comics are Spiderman's and Batman's. Why? Because they are simple. Spiderman's villains have a running theme of animals and elements, Batman's villains have a running theme of psychological issues. Both are really easy to remember. Daredevil's cast of villains are gang leaders and their super assassins. This includes The Owl, Gladiator, Typhoid Mary, Mr. Fear, The Hand, Bullseye, and Kingpin. (Interesting fact, TMNT is basically a giant parody of Daredevil. Daredevil's evil ninja group The Hand was the basis for TMNT's main evil ninja group The Foot). None of his villains are easily remembered and none of them have had huge story arcs in his life other than Bullseye and Kingpin. Speaking of...
Supporting Cast

Aside from the superhero community, Matt's only supporting cast member is Foggy Nelson. Foggy is Matt's law firm partner. Though sometimes bumbling and oafish, Foggy always pulls through and is always trying to look out for Matt (going so far as to climb up the wall of a building in order to save Matt from being possessed by a demon {I have no idea how he accomplished such} aka the Shadowland arc). Foggy has always been there for Matt and if writers ever decide to get rid of him Matt will be screwed. Now in reference to my last lead in, Matt has had a good number of girlfriends, most are dead now. At the order of Kingpin, Bullseye has effectively killed two of Matt's lovers. Everyone forget about Elektra. I do not care that she was in the movie, I do not care that she was Matt's original love, Elektra and Daredevil have not shared a comic panel in years. The two characters could not be more remotely removed from each other’s lives. Yes, the impact of her death had a lot of emotion and was a big story arc for the character. The real girlfriend you want to care about is Karen Page, the second one to be killed.

Karen was Matt's secretary at his law firm. They had a long lasting relationship that had a lot of bumps but still worked out. Her death was a very defining moment in Daredevil's life, one that had long lasting repercussions. Unlike: Bucky, Jean Grey, Elektra, Jason Todd, Mr. Immortal, Aunt May and just about every other hero, Karen Page has never {AND NEVER SHOULD MARVEL} been brought back to life. This has been a constant reminder to Matt that he is limited in what he can do and that he has to keep going in his fight against crime.
What Doesn't Work

Like any super hero there is something that doesn't really work for the viewer and ruins the character's realism {look I'm only going to say this once, I get that this is all a piece of fiction and that 'I shouldn't take this as seriously as I do' but if you just thought that than this isn't the place for you. This is a blog that is a real look at the characters as a whole and how they should be handled}. Sorry about that. Now where was I...oh right. Before I really get into this, if you haven't seen the Daredevil film, go out and watch it now.....done? Good. Wasn't that a piece of crap? I don't have a huge problem with the film except for two things. The first scene with Daredevil going out to fight crime, and the costume itself. The first scene with Daredevil goes against absolutely everything that represents Daredevil.

1. Matt loses the court case: MATT LOSES THE COURT CASE! The case was about a rapist who abused this woman. HOW DID HE LOSE! The guy gets up and testifies that she was asking for it. HOW DID HE LOSE! The real Daredevil would have brought the guy in for justice and found the evidence to put him away. So what does he do...
2. He goes after the guy: Now Matt believes in the justice system, he lost the case but if this ever happened to the real Daredevil he would have followed him and stopped him when he commits the crime again. Movie Daredevil tracks the guy down to a bar and decides to BRUTALLY BEAT DOWN ABSOLUTLELY EVERYONE IN THE BAR EXCEPT FOR THE GUY. What the hell Daredevil.
3. He chases him to the subway: So after failing to beat this guy in court and in the bar, Matt decides to chase him into the subway station. Here Matt knocks him onto the train tracks AND LETS THE GUY GET RUN OVER BY THE TRAIN! SERIOUSLY, WHAT THE HELL DAREDEVIL! Daredevil would never kill anybody! He believes in the justice system and believes that everyone deserves a fair trial. Having failed in that fail trial, Matt would not have gone out and murdered this guy. In fact, if the charges against him had been proven, he would have ended up in prison not a death sentence. This also connects back to why Daredevil and the Punisher butt heads all the time. They have very opposing sides on criminals with Punisher choosing to kill them all, which Daredevil disproves whole heartedly and has attempted to bring in Punisher to justice.
4. The flaming Ds: After murdering a guy, Matt decides to go out of his way and mark the subway station floor with the Daredevil symbol in gasoline. What, did he go out and get some, come back and decided to ruin the area. Or perhaps he has a gasoline dispenser in his devil belt. Which leads me to...

If there is anything I hate about Daredevil, it’s his costume. The movie version of the costume looks like really bad leather. It also doesn't look functional for combat at all. In fact, I'd go as far to say that the costume would actually be a hindrance in combat and only restrict the wearer. That said, I hate the comic costume as well. For a character who is a gritty street level hero, his costume is just silly looking. It’s a full body red jumpsuit. There is nothing dynamic or interesting about it. It’s all just one color and its very boring looking.
What Can be Done

Daredevil by all means should be Marvel's answer to Batman. Daredevil is the most underused character to be created by Stan Lee. He doesn't appear in any big crossovers or team-ups and he hasn't had a big story arc in a long time (I'm not including Shadowland, because that arc was poorly written and sucked). If I were to take over Daredevil, I would write a stronger theme of detective work, maybe even have him team up with Luke Cage more often to have a really strong Detective/Lawyer dynamic. Matt also needs more defined villains that are more than gang lords and their assassins. His villains need to have more prominent story arcs that have major influences on Matt's character.
Now the costume itself needs to be redone. The reason that Cole's costume in InFamous worked was because it worked in the urban settings he was placed in and didn't seem too silly. Daredevil's costume doesn't really fu inside the urban setting of his story and just looks like crap. When I saw the ultimate version of the Shroud I was actually pretty hopeful that this was a re-imagined version of Daredevil's costume.

This costume works within the urban settings and actually does take great strides in fitting into Daredevil's character (it’s a shame it turned out to be ultimate Kitty Pryde). The hands are wrapped in boxer bandages and the hood is reminiscent of his father's old boxing jacket. The only thing it’s missing is the devil horns. I have no idea why this great costume design is wasted on ultimate Kitty Pryde when it could have redefined the entire look of Daredevil.
In Closing

I really don't have that many complaints on the character as a whole. If Marvel were more willing to use Matt to his full potential he could very well rival Batman. Slight changes to his character design and story arcs could truly help make this character a stronger icon in the public eye. If a Daredevil movie were redone some of these changes need to be taken into thought.

Thanks for listening to my input
-Headshot Bunny
PS (I don't own any Daredevil related material; it is all owned by Marvel)