Matthew Murdock

"I'm just trying to make my city a better place."

- Matt Murdock

Matthew "Matt" Murdock is a blind lawyer by day and masked crime-fighter by night from New York's Hell's Kitchen. It didn't take long until the public start calling him The Devil of Hell's Kitchen because of his merciless towards criminals. However after taking down Wilson Fisk, the newspapers dubbed the masked hero Daredevil.

Early Life
Matt Murdock lived in Hell's Kitchen with his dad, boxer, Battlin' Jack Murdock. After Jack's fights, Matt used to help patch up his father's wounds, even giving him stitches when needed. His father constantly encouraged him to study hard so he wouldn't have the life that he had. When Matt was nine he saved an old man that was nearly killed in an accident but was blinded when hazardous liquid got into his eyes.

Matt's father was very supportive of Matt and decided to go against Roscoe Sweeney and Samuel Silke when they tried to fix his fight with Carl Creel. Jack knocked out Creel but paid with his life as he was gunned down in an alley. Matt heard the gunshot and found his father already dead when he arrived. He was taken to the orphanage St. Agnes where he was found by Stick and mentored in how to harness his senses and fight.

In 2010, Matt studied law at Columbia University. The first day of college he met Foggy Nelson, who would become his best friend. During his time as an student, Matt briefly dated a "Greek girl" he met in Spanish class. In the end, Matt graduated summa cum laude, and Foggy cum laude. In 2015, Matt and Foggy returned to Hell's Kitchen and subsequently worked as interns for the prestigious law firm Landman and Zack. However, Matt disapproved of their ideology, defending big powerful companies, and convinced Foggy to leave just before they were offered a position. Instead, Matt and Foggy set out to have their own law firm, Nelson and Murdock.

One night at his apartment, he used his abilities to discover a neighbor of his molested his daughter while his wife was at work. Matt called Child Services, but in vain, as the wife didn't believe the situation that was happening at her home. Angered, Matt used a disguise to assault the man one night at his job, swearing him to get him again if he didn't stop his behavior. Matt felt right for making him pay when the law wasn't able to, and shortly after became a masked vigilante, wearing a black outfit made from things bought online.

"Into the Ring"
Matt went to confession, claiming he was not there to seek forgiveness for what he had done, but instead he was asking forgiveness for what he was about to do. He would not tell the priest his intentions however. The same night, Murdock wore an entirely black outfit and tracked down a group of gangsters led by Turk Barrett. The gangsters were planning on transporting a group of young women to be used as prostitutes. Murdock attacked the gangsters and soon knocked them all unconscious and freed the women.

Soon after, Nelson and Murdock was finally established in an office Matt and Foggy had recently acquired. While Foggy believed it was necessary to take any case they could, Matt stuck to his principle of representing only those that were in fact truly innocent. Meanwhile, Matt continued being a masked vigilante. One of the criminal groups whose plans Matt thwarted most frequently was the Russian Mafia and their human trafficking operations. Nelson and Murdock's first client was Karen Page, a secretary at Union Allied Construction, who had been framed for murder. Matt decided to take her case because he detected she was telling the truth about her innocence with the use of his amplified senses to listen to her heartbeat. Later, Karen was almost killed in her cell and because no charges had been presented after 24 hours of her arrest, Matt had her freed from custody. Matt interrogated her further, and found out she had discovered Union Allied money laundering records, and that was the reason she had been targeted. However, Murdock wasn't sure why wasn't she killed in the first place. Matt concluded that they had tried to discredit and scare her, and the only reason to do that was because she had something they wanted: a copy of the files. While Karen was staying at his apartment, Matt approached Karen with that theory, she lied to him stating she hadn't made a copy and the original files were deleted.

In the middle of the night, when Karen sneakily left the apartment to return to hers, Matt decided to follow her disguised as his vigilante alter-ego. After she had recovered a USB stick with a copy of the files left in her bathroom, Karen was attacked by a hitman who was hiding at her apartment. Matt arrived in time to save her, and, after subduing the hitman, decided to take the USB stick to the New York Bulletin, for United Allied's illicit actions to be made public, so Karen would no longer be a target. Karen was proved innocent and to show her gratitude, she offered to work as a secretary for Nelson and Murdock. Later that night, Matt heard a young boy had been kidnapped by Russian gangsters so went out to try and rescue him.

"Cut Man"
The boy kidnapping was a trap by the Russians, Matt was able to escape but was severely injured. He ended up in a dumpster where he was found a teenager and a night nurse named Claire Temple. Claire took him upstairs into her apartment and treated his injuries, she quickly discovered that he was blind. Murdock woke up and tried to leave but Temple insisted that he had to stay as he wounds were too severe. As Murdock refused to give her his name she began calling him Mike. After a while, Murdock smelt a Russian mobster wearing strong aftershave coming up the stairs looking for him. Temple answered the door while Murdock hid and the man claimed to be an NYPD officer looking for the suspect of a robbery, Temple told the man that she hadn't seen anything. The mobster left but Murdock heard him on the phone and knew that he had not believed her, so he chased him down and dropped a fire extinguisher on his head, knocking him out. Murdock noticed that Santino had witnessed the attack and ran away. Together, Murdock and Temple dragged the unconscious mobster up to the roof.

