1960s[edit]

The character debuted in Marvel Comics' Daredevil #1 (cover date April 1964),[12] created by writer-
editor Stan Lee and artist Bill Everett,[13] with character design input from Jack Kirby, who devised
Daredevil's billy club.[6] Writer and comics historian Mark Evanier has suggested without confirmation
that Kirby also designed the basic image of Daredevil's initial costume, though Everett modified
it.[6] That original costume design was a combination of black, yellow, and red, reminiscent of acrobat
tights.[9]
The first issue covered both the character's origins and his desire for justice on the man who had
killed his father, boxer "Battling Jack" Murdock, who raised young Matthew Murdock in the Hell's
Kitchen neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. Jack instills in Matt the importance of education
and nonviolence with the aim of seeing his son become a better man than himself. In the course of
saving a blind man from the path of an oncoming truck, Matt is blinded by a radioactive substance
that falls from the vehicle. The radioactive exposure heightens his remaining senses beyond normal
human limits, and giving him a kind of “radar” sense, enabling him to detect the shape and location
of objects around him. In order to support his son, Jack Murdock returns to boxing under the Fixer, a
known gangster, and the only man willing to contract the aging boxer. When he refuses to throw a
fight because his son is in the audience, he is killed by one of the Fixer's men. Having promised his
father not to use violence to deal with his problems, Matt gets around that promise by adopting a
new identity who can use physical force. Adorned in a yellow and black costume made from his
father's boxing robes and using his superhuman abilities, Matt confronts the killers as the superhero
Daredevil, unintentionally causing the Fixer to have a fatal heart attack.[9]
Wally Wood introduced Daredevil's modern red costume in issue #7,[14][15] which depicts Daredevil's
battle against the far more powerful Sub-Mariner, and has become one of the most iconic stories of
the series.[16][17]
Daredevil would embark on a series of adventures involving such villains as the Owl, Stilt-Man,
the Gladiator, and the Enforcers. In issue #16 (May 1966), he meets Spider-Man, a character who
would grow to become one of Daredevil's closest friends.[18] A letter from Spider-Man unintentionally
exposed Daredevil's secret identity, compelling him to adopt a third identity as his twin brother Mike
Murdock,[19][20] whose carefree, wisecracking personality much more closely resembled that of the
Daredevil guise than the stern, studious, and emotionally-withdrawn Matt Murdock did. The "Mike
Murdock" plotline was used to highlight the character's quasi-multiple personality disorder (he at one
point wonders whether Matt or Mike/Daredevil "is the real me"[21]), but it proved confusing to readers
and was dropped in issues #41–42, with Daredevil faking Mike Murdock's death and claiming he had
trained a replacement Daredevil. The series' 31-issue run by writer-editor Stan Lee and
penciler Gene Colan (beginning with issue #20) includes Daredevil #47, in which Murdock defends a
blind Vietnam veteran against a frameup; Lee has cited it as one of the favorite stories of his
career.[22][23]
Matt discloses his secret identity to his girlfriend Karen Page in issue #57.[24] However, the revelation
proves too much for her, and she is depicted as breaking off the relationship.[25] This was the first of
several long-term breakups between Matt and Karen, who would nevertheless prove the most
enduring of his love interests.

1970s[edit]
Gerry Conway took over as writer with issue #72, and turned the series in a pulp science fiction
direction: a lengthy story arc centered on a robot from thousands of years in the future trying to
change history. Even long-standing arch-villain the Owl was outfitted with futuristic weaponry and
vehicles. Conway also moved Daredevil to San Francisco beginning with Daredevil #86, and
simultaneously brought on the Black Widow as co-star for the series.[26] The Black Widow served as
Daredevil's crime-fighting ally as well as his love interest from issue #81–124 (Nov. 1971–Aug.
1975), of which #93-108 were titled Daredevil and the Black Widow.
Jann Wenner, the co-founder and publisher of the Rolling Stone music magazine appeared
in Daredevil #100 (June 1973) by Gerber and Colan.[27]
The writing and editing jobs went to Marv Wolfman with issue #124, which wrote the Black Widow
out of the series and returned Daredevil to Hell's Kitchen.[28]Wolfman promptly introduced the lively
but emotionally fragile Heather Glenn to replace the Black Widow as Daredevil's love interest.
Wolfman's 20-issue run included the introduction of one of Daredevil's most popular
villains, Bullseye,[29] and a story arc in which the Jester uses computer-generated images to
manipulate the mass media.
With issue #144, Jim Shooter became the writer and introduced Paladin in issue #150 (Jan.
1978).[30] Shooter had difficulty keeping up with the schedule, and the writing chores were shortly
turned over to Roger McKenzie.[31]
McKenzie's work on Daredevil reflected his background in horror comics, and the stories and even
the character himself took on a much darker tone: Daredevil battled a personification of death,[32] one
of his archenemies was bifurcated by a tombstone,[33] and a re-envisioning of Daredevil's origin
showed him using stalker tactics to drive the Fixer to his fatal heart attack.[34] McKenzie created
chain-smoking Daily Bugle reporter Ben Urich, who deduces Daredevil's secret identity over the
course of issues #153–163,[35] and had Daredevil using the criminal underworld of Hell's Kitchen as
an information network, adding several small-time crooks to the supporting cast.
Halfway through his run, McKenzie was joined by penciler Frank Miller with issue #158 (May
1979).[36]
In a story arc overlapping Wolfman, Shooter, and McKenzie's runs on the series, Daredevil reveals
his identity to Glenn and becomes partially responsible for the suicide of her father; their relationship
would persist, but would prove increasingly harmful to both of them. Though the Black Widow
returned for a dozen issues (#155–166) and attempted to rekindle her romance with Daredevil, he
ultimately rejects her in favor of Glenn.

