10 Classic Daredevil Stories Marvel Could Dive Into Further

[[{“value”:”

The upcoming Fantastic Four Fanfare series will tell new stories from various eras from its leading characters’ history, all part of an effort to promote the team for their upcoming movie this July. But the Fantastic Four aren’t the only team to have an expansive Marvel history worth digging into, of course.

Daredevil is a longstanding character who celebrated his sixtieth anniversary in 2024. While his title has been relaunched numerous times—now in volume eight, as of 2023–it’s never stopped being a bestseller. As such, he has numerous interesting eras of history to dive into and unpack from a modern perspective, which could make for a fun equivalency to the Fantastic Four Fanfare.

10

Matt Murdock’s Early Love Life Is Worth Looking Into

From other superheroes to forgotten civilians, Daredevil’s early romances could use some attention

Matt Murdock’s romantic history has always been, in the kindest possible terms, an absolute mess. Like most superheroes, he’s had many love interests through the years, but unlike many of his peers, most of his relationships have ended disastrously. This especially became apparent when the character’s world became darker and noirish. Fans are familiar with the horrible deaths of characters like Elektra and Karen Page at the hands of depraved foes like Bullseye.

They might also know characters like Milla Donovan and Mary Walker, who got the short end of the stick after dealing with Matt, but what about before they came into the picture? Daredevil had a few relationships that have now been forgotten about. Candace Nelson, Glorianna O’Breen, Heather Glenn, and even the superhero Moondragon all had feelings for the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen, and each of their relationships could get some interesting attention, especially considering how different they each were in terms of tone.

9

The Armored Suit Era Was One Of Daredevil’s Lows

Comparable to Spider-Man’s time in his iconic black suit in terms of being an emotional low, Daredevil’s armored suit era could use some modern-day polish

Grit, grime, and edge seemed to be a running motif of mid-to-late 1990s superhero comics, an arms race in which characters or teams could outdo each other in terms of how outrageous and unnecessary they could be. Long-standing icons like Daredevil were not exempt from this train of thought either. This was a time when the hero meandered for many of his stories, languishing in dark issues with no real substance.

Gone were the nuances of Frank Miller and Ann Nocenti, and here was the epitome of the worst aspects of both of their runs. This era does get revisited from time to time, though, and for one clear reason—Daredevil’s questionable armored red, black, and silver suit, a look defined by heavy paneling and ridiculous padding. It’s a nostalgic design that belonged to a time that could use a lot more direction and depth between the ears than what was initially granted to it.

8

A Rationale For Daredevil’s Red Threads Could Be Great

Daredevil’s transition from his yellow to red suit hasn’t really been explained

Daredevil’s yellow costume is often criticized for its comically unfitting nature for the character. While it’s been given some significance in more modern stories – they were the colors Matt’s father wore in the boxing ring – that doesn’t really fix how silly the suit comes off as at a glance. It was disposed of in Daredevil #7, with iconic artist Wally Wood giving the hero his iconic red costume, a suit that’s remained pretty much the same since 1965.

But what could always be looked into, especially from a modern perspective, is the in-universe reason why Matt removed the yellow from his suit to look like more of a straightforward devil. In the issue where he donned the classic red for the first time, he only mentions that he wanted to redesign his suit to be more comfortable and nothing more. Matt’s costume evolution—especially if one considers the black athletic wear the hero wore in Daredevil: The Man Without Fear—could be interesting to revisit with modern-day hindsight.

While not done justice at the time, Daredevil’s stint as a prosecutor could always be revisited

Matt Murdock is often known as a defense attorney, a choice that has always made sense for the character. He is a protector by nature, and defending the little man makes sense for such a heroic character. However, taking on the role of a prosecutor can also suit the nature of a vigilante, as someone dedicated to putting perceived bad guys away in jail.

This career change was a choice implemented by Charles Soule during his time on the character, likely influenced by the fact he actually has a history in that specific field of law. It could’ve been a great approach, considering his great legal-driven She-Hulk run. But it wasn’t given much screen time during his run on Daredevil, which isa shame considering its interesting implications for Matt Murdock’s character. A revisiting of that time could give the idea the justice it deserves.

6

Blindspot Could Use More Love

Daredevil’s forgotten sidekick, Blindspot, was a great character who could use more stories

Many of Marvel’s heroes don’t really have sidekicks. They may have allies, close teammates, or equal partners in their heroic endeavors, but it’s not too common that they have younger sidekicks running amok, exceptions like Captain America and Bucky notwithstanding. Daredevil, in particular, is not a character expected to have a younger cohort assisting him in his adventures—especially considering how gruesome they can get—but that all changed with the introduction of Blindspot.

