Let’s be honest for a second: For some of us who have kept up with the genre since Iron Man and The Dark Knight changed the game a decade ago, superhero movies sometimes feel like they’re getting a little old.
There are a variety of reasons for this encroaching fatigue (which, it must be noted, has yet to manifest itself in the form of lower box office revenues), but the ubiquitous Marvel Studios storytelling formula is a key suspect. To quote director James Cameron in his docuseries AMC Visionaries: James Cameron’s Story of Science Fiction:
“Not that I don’t love the movies. It’s just, come on, guys, there are other stories to tell besides hyper-gonadal males without families doing death-defying things for two hours and wrecking cities in the process.”
Of particular interest, perhaps, is Cameron’s observation that typical superheroes are men (or women) without families. (To be fair, Marvel seems to have noticed this gap and tried to fill it via a key subplot in recent Avengers films.)
To this complaint, one might add that the typical superhero lacks another deeply human characteristic: The struggle with God and faith, an identification of the divine reality as a point of reference for the standards of good and evil. Batman has his famous rule against murder in the service of justice, but Christopher Nolan’s strikingly un-Gothic portrayal of the Caped Crusader avoids overt spiritual references, opting instead for a political/philosophical lens. Turning again to Marvel, apart from one throwaway line by Captain America in Joss Whedon’s first Avengers film (“There’s only one God, ma’am, and I’m pretty sure He doesn’t dress like that.”), any mentions of God in the Biblical sense are few and far between in these blockbusters.
So, it was with some surprise in 2015 that Netflix subscribers discovered a comic-accurate superhero series featuring a protagonist whose defining characteristic — over and above his horned costume, martial arts, and superhuman hearing — was a deeply human struggle with his own faith.
That series, of course, was the much-acclaimed Daredevil, Marvel’s most popular project in partnership with the online streaming giant from 2015-2018.
The very first scene in the series finds the hero, Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox), in the confessional, and it’s clear from his exchange with his confessor that he’s a little out of practice:
Matt Murdock: I’m not asking for forgiveness for what I’ve done, Father. I’m asking for forgiveness for what I’m about to do.
Father Lantom: That’s not how this works.
Matt’s motives for protecting his home of Hell’s Kitchen, NYC are noble, but he isn’t what you’d call a Catholic role model. He keeps to his own Batman-like code of “no killing,” but he’s strongly tempted to cross this line throughout the series. “Big bads” like Wilson Fisk (Vincent Donofrio) and the terrorist/ninja cult known as The Hand hatch an endless stream of nefarious plots that Matt has little power to stop. Often enough, he’s reduced to looking on powerlessly as the forces of darkness snuff out one innocent life after another in pursuit of their own savage utopianism.
One of the series’ many strokes of genius is granting the main antagonist Wilson Fisk (or “the Kingpin”, as he is known in the comics) an arguably benevolent motive. Although money and power are useful tools of his trade, Fisk isn’t after material rewards. Every murder he commits is in service of his ultimate goal: remaking the city in his own image, which he views as the only path to lasting order. Blinded by the paradise he believes will result from his monstrous acts, Fisk sees everyone standing in his way as the true villains.
As CS Lewis reminds us, “those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.”
In the face of Fisk’s self-assured villainy, Matt is tempted to fall into the same moral trap throughout the series. Indeed, his encounters with the equally-popular Marvel character the Punisher — a vigilante and former soldier whose preferred means of stopping criminals is an automatic rifle — produce some of the most compelling moral debates that any superhero film or series has dared to attempt (other than The Dark Knight series). In one rooftop exchange, it’s even established that the Punisher is himself a fallen-away Catholic, which serves to further emphasize the possibility that Matt could end up just like him if he gives in to his violent temptations.
Pondering his mission and the utility of its moral barriers, Matt turns to help from — who else? — his parish priest:
Matt Murdock: Do you believe in the Devil, Father?
Father Lantom: You mean . . . as a concept?
Murdock: No. Do you believe he exists? In this world, among us.
Lantom: You want the short answer or the long one?
Murdock: Just the truth.
Father Lantom relates a tale of his time as a missionary in Rwanda, concluding at last:
“I saw the Devil. So yes, Matthew… I believe he walks among us… Taking many forms.”
It’s not clear why Netflix’s Daredevil fell out of favor with the MCU, but there are plenty of theories. For example, rumors abound of Netflix seeking a bigger budget for later seasons, only to be shown the door by stingy Marvel higher-ups. Given the character’s popularity, there had been early whispers that Daredevil might make an appearance in an MCU film, but the gap between the worlds of the series and the MCU feature films grew larger season by season (to say nothing of Netflix’s other Marvel properties, which never managed to reach the artistic heights of Daredevil).
As filmgoers and comic enthusiasts, we’ve effectively entered a new era of Marvel with the conclusion of Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame. But in the face of the oncoming and inevitable next phase of big-budget sequels and spin-offs, perhaps it’s time that we look back at this near-perfect story that the MCU left behind.
Far from one superhero tale among many, Daredevil is a grounded, gritty, and Catholic story the likes of which we probably won’t see again for a long, long time.
Rest in peace, Matt Murdock…until we see you again.
More violent than most Marvel offerings, Netflix’s Daredevil is rated 15+ by Common Sense Media. Its positive messages about faith and justice are more than worth it for the appropriate audiences.
Michael Saltis
A proud native son of Akron, Ohio, Michael currently teaches English to business professionals in Prague, capital city of the Czech Republic. While he doesn't often get away from the "City of a Hundred Spires," he enjoys exploring the rest of the Old Continent whenever possible—especially those storied corners that help him recall the vividly-imagined knights and dragons of his youth.