1980s[edit]
Miller disliked Roger McKenzie's scripts,[31] so new editor Denny O'Neil fired McKenzie so that Miller
could write the series.[37]

Cover of Daredevil #184 (July 1982). Art by Frank Miller and Klaus Janson.

Miller continued the title in a similar vein to McKenzie. Resuming the drastic metamorphosis the
previous writer had begun, Miller took the step of essentially ignoring all of Daredevil's continuity
prior to his run on the series; on the occasions where older villains and supporting cast were used,
their characterizations and history with Daredevil were reworked or overwritten. Most prominently,
dedicated and loving father Jack Murdock was reimagined as a drunkard who physically abused his
son Matt, entirely revising Daredevil's reasons for becoming a lawyer.[38] Spider-
Man villain Kingpin was introduced as Daredevil's new primary nemesis, displacing most of his large
rogues gallery. Daredevil himself was gradually developed into something of an antihero. In issue
#181 (April 1982), he attempts to murder Bullseye by throwing him off a tall building; when the villain
survives as a quadriplegic, he breaks into his hospital room and tries to scare him to death by
playing a two-man variation on Russian roulette with a secretly unloaded gun.[38]
Following up a suggestion from O'Neill that he give Daredevil a realistic fighting style,[39] Miller
introduced ninjas into the Daredevil canon, bringing a martial-arts aspect to Daredevil's fighting
skills, and introducing previously-unseen characters who had played a major part in his youth: Stick,
leader of the ninja clan the Chaste, who had been Murdock's sensei after he was blinded;[40] a rival
organization of assassins called the Hand;[41] and Elektra, an ex-girlfriend and sometime member of
the Hand.[42] This was a drastic change for a character once called "the sightless swashbuckler."
Elektra was killed by Bullseye in issue #181 (April 1982).[43]
After #191 Miller left the series. O'Neil switched from editor to writer.[37] He continued McKenzie and
Miller's noir take on the series, but backed away from the antihero depiction of the character by
having him not only spare Bullseye's life, but express guilt over his two previous attempts to kill him.
Miller returned as the title's regular writer, co-writing #226 with O'Neil. Miller and artist David
Mazzucchelli crafted the acclaimed "Daredevil: Born Again" storyline in #227–233.[44] In the Born
Again storyline, Karen Page returns as a heroin-addicted porn star, and sells Daredevil's secret
identity for drug money. The Kingpin acquires the information and, in an act of revenge, orchestrates
a frameup which costs Murdock his attorney's license. Miller ended the arc on a positive note, with
Murdock reuniting with both Karen Page and Maggie, the mother he thought dead, now a nun.
Ann Nocenti later became the series's longest-running regular writer, with a four-and-a-quarter-year
run from #238–291 (Jan. 1987 – April 1991).
The team returned Murdock to law by co-founding with Page a nonprofit drug and legal clinic, while
Nocenti crafted stories confronting feminism, drug abuse, nuclear proliferation, and animal rights-
inspired terrorism. She introduced the antagonist Typhoid Mary,[45] and in issues #262–265 used the
Inferno event as a backdrop for the collapse of Daredevil's life: the clinic is destroyed, Page goes
missing after learning that Matt has had an affair with Mary Walker, and Walker reveals herself as
the alter ego of Typhoid Mary. Murdock subsequently becomes a drifter in upstate New York, an
especially controversial move in Nocenti's run, as it marked the first time the character had been
taken outside of an urban environment. She ended her run with a positive turn in Murdock's fortunes:
he returns to Hell's Kitchen, regains his sense of self, reconciles with Foggy Nelson, and resolves to
seek out Karen Page.

