Disclaimer: I am referring to Christopher Nolan’s Batman films and Netflix’s Marvel series of Daredevil. These are only my opinions, feel free to comment your own. Spoilers ahead.
I’m no comic book buff (and I don’t claim to be) but since watching the recent release of Marvel’s new series Daredevil on Netflix (reviewed by CV’s Chris Hansell) I couldn’t help but notice similarities to DC’s super-vigilante Batman. Although Batman was written first in 1939, I feel like Daredevil is more deserving of the name and vice versa.
When watching the new Marvel series, I began to question the actions of Matt Murdock as he fought his way through the bad guys, both in the legal courts and on the streets. Compared to Nolan’s Batman, he didn’t seem as daring. Batman fights crime in order to avenge his parent’s death and bring justice to the fictional city of Gotham. He has no superhuman abilities to aid him in his quests, but he does have a billion dollar company sitting on his shoulders and a global reputation he could loose. Therefore his vigilante actions seem more daring than Daredevil, a small time lawyer with no living relatives and nothing to loose.
Where Batman masquerades as a bat, Daredevil actually possesses some physical characteristics of a bat. He became blind as a child (due to radioactive waste), which heightened his remaining senses. So now, he uses sonar and echolocation to conquer his enemies and to get out of sticky situations.
I believe that it’s these characteristics that make Daredevil the true Batman and Batman Begins’ main story arc of becoming fear itself proves that Batman is “the man without fear” which Daredevil is referred to in the comics. “To conquer fear, you must become fear…”
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