Once on the roof, Murdock began questioning the mobster on the location of the missing boy, telling him that he would hurt him every time he lied. Temple suggested that Murdock should stab him just above the eye, causing the man incredible pain. When that still didn't work, Murdock threatened to throw him off the roof, this made the mobster tell him exactly where the boy was. Murdock still threw him off the roof, letting him fall into the same dumpster he had been pulled out of earlier. When Temple asked if he was alive Murdock assured her he was. Murdock gave Temple a phone so they could contact each other and told her that it would be wise for her to relocate.

Murdock then went to the place where the boy was being held hostage. He arrived and immediately began fighting the mobsters, after a prolonged fight during which many of the mobsters were thrown through doors, Murdock came out as the winner with all the mobsters lying unconscious on the floor or in too much pain to move. Murdock then removed his mask and freed the boy, telling him that he was now safe. Murdock carried him out of the house and later returned him to his family.

"Rabbit in a Snow Storm"
Nelson and Murdock were hired by James Wesley to defend a hitman named John Healy who had murdered Mr. Prohashka in a way it appeared to have been in self-defense. Sensing something felt wrong when their employer wouldn't give his name nor his boss' name, Matt took the case in order to get closer and find out more. Murdock and Nelson cross-examined Healy, who clearly was experienced in court proceedings. They began working out a strategy to get Healy off by claiming self defense. During the trail, Murdock noticed one of the women in the juries' heart begin to raise when Wesley entered, Murdock tracked down the man threatening her and forced him to leave her alone. Murdock later gave a speech during the trail claiming that there was not enough evidence to convict Healy. As the result was being read out, Murdock noticed that another juryman's heart raced as Wesley entered; the jury announced a hung jury, resulting to Healy's freedom.

Matt later tracked down and confronted Healy. The pair began to fight, Healy using objects around him to attack Murdock, after an exhausting fight Murdock came out as the victor and began questioning Healy on who his employer was. Eventually Healy claimed it was Wilson Fisk. Healy told Murdock that now he had revealed Fisk's name, he, his family and his friends would all become targets. Seeing no alternative, Healy slammed his face into an iron spike, killing him instantly. Murdock could only watch in horror.

"In the Blood"
Matt is getting his wounds stitched by Claire after a confrontation with the Russians. He gives her a phone so he could contact her before he arrives. Meanwhile, James Wesley gives an offer from Fisk to the Ranskahov Brothers: allow him to have control over the assets he just got for them from Prohashka and he will deal with the masked man. Vladimir is against it; Anatoly is more susceptible. The brothers decide that they can deal with the masked man themselves. They awaken Semyon from his coma and learn where Claire Temple's Apartment is. Sergei does not find Temple there, but he makes her neighbor Santino tell him where she is.

At Nelson and Murdock, Matt and Foggy Nelson discuss how Nelson wishes he was a big-time lawyer, Matt gets a phone call from Claire, he hears her screams over the phone. Matt ran to her aid but was too late, he spoke to Santino who was able to reveal that she had been taken away in a taxi driven by the Russians. 00he found Temple being tortured by the Russians, Matt switched off the lights in the room and managed to fight of the Russians in the dark and rescued Temple. He took her back to his apartment and tried to comfort her. Temple asked him to feel her heart and tell her how she was feeling; Matt knew then that she was terribly afraid for her life. However, Claire reassures the masked man is making a difference in Hell's Kitchen, Matt than tells Claire his real name is Matthew.

"World on Fire"
To be added

"Condemned"
To be added

"Stick"
To be added

"Shadows in the Glass"
To be added

"Speak of the Devil"
To be added

"Nelson v. Murdock"
To be added

"The Path of the Righteous"
To be added

"The Ones We Leave Behind"
To be added

"Daredevil"
To be added

The Defenders
To be added

Character traits
Matt Murdock have a strong sense of morality and justice, which he carries with him in his work as a lawyer and a vigilante. While professional, Matt is not without a sense of humour, and is very easygoing with his friends. Quips about his blindness don't bother him, and he even frequently jokes about it himself. Despite this, when under stress, Matt pushes the people around him away, attempting to take all responsibility upon himself to fix Hell's Kitchen. Although he tries to be a pillar of strength and support for the people around him, Matt can only take so much pressure before he breaks down.

As Daredevil, Matt is vicious and merciless towards criminals. Although he refuses to kill, Matt is not afraid to break bones or torture his targets to get what he is after, even if his targets are not criminals themselves. Due to his extremely violent nature as a vigilante, Matt realizes that he has the potential to become the very thing he hates, and takes care to never cross that line.

