Matt Murdock (Marvel Cinematic Universe)
Matt Murdock | |
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Into the Ring" | |
Based on | |
Adapted by | Drew Goddard |
Portrayed by |
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In-universe information | |
Full name | Matthew Murdock |
Aliases |
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Nickname | Matt |
Occupation |
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Affiliation |
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Family |
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Significant others |
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Religion | Stick |
Partners |
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Matthew "Matt" Murdock is a
In addition to Parker and Walters, he would also come to the defense of and befriend other heroes, namely
As of 2024[update], the character has appeared in the
Cox's portrayal received significant praise critically and from fans, with the "#SaveDaredevil" campaign and petition being launched for his return after Daredevil's cancellation in 2018, which Cox attributed in October 2022 as having been responsible for his return to the role.[1][2][3]
Concept and creation
There was this issue of
Bullseye, on a wire. The bad guy starts to fall; Daredevil catches him. He has him by the hand, high above the city....and then he decides to let him go. Daredevil drops him to his death—or what he thinks is his death—because he doesn't ever want this guy to kill again. I remember reading that when I was a kid and thinking, Oh my god. When we started working on our show, that scene from the comics kept coming up. We all thought, this is a hero who is one bad day away from permanently crossing a line.
— Steven S. DeKnight on the version of Daredevil that he wanted to create.[4]
The character Daredevil made his first appearance in his own self-titled issue, Daredevil #1 (April 1964), written by Stan Lee and art by Bill Everett with unspecified input provided by Jack Kirby, who devised Daredevil's billy club.[5][6][7]
In 2013,
Casting
The idea of casting Cox as Daredevil came from Marvel's chief creative officer
Cox later explained that, unlike the Marvel comic book character, his version of Daredevil would not be a "man without fear", saying "Someone who does not have fear – literally does not experience fear – is not that interesting. The way I like to think about it is that he is a man with fear, but he on a daily basis decides to confront that fear and to overcome it. So the title of 'the man without fear' is almost a title that the public in his world gives him just because of what he does. But inside himself, he's very afraid at times. And he finds a way to confront those fears and punch through it."[14] Cox "had to do a lot of gym work" to change his physique to equal that of the more muscular character as drawn in the comics.[12]
Series cancellation and revival
In November 2018, Netflix cancelled the series after three seasons.[15] Though the seasons would remain to stream on the service, the character would "live on in future projects for Marvel". Cox was saddened by the cancellation, since it "felt like we had a lot of stories to tell", especially since he had been excited by what had been discussed for a potential fourth season, adding that he was hopeful for an opportunity to portray the character again.[16] Following the series' cancellation, fans launched a petition to revive the series with the "SaveDaredevil" hashtag. The petition amassed over 300,000 signatures.[17]
In June 2020, Cox was unexpectedly contacted by Marvel Studios president
Design
Matt Murdock disguised himself at night. One might say he also disguised himself during the day. Dark glasses or a mask always cover his eyes. The two looks have nothing in common on the face of it. However, consider that both are "uniforms" – practical, functional, and protective. Matt maintains a professional distance dressed as attorney. His vigilante uniform does much the same, although in disguise. He does his best not to get involved with the people he helps or who help him, with limited degrees of success.
— Costume designer Stephanie Maslansky on the ideas behind Murdock's lawyer and vigilante costumes.[24]
Murdock's suits are differentiated more by texture than color, with a limited palette, "Because, obviously, he can't see his colors, but he has to know anything he chooses is going to coordinate with one another". Cox's size changed throughout the series as he continued to work out.
Maslansky noted that they wanted the outfit to "look like something that Matt Murdock could put together himself, that he could either order off the Internet or shop around town. ... I went to army/navy stores. I went online. I looked at athletic clothing, compression clothing, military stuff and construction stuff....we wound up with pretty practical choices for him. His shirts are compression shirts and his pants wound up being from an army/navy store". Concerning the black mask, Maslansky noted that a balance between aesthetic and safety was required, and that "It's made out of a cotton mesh. Layers and layers of it. It has to really conform to his head, but at the same time, he had to be able to see through it."[25]
On the red suit that Murdock gets at the end of the first season, Maslansky said, "We wanted something that looked militaristic and functional, but also dramatic and sexy" adding that it was "tricky" making it practical.[27] To begin the process of creating the suit, Quesada contacted Ryan Meinerding and the costume artists and design team at Marvel Studios, who all contributed design ideas, with one of Meinerding's ultimately being picked. Quesada, who previously worked as an artist on Daredevil comics, gave several suggestions, including the use of rivets and "architectural" shapes as a reference to the creation of New York City. The suit is intended to look like a Kevlar vest, and the black sections are an homage to comic panels where the artists highlighted certain areas with red, with "deeper portions" in shadow. On the mask, Meinerding noted the difficulty in designing the entire top half of a face that is intended to match the bottom half of an actor's face, "because half of his face has to be covered and has its own expression and the actor's face is going to be doing something else".[28]
Evolution into Daredevil
Talking about why the traditional "DD" does not appear on Murdock's red suit, and other difficulties with adapting the suit to live action, DeKnight explained that "he got the suit before he got the name. We talked a lot about DD on the suit, which is one of the more problematic emblems in superhero-dom. It's a little wonky. His suit in the comics is very difficult to translate to screen, especially in this world that is grounded and gritty. There are some practical difficulties. The Daredevil outfit in the comics, his mask only covers half his nose. It doesn't come all the way down to the tip. We discovered when we were trying to design it that if you didn't bring it all the way down, you could clearly tell it was Charlie. Not only did we have the suspension of belief that nobody would know "hey, that's Matt Murdock" we also had the practical problem of it becoming almost impossible when it came to switching in and out our stunt double. So we had to make that adjustment".[29]
In She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, Daredevil's costume is similar to the red one he wore in the Netflix series, but with an updated color scheme to include the yellow helmet and accents from the character's debut comics design in Daredevil #1.[30][31] Marvel Studios had clear intentions as to what his costume would look like for the series.[32]
Characterization
DeKnight has explained that Murdock is "not super strong. He's not invulnerable... he just has senses that are better than a normal human's". On the character's "grey" morals, he noted, "He's a lawyer by day, and he's taken this oath. But every night he breaks that oath, and goes out and does very violent things".
