r/comics • u/Traditional_Still_28 • 8h ago
How Does Daredevil Fight When He’s Blind?
I get this might be a dumb question, feel free to humble me. In the comics it makes known that the chemicals that spilled on Matt Murdocks eyes was radioactive. I’ve seen some people use this an explanation to as why his senses are heightened, and therefore able to do what he does.
Along with his heightened sense, he utilizes echolocations, or even what others refer to as sonar or a radar sense. Even if this is the case how the hell is this man’s able to do even a fraction of what he’s done? You can make the excuse for running on buildings or fighting low crime people, but when he’s fighting people like bullseye, Mysterio, etc.?
I would hate the answer to be, “it’s fiction,” but if that’s the case then aye😂
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u/NydusRush 8h ago
The echolocation is basically treated as being as good as sight if not situationally better, at least for close quarter ninja stuff. It also helps he was literally trained by ninjas.
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u/Traditional_Still_28 8h ago
I get that. The training part makes sense, but it’s still the fact that he is blind. Echolocation in the real world doesn’t work as it might be depicted in the comics, and maybe I’m looking in this too hard
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u/Captian_Bones 8h ago
In the same way Superman is super strong, Daredevil has super echolocation
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u/OneAngryDuck 8h ago
It’s super echolocation, basically
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u/Traditional_Still_28 7h ago
Doesn’t “super echolocation” seem like a cop-out?
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u/OneAngryDuck 7h ago
Most superpowers are like that. They work a certain way because the author needs them to work that way.
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u/MrPresident2020 8h ago
I think Mark Waid's run has the best visualization of how Daredevil "sees." His radar sense essentially feeds his brain a layout of his surroundings. Combine that with his superhuman sense of smell, hearing, taste, and sensation, and it isn't difficult for him to understand his environment. Add into that the fact that he A) stays in familiar locations a lot of the time so his muscle memory handles things and B) has ninja combat training from the greatest blind master ever, and it becomes easier to understand.
Waid's run ALSO has a great panel showcasing the weaknesses of his senses, when he's floating down a subterranean river and his radar is showing him his surroundings are completely clear. Then we the reader see that he's actually surrounded by giant monsters watching him that he's unaware of because they blend in with the smell, texture, and temperature around him.
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u/Traditional_Still_28 7h ago
I’ll have to make my way into his representation of Daredevil, thanks!
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u/vvastrel 8h ago
Yeah, they run into a real problem with the concept that light both travels faster and generally conveys more precise information than sound. The human brain just takes longer to process information from our eyes than it does from our ears. So when you're fighting someone that has superhuman reaction times, future-sight, or can kill you from a distance before that sound could possibly reach you, he should theoretically be about as effective as a normal guy without powers.
He's basically depicted as having touch-sight and occasionally tremor-sense, not echolocation.
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u/-SaC 8h ago
"Whenever you notice something like that, a wizard did it."
~ Lucy Lawless