Daredevil and Faith

The Power of Honouring God

Daredevil is my favourite character. He’s not just my favourite Marvel character. He’s not just my favourite character across the comic medium. He’s my favourite across all mediums. To me, Daredevil is the best.

Often times, I’d ask myself, what makes Daredevil so compelling? What is it that makes me want to read his stories? There’s some answers that come to mind.

Daredevil is not just a tragic character. He’s the most tragic character in all of Marvel comics. His Mother abandoned him as a baby due to post-partum depression. He lost his sight as a child. His Father died at the hands of mobsters at a young age. The love of his life Elektra was killed at the hands of the deadly assassin Bullseye. He’s been through so much tragedy, you wonder why he didn’t turn into a villain.

On top of the tragedies that he went through, there’s more that makes the character interesting. As I’ve mentioned in my previous post, he’s filled with dichotomies. Matt Murdock is a lawyer who breaks the law as a vigilante when justice can’t be done by civil means. He’s a blind man who has enhanced senses and a “radar” sense that helps him see better than anyone else (especially in the dark). He’s a devout Catholic who dresses up as the Devil and beats criminals up at night. Daredevil is a saviour who can’t stop sinning.

Despite all of this, there’s more to Daredevil that makes him compelling. Frank Miller’s Daredevil: Born Again adds to the character’s complexity as the story perfectly shows Matt’s subjective viewpoint on how his faith shapes him as a person. Daredevil: Born Again is not the best Daredevil story because it throws Matt to his lowest-point. It’s the best Daredevil story because it shows us who Matt is at his low point.

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When I was a kid, my parents made me go to church every Sunday. As a child, I didn’t understand why adults made me do this, let alone why they went to church in their spare time. I didn’t understand why the Bible is so important. I didn’t understand faith.

As I got older and started getting into comics, Matt Murdock really got my attention. At first, I thought he was interesting because of his handicap. My brother has a disability, so it was and still is inspiring to see a character accomplish so much despite his handicap. Even though he can’t see, Matt’s still able to kick people’s ass as Daredevil and wipe the floor with his opponents as a lawyer in the courtroom. That’s inspiring. That makes me want to read Daredevil stories every time Marvel comics makes a new release.

Yet, as I kept on reading about the character, I got less and less intrigued about his handicap and more interested in his faith. Matt Murdock is a devout Catholic. Much like my parents and the adults around me, Matt Murdock’s faith is a guiding force in his life.

For awhile, I thought I had things figured out with Matt Murdock. On the surface, it makes sense why God is a part of his life. He lost his Mother, Father and the first love of his life Elektra. God is the only person who hasn’t left him. Matt’s a really disenfranchised person. You can make the argument that Matt would have given into despair had it not been for his faith. You can argue that he would not have made it far without God’s love.

Yet there’s more to faith than just having it as a tool to deal with life when things get tough.

Recently, I came across Pascal’s Wager. Blaise Pascal was a great French mathematician and theologian (1623-1662), who created a thought experiment in which an agnostic must gamble on whether God exists. The agnostic is basically making a gamble in his life. The agnostic must wager the way he conducts his life either by honouring God or acting like he does not exist. The ultimate payoff of this gamble is the fate of his soul in the afterlife. In this wager, Pascal asserts, “reason cannot decide” the probability of God’s existence. Either God exists or he does not. Only faith, not reason, can answer that question.

For a guy that’s a master at using reason and logic in the courtroom, his faith is what makes him so special. Matt Murdock’s faith is stronger than anything.

Daredevil: Born Again isn’t just a story about a gritty street level superhero fighting mobsters. I’d argue it’s not even a superhero story. It’s a story about honouring God. It’s a story about love, forgiveness and faith.

For context, here’s a run-down of Daredevil: Born Again. Karen Page, Matt’s new love interest and receptionist to the Nelson & Murdock law firm, decides to pursue her dreams and become an actress. As she embarks on this journey, things get very dark, very quickly for the young woman. Things don’t go her way. She doesn’t land any gigs on any movie or television production in Los Angeles. Eventually, she gets very desperate for money and housing. She starts getting mixed in with bad crowds. One thing leads to another, and she eventually gets addicted to heroin to deal with the crappy emotions. One night, she gets so desperate for another hit that she decides to reveal Matt Murdock’s Daredevil identity to a criminal. This information eventually leads back to the Kingpin of Crime, Wilson Fisk.

It’s here where we get to see how powerful the Kingpin is. Using his vast resources and intimidation, Wilson Fisk orchestrates a series of events that ruin Matt Murdock.

Slowly but surely, Matt’s life starts to fall apart. At first, there’s irregularities as the bank tells him that his mortgage payment haven’t been paid. Then the IRS audits him for ‘suspicious activities’. Any attempt to straighten out this mess is gone as his accounts go frozen.

To make matters worse, Matt is summoned to court to face perjury charges. A New York city cop lies and claims that he saw Matt pay off a witness. He later loses his court case and gets disbarred.

He gets driven to homelessness after his apartment gets blown up and his law firm gets burned to the ground. Eventually Matt realizes that the Kingpin has systematically ruined him.

To make matters even more worse, Matt has too much pride to ask for help from his one and only friend, Foggy Nelson. Matt’s current girlfriend dumped him and ran off to be with Foggy.

It’s here where Matt’s mental health starts to deteriorate. He starts to lose trust in the people around him. He gets increasingly paranoid. He starts to contemplate the last thing that he should do. He even starts to contemplate killing the Kingpin! If that wasn’t enough, Wilson Fisk orchestrates even more evil events. The Kingpin has Daredevil locked in a taxi and driven off a pier. Matt escapes and is later taken in by nun, who nurses him back to health in a church.

It’s here where Matt’s purgatory comes to an end. With the much-needed care he received, Daredevil is born again.

Karen Page returns to Matt to attempt to fix the pain and turmoil she caused him.

Instead of listening to reason and lashing out at her betrayal, Matt acts in faith.

When Jesus preached to his followers, he taught them the Lord’s prayer: “And forgive us our trespasses, As we forgive those who trespass against us.” (Matthew 6:12)

Matt instantly forgives her and chooses to love Karen Page. He chooses to love those no matter how damaged and flawed they are.

Daredevil isn’t dangerous because of his martial arts skills or his intelligence. His beliefs make him dangerous. Faith in God makes you powerful. The same power that lifts Christ from the dead, opened the prison doors for Paul and Silas, parted the red sea for Moses and helps David beat the giant Goliath lives in those who have faith. Daredevil: Born Again shows us that even in the worst of times, by honouring God through love, forgiveness and faith, one can survive anything. Anyone can find salvation.

What do you think? Do you think there are better Daredevil stories? Why do you think that Daredevil is so compelling?

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