On portraying the character, Cox said, "There are so many aspects. There's the blindness and physicality. Making a show is about human emotion, conflict and turmoil. When meeting a man who's a lawyer by day and believes in law and justice and then a man by night is someone who takes the law into his own hands. He deals with battles dealing with that concept".[35] Elaborating on the difficulties of playing the character, Cox said, "I put on a shirt but I can't look where the buttons are, because Daredevil wouldn't know where the buttons are, but I also can't fumble".[36]
Cox worked with blind consultant Joe Strechay,
The ending of The Defenders implied elements of the third season would be inspired by the "Born Again" story arc,[41][42] with Cox being excited to adapt "Born Again", calling it an "amazing story" and that the implications of the story on the season would be "very exciting".[43] Season three showrunner Erik Oleson drew inspiration from both "Born Again" and "Guardian Devil" for the tone of the season,[44] structurally building the season if any viewer was a "devout Catholic... you could read into the events of the early episodes as a message from God to Matt"[45] and noting that Murdock would "broken physically, broken emotionally, and broken spiritually" with his heightened senses failing him, adding that Murdock is "angry at God, angry at the fact he had risked his life to do God's work, and he's questioning whether or not he was a fool." This results in Murdock donning the black suit from season one, since he goes to "pretty much the darkest place you can" and is at a point where he's "incapable of being Daredevil, [and] he would rather just end it than go forward in his life without abilities."[46]
For the character's appearance in She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, star
On Murdock's appearances in Spider-Man: No Way Home and She-Hulk, Cox explained: "It should be and it is always the same character. The difference is just like with people, we morph and change and are very different based on what's going on in our lives. The Matt Murdock from the Netflix show, that world and what was going on for Matt meant that most of the time we were living with a man who had a huge amount of pressure and strain and tonally the show was very dark and gritty and heavy. I don't know what [Daredevil: Born Again] will be like, but when I came over to do Spider-Man and She-Hulk, the tone is much more lighthearted and tongue in cheek and fun and witty and full of levity, so the hope was that Matt is able to fit into that world and participate in it without it being a different character, a different person."[23]
Appearances
The character first appears in the Marvel Television series Daredevil and later The Defenders as a founding member of the eponymous team.
Fictional character biography
Early life
Matt Murdock was born to boxer
Becoming a vigilante
Shortly after opening the firm, Murdock and Nelson are appointed with Union Allied employee
Page and New York Bulletin reporter
Clashing with the Punisher and the Hand
About six months later,
Murdock's covert operations disrupts his ability to work on the trial and Castle is subsequently sent to
Forming the Defenders
Months after Elektra's death,
Taking shelter at a restaurant, the four are joined by Stick, who explains the Hand's conflict with the Chaste and K'un L'un, and in repelling the next attack Cage also captures Hand leader Sowande, who reveals the other part of their plan; use Rand's Iron Fist to access the dragon bones at the bottom of Midland Circle. The Black Sky finds their hideout, kills Stick and captures Rand, setting up their final conflict at Midland Circle, where the Defenders choose to demolish the building on top of the Hand, whose leadership the Black Sky has adopted upon recalling her past as Natchios. Murdock stays behind in an attempt to reconnect with Elektra as the building drops on them.
Kingpin's return
Murdock washes into the New York sewer system, being found by a taxi driver and delivered to Father Paul Lantom, who entrusts Murdock with the care of Grace. As he slowly recovers, Murdock has a crisis of faith and decides to continue as Daredevil. After Fisk manipulates the
Murdock resolves to kill Fisk to relieve New York and the FBI from his grasp, but hearing that Page is to be assassinated diverts him to save her, with Lantom dying in the crossfire. His last-ditch legal effort with lead Agent
Surviving the Blip
In 2018, Murdock survives
Helping Peter Parker
In 2024,
Dating Jennifer Walters
In 2025, Murdock receives a recolored Daredevil suit by tailor Luke Jacobson from
A week later, Murdock returns to Los Angeles and begins dating Walters. He meets her family, including
Reception
Critical response
Brian Lowry of Variety praised Cox's portrayal of the character,[61] while Mike Hale, writing for The New York Times, called Cox's performance as "divided", praising him as Murdock but criticizing him as Daredevil.[62] IndieWire's Liz Shannon Miller, reviewing season one, praised the performances of the cast, especially D'Onofrio, Curtis-Hall, and Cox.[63]
Accolades
Year | Award | Category | Nominee(s) | Result | Ref. |
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2015 | Helen Keller Achievement Award | Honoree | Charlie Cox | Won | [64] |
2016 | Saturn Awards | Best TV Actor | Charlie Cox | Nominated | [65] |
2017 | Saturn Awards | Best Actor on a Television Series | Charlie Cox | Nominated | [66] |
2019 | Saturn Awards | Best Actor in Streaming Presentation | Charlie Cox | Nominated | [67] |
See also
- Characters of the Marvel Cinematic Universe
- List of Daredevil characters
- List of The Defenders characters
Notes
- ^ As depicted in the film Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019).
References
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External links
- Matt Murdock on Marvel.com
- Matt Murdock on Marvel Cinematic Universe Wiki, an external wiki
- Matthew Murdock (Earth-199999) on Marvel Database, a Marvel Comics wiki