Blindspot, real name Samuel Chung, was a fascinating character highlighting Charles Soule’s otherwise middling run. It’s a surprise he’s never really gotten much solo focus beyond the Daredevil title, and he’d be excellently suited for it, especially in the wake of what happened in the Red Fist Saga.

5

The Shadowland Event Could Be A Wonderful Time To Look Back On

One of Daredevil’s few events, Shadowland was an expansive era

Some heroes aren’t the most suited for wide-spanning events—and that’s okay. But sometimes, they are occasionally granted the types of storylines that stretch across several books, and these types of events can become ingrained as keystone points in said character’s lore. This was most certainly the case with Daredevil and the Shadowland saga.

This point in time for Daredevil was yet another low for the hero, becoming the merciless leader of the Hand in a bid to clean New York from the scourge of crime. This was partly due to possession by a wicked demon known as The Beast, a figure that had long become associated with the mysticism of the Hand. While Shadowland obviously had a high page and issue count exploring its story, flashbacks to that time to flesh out some minor beats of the event and redeem its bad reputation amongst readers could be interesting.

Having written one of the best Daredevil runs, Ann Nocenti could always write more for the character

An incredibly underrated run, Ann Nocenti’s time on Daredevil has to be one of the character’s best runs. She understood the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen uniquely and brought new approaches to him and his world after his life was demolished during the events of Daredevil: Born Again. Her run was long and winding, but new angles could always be introduced for that era of the character.

One of the best parts of Nocenti’s run was how episodic it felt, especially in the back half, so new storylines introduced could weave their way in seamlessly—especially as Nocenti is still popping in at Marvel as a writer occasionally. She’s deemed controversial by some, her storytelling quality varying from title to title, but she’s never lost her spark with Daredevil. A new story during the pinnacle of her comics career as a writer could be a dream.

An expansive era for Daredevil that lasted several runs, the time where the hero’s identity was “out” could be dug into more

Heralded as one of, if not the best, Daredevil runs, Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev’s time on the series is a generational run. One of Bendis’ first-ever comic series at Marvel, alongside Alias and Ultimate Spider-Man, his Daredevil pulled no punches while elevating the character to new heights—or bringing him down to new lows, as some could say.

One of these lows was revealing Matt Murdock’s identity to the public in the arc “Out.” While he didn’t immediately face consequences for this, Matt’s life would be changed for years after this fact, and the status quo would linger until Charles Soule’s run relaunched the character in the mid-2010s. Due to the expansive nature of this status quo, a new story could be told dealing with the fallout of Matt’s identity being known.

Daredevil once went completely public in a short and overlooked time that could use more eyes on it

It isn’t too often that a superhero changes their base of operations, often choosing to reside in a specific city for their whole career. This is especially the case in the Marvel universe, where most of its heroes reside in New York due to its “world outside your window” mentality regarding worldbuilding and crossovers.

There are some times when heroes migrate to different settings entirely, with a prominent one of those being when Matt Murdock moved out west to San Francisco with his legal—and romantic—partner Kirsten McDuffie to start their own law firm. He had to do this because he was disbarred for his secret identity in New York, and the West Coast was one of the few places he could legally practice law. The status quo, while short, was mightily interesting and could always use more eyes on it.

1

The Yellow Suit Era Deserves A Modern Twist

While stories like Daredevil: Yellow looked back on this time for the character, more stories unpacking the yellow costume are always welcome

Many consider the era of pre-Miller Daredevil unreadable, mostly airheaded adventures that didn’t live up to its premise or contemporaries. There’s a reason why the series came close to cancellation before its inevitable reinvention. But there’s potential in this era of the character, one that’s not often been tapped outside of small-scale stories like Daredevil: Yellow.

What’s considered the face of this aimless era of Daredevil, even though it only existed for six issues, had to have been his yellow costume. It’s since been retconned to have a more emotional connection to the character, but at his debut, it was just a laughable fashion choice that thankfully died early. A modern story in the vein of Daredevil: Yellow could bring some much-needed depth to this era while combining it with the fun of the time.

“}]] Daredevil has had several memorable comic eras that Marvel should revisit to further explore a few key moments that might have more stories to tell.  Read More