The Moral Complexity of Daredevil
Marvel’s Daredevil is a television show originally on Netflix about Matt Murdock, a blind lawyer whose heightened senses, radar perception, and physical prowess allows him to become a vigilante at night. It’s a comic book adaptation that fits well into a variety of genres: an action packed urban thriller at the same time a legal drama with a (huge) dash of social commentary on the side.
The series only had three seasons to run before Netflix cancelled their deal with Marvel for reasons still undisclosed to the public, yet in its brief run it has managed to become the masterpiece of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. With an amazing cast, well-crafted stories, great action scenes, a sympathetic villain, and enough plot twists to keep you biting your nails, this thirty-nine episode cinematic gourmet would already have been a great addition to the roster of quality Marvel productions, but there is something in Daredevil that makes it special.
You see, Daredevil is a deeply personal story. It examines the motivations and consequences of personal decisions that few comic book adaptations are able to translate into the screen. Daredevil does not hesitate to tackle the questions that are relevant today: Does the greater good precede legality? Should the end justify the means? Is the inherent goodness of an action subjective?
Before we proceed any further, I need to say this: SPOILER ALERT. From here on, I will be dropping spoilers from time to time, but I’ll try to keep it as mild as possible. Still, for anyone who does not want to be spoiled on this amazing series, please do come back when you doget to see it. I promise, it is an amazing show and it is something that will be completely worth your time. Now, shall we proceed?
A Study of Characters
Daredevil excels as a moral masterpiece because of its plethora of characters, each one with a unique set of motivations, worldviews, and principles. As a devout Catholic, Matt Murdock struggles to maintain his faith in a life that pushes him deeper into a world of violence and death. Foggy Nelson is an upcoming lawyer torn apart between his devotion to his best friend Matt and serving the oppressed in his community and his own personal ambitions for his career and family. Karen Page attempts to find meaning in a life that keeps being haunted by the past she keeps running away from. The stories of these three, along with those around them, weave together in a way that keeps you thrilled for the next episode yet leaves you asking more questions.
The moral complexity of these three, however, are only made interesting because of how they contrast with the people they interact with. Each season of Daredevil introduces us to a new person who serves as our ethical foil, a moral surrogate who shines a spotlight on our heroes’ beliefs for us to question the soundness of their decisions. These people often share very little with each other, yet they all bring out a unique background with which to see our heroes, making Daredevil all the better for it.
Season 1: Wilson Fisk and the Human Condition
The story of the establishment against the common man is a trope that has been handed down for centuries. From the adventurous exploits of Robin Hood stealing from the corrupt King John and his lackeys to the multitude of young adult novels centered on a young, charismatic leader and their quest to topple an oppressive government, the story can feel cliche and bland.
Daredevil avoids this by letting us spend a huge portion of the season with Wilson Fisk: a crime syndicate overlord, commonly known as Kingpin, who is not afraid to get what he wants by any means necessary. As we spend more time with Mr. Fisk, we get to know him and begin to see his vision, both at a personal and a bird’s eye view level. We see his passion for both his city and his beloved, Vanessa, and the more time we spend with him the more we begin to believe in his vision of a better Hell’s Kitchen.
It is when only when Fisk’s story runs parallel with Matt Murdock’s, both as a lawyer and vigilante, and his allies’ that we starkly see the flaws of our character. Both use extralegal means to serve the community as they see fit, but only Fisk is willing to kill for it. Like our trio, we see Mr. Fisk as a human, with the capacity of love and affection towards Vanessa that often supersedes that of our heroes. In Kingpin, we see the human condition in its barest form.
Told separately (and even if it wasn’t), some of us perhaps would have rooted for Mr. Fisk, but because we are shown a more reasonable approach we see him as a villain. Nevertheless, there is a rawness in Kingpin that we as humans deeply sympathize with, and it is in Wilson Fisk we see the limits of our humanity, both in its magnificence and its depravity.
Season 2: Frank Castle and Redemption
The story of the Punisher, Frank Castle, is the story of a question. No, it isn’t whether the ends justify the means. It would be hypocritical to ask such a question to a masked vigilante who illegally beats up thugs at the middle of the night. Rather, the character of Frank Castle leads us to a more relevant and difficult inquiry.
During Daredevil’s and Punisher’s seacond confrontation on the city rooftops, Frank asks Matt to choose between killing him and a hardened criminal, whom Frank will kill if Daredevil refuses to shoot anyone. As expected, our hero resolves the problem in a creative manner, yet the question was already been hung at the door: does everyone deserve a chance at redemption, and to what degree should we uphold or deny them that chance?
Throughout the season, this question is repeatedly explored, from the introduction of Elektra and how Matt keeps her from falling into her evil tendencies, even if it means alienating him from his friends and his career, to Frank botching his chance for freedom for him to enter prison and allow him to take more criminals down with him. While all of these are happening, we are forced to see the price Matt, Karen, and Foggy have to pay to uphold their beliefs, and how they are eventually torn apart by it.
Rather than give us definite answers, season two leaves us with more questions for us to answer, both in the show and in real life.
Season 3: Ray Nadeem and the Price of Being Good
Season three begins by introducing us to the life of Ray Nadeem, family man, struggling breadwinner, and FBI agent. Unlike Fisk or Castle, Nadeem doesn’t have a criminal empire or a unique set of skills as his source of power. Rather he draws his strength on his passion for his family, his work, and his desire to do what is good. This makes Ray Nadeem the most similar to us, which means that the questions he brings forward are the ones we relate the most with.
Financially struggling because of her sister-in-laws chemotherapy, Nadeem seeks to find a break in life by seeking a promotion, and he sees no better way than to take on Wilson Fisk, criminal mastermind (and I mean mastermind in a literal sense), and squeeze him for information in exchange of a few concessions. Ray proceeds to give Fisk more ground, believing that what he is doing serves the greater good. As the story progresses, however, Ray begins to see how he has been manipulated all this time, and the stacks begin to pile against him.
Nevertheless, Ray struggles to fight for what he believes is right, falling back to the institutions that he, and all of us, has always relied on. As his story begins to intertwine with Matt, Karen, and Foggy, we are presented with the dilemmas of our protagonists not far from what we experience everyday.
How do we keep doing good when the cards are stacked against us? Should we let others also carry the burden of us doing what is right? What do we do when the systems and beliefs we have always believed in begins to fails us?With Matt struggling with his faith both in God and the criminal system, Karen with the guilt of her loved ones paying the price of her mistakes, and Foggy with his fear of putting his family in the range of fire as he keeps the fight against Fisk alive, these questions become more relevant as the story progresses.
Unlike our trio, however, Ray Nadeem (and in extension us) has to struggle with all of these without superpowers, and his eventual demise leads us to question whether upholding our principles is still worth it.
The Devil’s in the Details
Despite lasting for thirty-nine episodes, Daredevil keeps its appeal to audiences because of its constant search of ambiguous questions for us to answer. Matt, Karen, and Foggy lays the groundwork of our story (and don’t mistake me, they are great characters in their own right), but it is those whom they encounter that makes our story bloom into a thousand different dilemmas. The show isn’t afraid to make us question the principles we thought we have already have established in previous seasons, using characters and situations that are not only complex but are deeply intimate and relatable, and it is this dynamic that makes Daredevil the best Marvel has to offer.