1990s[edit]
New writer D. G. Chichester continued from where Nocenti left off, with Murdock resuming his
friendship with Foggy Nelson, struggling to re-win the heart of Karen Page, appealing the revocation
of his attorney's license, and bonding more deeply than ever with Hell's Kitchen. Chichester's focus
on Daredevil's relationship with New York City went so far as to have two issues devoted entirely to
Daredevil defending New Yorkers from ordinary criminals and even simple accidents. The critically
acclaimed "Last Rites" arc from #297–300 saw Daredevil regaining his attorney's license and finally
bringing the Kingpin to justice.[46]
Frank Miller returned to the character and his origins with the 1993 five-issue Daredevil: The Man
Without Fear miniseries.[47] With artist John Romita Jr., Miller expanded his retcon of the life and
death of Murdock's father, "Battling Jack" Murdock, and Murdock's first encounters with the Kingpin
and Foggy Nelson.[48] The role of Stick in the genesis of Daredevil was expanded, as was Murdock's
doomed love affair with Elektra.
The creative team of Chichester and penciler Scott McDaniel changed the status quo with their "Fall
From Grace" storyline in issues #319–325 (Aug. 1993 – Feb. 1994).[49] Elektra, who was resurrected
in #190 but had not been seen since, finally returned. An injured Daredevil creates a more protective
costume from biomimetic materials: red and gray with white armor on the shoulders and knee pads.
Revamped billy clubs could attach to form nunchucks or a bo staff. His secret identity becomes
public knowledge, leading to him fake his own death and assuming the new identity of "Jack Batlin".
This new identity and costume lasts for several story arcs, while Murdock finds a way to convince
the world that he is not, in fact, secretly Daredevil (courtesy of a double). A short stint by J. M.
DeMatteis returned Daredevil to his traditional red costume and Matt Murdock identity.
Under writers Karl Kesel and later Joe Kelly, the title gained a lighter tone, with Daredevil returning
to the lighthearted, wisecracking hero depicted by earlier writers. Matt and Foggy (who now knows of
Matt's dual identities) join a law firm run by Foggy's mother, Rosalind Sharpe.
In 1998, Daredevil's numbering was rebooted, with the title "canceled" with issue #380 and revived a
month later as part of the Marvel Knights imprint.[50] Joe Quesada drew the new series, written by
filmmaker Kevin Smith.[51] Its first story arc, "Guardian Devil", depicts Daredevil struggling to protect a
child whom he is told could either be the Messiah or the Anti-Christ. Murdock experiences a crisis of
faith exacerbated by the discovery that Karen Page has AIDS (later revealed to be a hoax) and her
subsequent death at Bullseye's hands.[52] When he discovers that the true party responsible for the
scheme is Mysterio, who is currently dying of cancer, he leaves Mysterio to commit suicide, deciding
to use the money Karen left him in her will to re-open Nelson & Murdock.[volume & issue needed]
Smith was succeeded by writer-artist David Mack, who contributed the seven-issue "Parts of a Hole"
(vol. 2, #9–15). The arc introduced Maya Lopez, also known as Echo, a deaf martial artist.

2000s[edit]
David Mack brought colleague Brian Michael Bendis to Marvel to co-write the following arc, "Wake
Up" in vol. 2, #16–19 (May 2001 – August 2001),[53] which follows reporter Ben Urich as he
investigates the aftereffects of a fight between Daredevil and the new Leap-Frog.
The 2001 Daredevil: Yellow miniseries presented another take on Daredevil's origins using letters
written to Karen Page after her death. The series depicts the early rivalry between Matt Murdock and
Foggy Nelson for Page's affection, and incorporates many events depicted in the earliest issues
of Daredevil. The supervillains the Owl and the Purple Man appear as antagonists. In this story,
Daredevil credits Page with coining the phrase "The Man Without Fear", and she suggests to
Daredevil he wear all maroon instead of dark red and yellow.
Issue #26 (December 2001) brought back Brian Michael Bendis. Developments in this run included
the introduction of romantic interest and future wife Milla Donovan, the outing once again of
Murdock's secret identity, the reemergence of the Kingpin, and Daredevil's surrender to the FBI.
The impact of his exposure as Daredevil continued to be used as a plot point by both Bendis and
writer Ed Brubaker and artist Michael Lark, who became the new creative team with Daredevil vol. 2,
#82 (Feb. 2006).[54]

Danny Rand as Daredevil. Illustration by Michael Lark.

