From valuing their secret identities to caring about the little guy, the MCU’s Avengers have a lot to learn from Matt Murdock and Daredevil.
Daredevil is now part of the MCU, and there are many things the Avengers must learn from Matt Murdock. While the Daredevil TV show, as well as the rest of the Defenders saga, would sometimes reference the events of the MCU, the MCU had never acknowledged those series. Despite the confirmed returns of Charlie Cox as Daredevil, Vincent D’Onofrio as Wilson Fisk, and Jon Bernthal, the canon status of the Defenders saga has yet to be settled. Regardless of whether the MCU will reference the previous Marvel shows, Daredevil interacting with a larger Marvel universe is the perfect opportunity to reinvent how the MCU uses the Avengers.
Similar to the comics, having Daredevil interact with the Avengers and other Marvel heroes can allow the MCU to show different sides of not only Matt Murdock but also its main superheroes. Everything about Daredevil – from how his costume is put together to his moral code – is quite different from most of the MCU’s Avengers, which can lead to some unique interactions.
5. Daredevil Values His Secret Identity
Daredevil values his secret identity in a way that the vast majority of the MCU’s Avengers do not. In a universe that was built on Tony Stark revealing himself to be Iron Man at the end of the very first movie, it was difficult to recapture the meaning of secret identities. Still, as much as Tony Stark’s improvised line “I am Iron Man” moment worked, secret identities should not have been dropped in the MCU. Granted, a lot of the Avengers actually do not care about keeping their superhero lives separated from their civilian ones in the comics, but masks and helmets have pretty much no meaning in the MCU.
Even Spider-Man, whose entire journey in the comics is based on trying to conciliate his Peter Parker life with his secret Spider-Man life, seemed to not care that much about revealing his face to all of the Avengers. With Daredevil now in the MCU, the franchise must be careful not to forget such a crucial part of Matt’s character – he dreads his Daredevil life and his Matt Murdock life intersecting. Matt almost lost his best friends over his secret Daredevil identity, which he never regretted hiding. In fact,Kingpin learning Daredevil’s secret identity almost doomed Matt and everyone around him.
4. Daredevil Doesn’t Work For Any Organization
SHIELD has been one of the foundations of the MCU since Phase 1. While SHIELD has always been an important part of Marvel Comics, it became even more important for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, as having an all-powerful organization watching over potential superheroes and villains could make crafting an interconnected movie universe a lot easier. SHIELD become the thread connecting all corners of the MCU’s Phase 1, with Nick Fury as the one who put the Avengers together. Even outside of SHIELD, a lot of the MCU’s superheroes either are or have been associated with a larger group, such as Doctor Strange and the sorcerers.
Daredevil does not work for any organization nor is he associated with any groups that tell him what to do or in what missions to engage. Except for the brief run with the Defenders and occasional team-ups with the Punisher and Elektra, Daredevil works alone. Matt Murdock needs no briefing for his next mission as Daredevil – he has to make his own investigation every time something feels wrong. Given how uniquely Daredevil operates compared to Hulk or Captain Marvel, it will be interesting to see how Daredevil will fit in the Avengers if Charlie Cox appears in Avengers: The Kang Dynasty or Avengers: Secret Wars.
3. Daredevil Is Always Watching Over His City
For a lot of the MCU’s Avengers, being a superhero is just a part of their life. For example, for Tony Stark, being Iron Man was just one of many things on Stark’s daily schedule. Before uncovering the truth about SHIELD, Steve Rogers would just wait for Nick Fury to point him on his next mission. The same applies to Black Widow and Hawkeye, both of whom were, for a long time, an extension of Nick Fury and SHIELD’s will. Even Spider-Man, who was supposed to be the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, started his MCU superhero journey waiting for Iron Man to recruit him for bigger missions.
Another example is Ant-Man, who’s now a celebrity after Avengers: Endgame. For Matt Murdock, there was no prestige associated with being Daredevil. Everything about putting on a mask and fighting people every night was actually the opposite of what Matt believed, yet he answered the classic “hero’s call.” Spider-Man’s “With great power, comes great responsibility,” which only debuted in the MCU during Spider-Man: No Way Home’s Aunt May death, perfectly fits Matt’s journey. That is why Daredevil was often patrolling Hell’s Kitchen during the Daredevil series – he was always on a quest to help people. Between Matt Murdock’s courtroom crusade and Daredevil’s night missions, the character rarely rested.
2.Daredevil Truly Looks Out For The Little Guy
The MCU’s Avengers have faced demigods, mad titans, time travelers conquerors, and all sorts of alien armies. However, it was rare to see superheroes like Iron Man or Captain America fighting everyday threats to protect the “little guy.” Every time the Avengers were on screen together, they were reacting to something. Be it a stolen Tesseract or Thanos looking for the Infinity Stones, the Avengers were always on a specific mission. Any sort of rescue scene or any sort of interaction with civilian people was usually just a consequence of the destruction caused by the Avengers themselves. Avengers: Age of Ultron’s Hulk rage battle, for example.
Captain America: Civil War highlighted how, wherever the Avengers go, destruction follows them. In the Netflix series, Daredevil was rarely on a specific mission, even though he quickly made a lot of enemies. Still, regardless of having Wilson Fisk playing all of his cards against the masked vigilante or having to face the mysterious Hand, Daredevil never stopped watching over those who needed the most. Obviously, the fact that Daredevil is more grounded than Thor or Hulk makes it easier for that aspect to be incorporated. Still, many MCU heroes, including Spider-Man, leave a lot to be desired compared to Daredevil when it comes to helping people.
1. Daredevil Doesn’t Kill
Whereas heroes like Batman and Spider-Man are known for having a no-killing rule that has followed their comic book journeys for decades, most of the MCU’s Avengers do not make a big deal of whether or not they should kill an enemy. Granted, the fact that the Avengers and the MCU heroes in general often face alien creatures or robots helps the franchise avoid any debate of whether a character should kill or not, but Avengers like Black Widow and Captain America never had a problem with killing. A lot of the MCU’s superheroes were trained as soldiers or secret agents for their whole life, which doesn’t apply to Daredevil.
As someone who only decided to use his skills to help people during college, Matt Murdock had to create his own set of rules for being a superhero. Daredevil’s moral code is one of the most interesting things about the character, something that Netflix’s Daredevil show’s first scene perfectly captured. Matt Murdock is a violent man, yet he never crosses certain lines. Daredevil refuses to kill, which sparked his rivalry with the Punisher. The first conversation between Daredevil and Punisher in Daredevil season 2 summarizes how Matt perceives his Daredevil crusade, a type of nuance that the MCU’s Avengers are lacking.
source: screenrant.com
