50 Greatest Super Heroes In Comic Book History

16. Daredevil

(Write-up by Matt Conner, Bam Smack Pow Staff Writer)

Daredevil has long been a champion of the person with disability, as a man blinded during a childhood attempt to save a life who developed RADAR senses and used them to become an acrobat and martial artist. When he is written well, readers learn what the world is like without sight, and he demonstrates heroism by not only accepting his differences in ability but finding ways to enjoy and use them.

But the blindness isn’t his major defining characteristic. Along with She-Hulk, he is one of the few lawyers in Marvel’s superhero pantheon. While this is sometimes at odds with his vigilante status, it demonstrates his commitment to honing his mind. When children are reading Daredevil comics, they’re getting to imagine leaping off rooftops and swinging from flagpoles, but they’re also getting to try on careers for size. Most secret identity jobs feel like hassles keeping the hero from doing his work: Clark Kent mainly used his Daily Planet job to find out where Superman was needed; Peter Parker sold pictures to the Bugle to pay for web fluid. Matt Murdock is a lawyer because he values the law. Because he is willing to use his mind to protect the innocent from more than just a mugging, to make sure the burglar Spider-Man webbed to a lamppost actually stays behind bars. Again, apart from She-Hulk, there are very few superheroes who help people think about realistic job choices and the way that they can use their professional calling to make a difference.

(Read More > See where Kingpin ranks among the 50 Greatest Super Villains)

For me, as a psychiatrist in my day job, Matt Murdock’s mental health is his most heroic feature. Many readers of comics have experienced depression. It’s a common mental illness, and yet it’s rare to see on the page. Ever since Frank Miller’s defining run on Daredevil’s book, this hero has been the best example of depression a reader can get. Writer after writer, Matt gets built up to be knocked down, and he responds differently every time. Dating Matt Murdock starts the clock until you get a sai jammed through your chest, or you develop a career in drug-fueled pornography, or you get locked in a psych ward for the rest of your life, or you commit suicide (I swear, these have all happened to his girlfriends).

Under Miller, he processed his loss with sadness, then anger and vengeance. Under Bendis, he bravely took a chance on loving again and paid attention to his public interface with his community. Under Andy Diggle, he became a ninja drunk on power who killed his archenemy and built a feudal Japanese prison in the middle of New York. Under Mark Waid, he has tried a strategy of denial and recently saw that give way to a strategy of being authentic with the people who love him. Apart from the drunken ninja thing, most people with some history of depression can imagine these strategies with varying realism. The fact that he hasn’t stopped yet, that he chooses to live in a world where he may lose everything AGAIN, and continues to honor his commitment to protecting the innocent. That people still want to see him on Netflix even after the Ben Affleck movie version. All that makes Daredevil one of the greatest and most enduring heroes Marvel has.

Next: No. 15: From sidekick to super hero