Powers

 * Superhuman Senses: Matt became blind in a chemical accident when he was 9 years old, the chemicals increase his 4 remaining senses to superhuman levels, as he got older his powers got stronger, by the time he was an adult, matt had gain full control over his senses and can use them very proficiently.
 * Superhuman Hearing: Matt's sense of hearing enables him to hear a person's heartbeat at a distance of over twenty feet, or people whispering on the other side of a standard soundproofed wall. Through practice, Murdock is able to control his hearing acuity, mentally blocking out specific sounds like his own breathing and heartbeat, all ambient sounds to a normal human level of perception, or all sounds but a particular sound he is concentrating upon. When concentrating, he can even determine how many broken bones a person has in their body, purely from the sounds of their bones shifting.
 * Lie Detection: Matt's hearing is so acute that he can tell whether people are lying or not, based on the rate of their heartbeat.
 * Superhuman Smell: Matt's olfactory senses are so good that he can smell a man's scent of stale cigarettes and cheap cologne three floors above him. When he was a boy, his sense of smell was already so acute he could smell an old man sitting at a bench across from him who had cancer. By smelling an old cigarette, Matt could tell that whoever smoked it previously had rotten teeth.
 * Superhuman Taste: Matt was able to tell that Claire Temple had ripped open some of the stitches on her back, due to tasting copper in the air from the blood of her open wound. Stick taught him how to train this sense allowing him to pick out every individual ingredient, including that the milk used came from three different dairy farms and that the man who served him used a certain type of soil in his garden.
 * Superhuman Touch: Matt can feel the presence of those around him through vibrations, air currents and body temperature. He can dodge attacks and even bullets by feeling them cut through the air, creating ripples of currents only detectable by him. He locates enemies through walls and from different floors by feeling the vibrations they make from moving such as footsteps. Matt could feel the heat generated from the blood spilling from the gunshot wound on Vladimir Ranskahov.
 * Radar Sense: Through a combination of all of his heightened senses, Murdock is able to perceive the world around him through a radar-like sense. This is not exactly true sight to him, as he cannot see details in the world around him, and everything looks orange and red as if "the world's on fire," but it enables him to "see" enough to compensate for his blindness.

Abilities

 * Expert Lawyer: Despite the fact that he has just opened his own law firm, and that he has just started to practice law, Matt is an excellent lawyer.
 * Master Martial Artist: Matt was trained in hand-to-hand combat and martial arts, by Stick at a young age and excelled in it. He continued training despite the fact that Stick gave up on him, and he eventually used his skills to fight criminals as Daredevil. He was even able to take down the more physically powerful Wilson Fisk.
 * Master Stick Fighter: Matt was trained in stick fighting, by Stick at a young age and excelled in it. He continued training despite the fact that Stick gave up on him, and he eventually used his skills to fight criminals as Daredevil.
 * Indomitable Will/High Tolerance for Pain: Matt is fearless. Under no situation does he ever give up.
 * Heightened Reflexes: Matt has excellent reflexes,
 * Peak-human Agility: Matt has excellent agility,
 * Heightened Dextereity: Due to his superhuman hearing Matt has excellent balance giving him perfect equilibrium, increasing his agility and refining his movements.
 * Free Running/Acrobatics/Stealth: Matt is capable of scaling buildings and running from rooftop to rooftop easily.
 * Multilingual: Matt is capable of fluently speaking English and Spanish.

Equipment

 * Daredevil suit:
 * Sticks:
 * Expandable Batons: It functions as a a multi-purpose cane with different modes, such as two short sticks or a larger staff.

Relationships

 * Jack Murdock - Father.
 * Foggy Nelson - Friend and law partner.
 * Karen Page - Secretary and friend.
 * Father Lantom - Friend.
 * The Kingpin - Enemy.
 * James Wesley - Enemy.
 * Nobu - Enemy.
 * Vladimir Ranskahov - Enemy turned ally.
 * Madame Gao - Enemy.
 * Anatoly Ranskahov - Enemy.
 * Melvin Potter - Enemy turned ally.
 * Ben Urich - Ally.
 * Brett Mahoney - Ally.
 * Claire Temple - Friend.
 * Stick - Former mentor.

Appearances/Actors

 * Marvel Cinematic Universe (2 TV Series)
 * Daredevil - Charlie Cox and Skylar Gaertner (young)
 * "Into the Ring" (First appearance)
 * "Cut Man"
 * "Rabbit in a Snow Storm"
 * "In the Blood"
 * "World on Fire"
 * "Condemned"
 * "Stick"
 * "Shadows in the Glass"
 * "Speak of the Devil"
 * "Nelson v. Murdock"
 * "The Path of the Righteous"
 * "The Ones We Leave Behind"
 * "Daredevil"
 * The Defenders - Charlie Cox

Behind the scenes
To be added

Trivia

 * After his father's death, Matt Murdock was raised in the St. Agnes Orphanage, where Skye was also raised.
 * The black costume Matt Murdock wears takes inspiration from Frank Miller and John Romita Jr.'s 1993 limited series Daredevil: The Man Without Fear.
 * The substance which blinds Matt is never revealed, but the barrels reveal it to be “TYP A” with the serial number “0464XXXX” as in April 1964, when Daredevil #1 was first published.

"Condemned"
To be added

"Stick"
To be added

"Speak of the Devil"
To be added

"Nelson v. Murdock"
To be added

"The Path of the Righteous"
To be added

The Defenders
To be added