Brubaker's first story arc had a new character masquerading as Daredevil in Hell's
Kitchen.[55] Murdock later discovered the ersatz Daredevil is his friend Danny Rand, the
superhero Iron Fist.[56]
The series returned to its original numbering with issue #500 (Oct. 2009),[57] which followed vol. 2,
#119 (Aug. 2009). New writer Andy Diggle revised the status quo,[58][59] with Daredevil assuming
leadership of the ninja army the Hand. Daredevil later appeared in the one-shot Dark Reign: The
List – Daredevil.[60]

2010s[edit]
Following this came the crossover story arc "Shadowland",[61] in which it is revealed that Daredevil's
recent actions after taking control of the Hand are the result of him being possessed by a demon.
Purged of the demon by his allies, Murdock departs New York, leaving his territory in the hands of
the Black Panther in the briefly retitled series' Black Panther: Man Without Fear#513. Murdock finds
himself renewed in the miniseries Daredevil: Reborn #1–4 (March–July 2011), where he confronts a
drug dealer with the power to make his opponents live their darkest fears, Murdock reaffirming his
role as the man without fear as he confronts his enemy's taunts and resolves to return to New York.
In July 2011, Daredevil relaunched with vol. 3, #1 (Sept. 2011),[62] with writer Mark Waid. Waid
focused on emphasizing the character's powers and perception of the physical world.[63] In the
premiere issue, Murdock finds he can no longer serve as a trial lawyer due to past allegations of his
being Daredevil causing a case he represents in court to turn into a media circus. Two issues later,
Nelson and Murdock have developed a new business strategy of serving as consulting counselors,
by teaching clients how to represent themselves in court. Daredevil joins the New Avengers in a
story written by former Daredevilseries writer Brian Michael Bendis.[64][65] Daredevil appeared as a
regular character in the 2010–2013 New Avengers series in issues #16–34 (November 2011 –
January 2013). At one point, Foggy begins to question Matt's sanity, ultimately leading to a fallout
between the two.[66] They reconcile once the truth is discovered.[67][68] Daredevil vol. 3 ended at issue
#36 in February 2014,[69] in which Matt is forced to publicly reveal his Daredevil identity, resulting in
his being disbarred by New York and prompting him to again relocate to San Francisco.[70]
Waid and Chris Samnee followed this up with Infinite Comics' Daredevil: Road Warrior weekly digital
miniseries,[71] which focused on an adventure during Matt's trip to San Francisco. It was reprinted as
issue 0.1 in Daredevil volume 4,[72] which launched under Waid and Samnee with a new issue #1
(March 2014) as part of the All-New Marvel NOW! storyline centered on Matt's new life in San
Francisco.[71][73]
Daredevil volume 4 ended with issue #18 in September 2015. A new volume began as part of
the All-New, All-Different Marvel branding, written by Charles Soule with art by Ron Garney with the
first two issues released in December 2015.[74] In this series, Matt returns to New York, where he now
works as an Assistant District Attorney. He will have a redesigned costume and a new apprentice in
Samuel Chung, an undocumented immigrant who has been living in New York's Chinatown since he
was a child, who has taken up the codename Blindspot.[75] Flashbacks in a later story arc reveal how
Matt regained his secret identity; when the Purple Children acquired a machine designed by their
father to enhance his powers, after Matt had saved them from a mob, they used the machine to
erase the world's knowledge of Matt's identity as Daredevil, Matt only allowing Foggy to know his
secret identity afterwards,[76] enabling him to be re-instated as a New York Attorney.[77] Using his
restored secret identity, Murdock is able to take advantage of a subsequent court case to establish a
precedent for superheroes testifying in court without the need to expose their secret
identities.[78] Despite interference from the Kingpin, Murdock succeeds in taking this precedent to the
Supreme Court so that all superheroes will have the same rights in future cases, and afterwards
returns to his traditional red costume.[79]
Following the release of Issue 28, much like with other Marvel series as part of the Marvel
Legacy event, the Daredevil series official numbering was rebooted back to the original numbering
which started with Issue 595 which was released on November 8, 2017, where Daredevil's longtime
nemesis the Kingpin became the Mayor of New York City and begins a campaign to make costumed
vigilantes officially criminals.[80] Although Murdock's attempt to set up a sting operation results in his
allies being arrested when the Kingpin turns this trap against him, Fisk's legal manipulations work
against him when he is attacked by the Hand, leaving Fisk in a coma and Murdock legally mayor of
New York from his position as deputy mayor due to a loophole added by a prior administration that
had not been amended,[81]allowing Matt to take control of the city and release his fellow heroes to
help him stop the Hand.[82]
Charles Soule released his final Daredevil storyline "Death of Daredevil" during the October and
November 2018 releases, in a 4-part bimonthly release which ended the series.[83] Afterwards the
series went on hiatus for two months and resumed distribution in February 2019, with a brand-new
volume with the first two issues released during that month which were written by Chip Zdarsky.[84][85]