How & When Did Daredevil Go Blind? Here Is Matt’s Story

Marvel’s Daredevil is easily among the most iconic blind characters in comics. He managed to stand out due to the fact that he is both a capable lawyer and vigilante on the side. We’ve already written extensively about his powers and his radar sight that allows him to perceive things even though he is technically (and legally) blind. But today, we decided to explore another story, a story of the accident that changed Murdoch’sMurdoch’s life forever. Let’sLet’s see how Daredevil lost his sight.

Daredevil lost his sight when he was nine years old in an accident with radioactive waste. He saved an old man’s life and, in turn, caused the vehicle carrying radioactive materials to crash, with contents spilling all over Matt. This changed him on a molecular level, and after spending some time in the hospital, Matt discovered that he is blind but also has access to different types of vision and can do things much better than he could do them before, as all of his senses were superhumanly enhanced.

Now that we’ve covered what led to Daredevil’sDaredevil’s blindness, it’s time to explore it in a bit more detail. If you’re interested in more, stay with us and keep reading!

Daredevil was blinded when he was saving a life

Matthew Murdoch was born and raised in Hell’s Kitchen, New York. He was a son of a single father, “Battling Jack” Murdock, a boxer with plenty of training. Matt grew up surrounded by crime, prejudice, and injustice, and despite his father never quite “making it,” he tried to instill good morals and values into his son.

He always encouraged Matt not to follow in his footsteps and placed great emphasis on education. Matt’s focus on education was what led kids from his school to bully him, and Matt started training in his father’sfather’s gym behind his back.

The life-changing incident, however, came one day when Matt attempted to save an old man from sure death by pushing him out of harm’s way. The old man found himself on a collision course with a truck carrying radioactive materials.

Matt saved the guy’s life, but the resulting accident caused the truck to crash with radioactive materials dousing Matt.

Matt was permanently blinded, and he ended up in a hospital where he would stick around for a long time. However, soon after waking up, he noticed that his senses changed. He brought this up to his father, and soon after being discharged from the hospital, Matt noticed that he could do everything better than he could do before the accident.

He heard better, his concentration was better, and even his physical attributes were improved. And the rest is history. Matt would eventually follow through on the promises that he gave to his father, and he grows up to be a successful lawyer defending the most vulnerable, but he will also train hard enough to become one of the best martial artists in the comic in general, following both his father’sfather’s footsteps and his advice.

What was the chemical that blinded Daredevil?

Daredevil was blinded by radioactive waste, as this is what the truck that crashed carried at the time. The exact chemical composition of the waste is unknown to us, but it had to be pretty potent stuff to induce superpowers in Daredevil. He was changed on a molecular level, losing his sight but gaining many other senses and enhancing his normal human senses. Radioactive waste origin stories were pretty common in comics during 50” and 60”. The general public was fascinated with the promise and dangers of radioactive materials and energy.

People loved reading about superheroes being mutated by atomic energy and gaining awesome powers. Daredevil marked his first appearance in ”Daredevil #1” released in 1964, and as you can see, the timeline checks out. As time passed by and the general public started losing interest and even condemning nuclear energy, origin stories slowly shifted toward other causes of mutations. Even though they are still common, you can often hear about a character taking part in some horrifying accident with Radioactive Waste and gaining several new limbs, senses, or otherwise superhuman powers.

Did Daredevil ever regain his sight & how does he see if he is blind?

Daredevil never gained his sight back, and he most likely will not, at least not in the mainstream continuity. Even though he is blind, however, Daredevil can technically see images inside his head that are faithful recreations of the world around him. Matt can “see” via his radar sense.

The exact mechanism of how it works is similar to bats. Daredevil uses the echolocation of low-frequency radio waves that bounce off specific regions of his brain that, allow him to receive to create inside his mind a 3D 360 degrees image of his surroundings even if he doesn’tdoesn’t possess a healthy pair of eyes. Daredevil’sDaredevil’s radar sense is by far the most useful and potent ability.

He can also perceive the world differently thanks to his other senses, got greatly enhanced compared to average humans. Daredevil can use his sense of smell to track a specific person through a crowd by focusing on the body odor of a specific person. His smell is far more advanced than that of human beings, which he often uses in his investigation and for tracking purposes. He is likewise able to “smell” someone even if the person in question tries to hide his natural body odor.

Daredevil’s hearing is also powerful enough to hear a heartbeat. He can likewise discern between several people based on their heart sounds. This is Daredevil’sDaredevil’s built-in lie detector since he uses his superhuman sense often to detect minor and major changes in people’speople’s bodily reactions that happen when they lie.

As you can see, even though Daredevil lost his sight at a young age, he gained much more in return, and we doubt that he could have made such an impact on his community if the accident with the radioactive waster never took place.

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