In Netflix’s show, the Daredevil, the readers are introduced to Drew Goddard’s portrayal of the Marvel comic book character Daredevil. While traditionally, Daredevil is just your standard superhero, one of many throughout the Marvel universe with a very stereotypical background. He follows through all the typical tropes of the hero’s journey. His real name is Matt Murdock and he had a tragic background where he was blinded by radioactive substances after pushing a man to safety from a truck. He is then raised by his father who is eventually killed by a gang of gangsters. Matt is motivated by his father’s death to become the Daredevil, where he uses his heightened senses due to his blindness to avenge his father and eventually fight crime.
However, Drew Goddard brings a very dark twist to this classic Marvel superhero story. While Matt Murdock does go through the typical hero’s journey, it is not all revealed in one sequence. Goddard presents his journey in a way where the reader is not greeted with their typical happy go lucky hero story but rather a more gritty, brutal story of a man who struggles with his father’s death and the brutal aspects of what he has to do in order to protect people from crime. Goddard also does not flinch away from showing the more gory and darker aspects to the combat that is required from a person like the Daredevil. All these elements lead to a more darker portrayal of the Daredevil and may show the viewers the more darker side to becoming a superhero. With the rise of big superheroes lately in big films such as Superman, Batman, or Wonder Woman, Goddard’s portrayal provides a stark contrast to these morally just protectors of civilizations from someone who did not have it all at the beginning or was not granted with the powers of a God. It shows the stories of a gritter, harsher reality.