Matt Murdock

Matt Murdock

The son of boxer Battlin' Jack, Matt Murdock grew up in the relative poverty of Hell's Kitchen with much reverence for his father, who constantly pressed him to study instead of playing with his friends. In turn, they taunted him with the nickname Daredevil since he always went back to studying and secretly training in his father's gym instead of doing things with them.
As a boy, Matt witnessed a man about to be hit by a truck and pushed him out of the way but the truck crashed and spilled its cargo of extremely toxic chemicals into his face. He awoke in the hospital blind from the toxins and learned that his other senses were amplified as a result of his loss of sight and was able to see by a radar-like sense using natural sounds around him, giving him ultimate confidence in his surroundings. He met a blind martial arts master named Stick, who taught him to hone his senses and trained him in martial arts among other skills such as free running, meditation and marksmanship.

His Father’s Son

Matt Murdock grows up as the son of boxer “Battlin’ Jack” Murdock in the Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood of New York City. Matt's mother leaves them at a young age, and his father tells him she died. As Jack ages, he feels forced to take work from a local criminal Roscoe Sweeny, AKA Fixer, who eventually coerces the pugilist to work as his enforcer.

While Matt is a natural athlete, Jack seeks to keep him out of his world of violence, hoping that the boy can get an education and escape Hell’s Kitchen. Jack makes Matt promise to study hard and never use his fists. The young Murdock’s commitment to his studies makes him a target of bullies, who nickname him “Daredevil” when he wouldn’t fight back. Matt works out his frustrations at the gym.

Matt's life is changed forever when he sees an out-of-control truck speeding toward a blind older man crossing the street. Matt pushes the bystander out of the vehicle's path, which happened to be carrying radioactive materials. A container falls off the truck and breaks open, spilling a radioactive liquid into Matt's eyes. The incident leaves the boy blind, but all his remaining senses are enhanced significantly. Soon after, he meets Stick, a blind martial arts master, under whose harsh tutelage Matt comes to understand his newly developed senses and blossoms into a formidable fighter.

Powers

Radioactively Enhanced Physiology

Murdock was originally enhanced by the radioactive isotope which later blinded him. As a result, he possesses superhuman senses, agility, reflexes, balance, and etc. Murdock's nervous system has also increase some of his abilities at peak human level.

Superhuman Sensory System

At his early age, Murdock did not know how to handle his powers until he met Stick, who became Matt's mentor and taught him to control and enhance them.

Superhuman Touch

Murdock's sense of touch is so acute that his finger can feel the faint impressions of ink on a printed page, allowing him to read by touch, though laminated pages prevent him from touching and thus reading the ink impressions at a much faster pace than a normal person would be able to read

Peak Human Strength

Thanks to his control over his central nervous system due to his many years of martial arts training, Matt can increase his strength to peak human level.

Peak Human Speed

Similar to his strength, Matt can increase his speed to peak human level.

Superhuman Reflexes

Possibly due to his exposure to the radioactive waste that caused his blindness, Matt's reflexes borderline superhuman.

Enhanced Stamina

Matt's stamina is similarly enhanced, since he was able to hold his breath underwater for longer periods of time.

Enhanced Endurance

Matt has an extremely high tolerance to pain.

Superhuman Smell

Murdock's sense of smell is so acute that he can distinguish between identical twins at twenty feet by minute differences in smell. He can detect odors of an atmospheric concentration of thirty parts per million. Furthermore, his ability to remember smells enables him to identify any person he has spent at least five minutes with by smell alone, no matter how he or she might try to camouflage his or her natural body odor. His powers of concentration are such that he can focus upon a single person's smell and follow it through a crowd of people at a distance of fifty feet.

Enhanced Tracking

Matt can track others down easily via various means, ranging from scents to footprints.

Illusion Awareness

Due to most illusions affecting mainly eyesight, other senses such as hearing and/or smell have a difficult time not succumbing to the illusion.

Superhuman Hearing

Murdock's sense of hearing enables him to detect an acoustic pressure change of one decibel at a pressure level of seven decibels (whereas the lowest threshold for average human hearing is twenty decibels). He can hear a person's heartbeat at a distance of over twenty feet, or people whispering on the other side of a standard soundproofed wall.[175] 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. Matt also utilizes his superhuman sense of hearing as an aid in processing, filtering, and interpreting the feedback of his radar/sonar sense to actually give him a three-dimensional picture of his surroundings. Additionally, Matt's combined use of his super hearing and radar sense can also give him tactical advantages, such as awareness of people hiding around the corners of rooms, walls, buildings, and furniture and makes it virtually impossible to literally blindside Matt.

Lie Detection

By listening, feeling, and smelling, Murdock can tell whether a person is lying by sweat, changes in body temperature, and heartbeats (though he can be fooled by a pacemaker and those able to keep calm under pressure).

Superhuman Taste

Murdock's sense of taste enables 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 twenty milligrams of that substance present.

Abilities

The Man Without Fear

It is untrue that Matt has never been afraid but through the years of training and experience, Daredevil currently shows a detached ability to fear and emotions bordering on sociopathic. This ability extends to immunity from "fear toxins" and spells, as Daredevil seems to simply be "The Man Without Fear."

Master Attorney

Murdock is a highly skilled and accomplished lawyer, specializing in criminal justice. His legal practice is considered the single greatest source of strength of both emotional stability and his successful war on crime. Murdock's law firm also does a lot of pro bono work as well as the full range of social justice issues such as rape cases, hate crimes, police brutality, wrongful death suits, medical malpractice, whistleblower/witness protection cases, workplace violence, corporate business fraud, LGBT harassment/workplace inequality, child/sexual abuse cases, victims of war crimes/terrorism, food/consumer safety cases, automotive recalls, anti-GMO food lobbying, and even environmental issues. In law school, Murdock also had a very particular focus in U.S. Constitutional Law.

Devout Catholic

As a devout Roman Catholic, Murdock has the mixed benefits and access to certain resources and contacts/allies through the Catholic parishes of Hell's Kitchen (modern day Clinton). As a lawyer, Murdock can also access additional assets in the form of safe-houses and sanctuary of the Church for his clients should local law enforcement resources become either compromised and or cannot be relied upon in witness protection cases. Murdock can also make use of contacts in the form of the Catholic clergy giving him vital information regarding the movements of street gangs, the various mafia of the NYC area, pimps, and other elements of the criminal underworld in order to allow Matt to be more successful in battling the criminals of Hell's Kitchen.

Peak Physical Conditioning

Through many years of intensive training in multiple physical and mental disciplines, Matt's body and mind is at the peak of a man of his age, height, and weight.

Gifted Intellect

Murdock's intelligence and brain functions have always been apparent; long before he was affected by radiation, his long-term midnight training, A+ morning schooling and little need of sleep is a testament to that.

Indomitable Will

Daredevil has tremendous determination, fearlessness and strength of will, which makes him an extremely formidable opponent, one who absolutely refuses to ever hunker down and give up, even when placed against seemingly insurmountable odds. Hence, he is one of the extremely few individuals on Earth known to possess the willpower to resist the Purple Man's mind control, with Daredevil having successfully done so on more than one occasion.