Does Daredevil Have Powers? How Did He Get Them?

Matthew Murdock, known as Daredevil, is a blind resident of a crime-riddled neighborhood in New York City called Hell’s Kitchen. He works as a highly successful lawyer during the day, and a street-level vigilante at night, doing his best to clean the streets of any crime he can. However, due to his disability, many fans wonder, does Daredevil have any superpowers?

Daredevil has several superpowers stemming from the same accident in his childhood that made him blind. The accident heightened his other senses to a superhuman level, including hearing, touch, smell, and taste. He also has enhanced stamina, agility, reflexes, balance, and endurance.

Matt’s pain tolerance is incredible, but he also has a sort of radar sense, as Murdock can create a cognitive map of his surroundings despite being blind. There’s so much more to know about Daredevil, so let’s not waste any more time and jump right into analysis.

Does Daredevil Have Superpowers?

Although Daredevil usually operates as a street-level vigilante, fighting mostly regular human beings, he does have many superpowers. Those powers include heightened senses, reflexes, stamina, agility, balance, minor telepathic abilities, and much more. He’s also a brilliant lawyer and overall a smart guy, with high martial arts and combat skills.

People sometimes think that Matt Murdock doesn’t have any superpowers because he’s such a good person. He has a strict moral code that prevents Daredevil from killing anybody – even the worst criminals out there.

Matt’s law practice and religious upbringing made him believe that anybody who sins has to be brought to justice, but that justice is the court of law, despite himself operating somewhat outside of the law.

How Did Daredevil Get His Superpowers?

Matt and Mike Murdock are twin brothers raised by a single father, Jack Murdock. Jack was a boxer with almost no education but a strong moral code that he bestowed upon his boys. He wanted them to do better in life than he did, so he made a point to have Matt study and read books as much as possible instead of playing sports with other kids.

This led to the kids bullying Matt for being a “coward,” giving him the nickname “Daredevil” while Mike defended him. That led to a lot of rage and frustration in Matt, who secretly trained in his father’s gym to blow off some steam.

Then, one day, an accident happened that would change Matt’s life forever. A blind man was walking down the street, right into an oncoming truck. Matt pushed the man to safety, but the truck crashed, spilling a radioactive isotope onto Matt, causing him to go blind.

As Murdock’s eyesight deteriorated, the radioactive material in his body caused all of his other senses to amplify to superhuman levels. Matt could hear a fly across the hall and realized he had developed a new sense that worked as a sort of radar. It allowed Murdock to create a mental picture of every object surrounding him.

Many other abilities emerged, like enhanced balance and extreme pain tolerance, but Murdock didn’t know how to use or control his newfound powers. That’s when he met Stick, a ninja master who trained Murdock intensively, helping him use his abilities to the fullest.

While Matt was busy with training, his father ran out of money, so he desperately needed to get back into the ring. He got into some shady business with the Fixer, who got Jack Murdock to the heavyweight title contender spot, but then prompted him to lose on purpose so he could cash in on a rigged bet.

Jack wanted to set an example for his boys and refused to take a fall, winning the fight. He was a hero for Matt, but the Fixer didn’t like what Jack did, so he arranged for some thugs to beat the boxer up and shoot him to death.

That heavily enraged Matt, who wanted justice, so he used his skills and training to track down the Fixer and chase him through the streets of New York. Frightened and exhausted, the Fixer died from a heart attack. It weighed heavily on Matt, who later took the Daredevil mantle and decided to bring justice upon all criminals without killing anybody.

He became the street vigilante at night, and a lawyer during the day, giving birth to the Daredevil we all know and love.

What Superpowers Does Daredevil Have?

Daredevil has many superpowers stemming from the accident he endured when he was still a kid. Let’s break down each of his superpowers to show just how powerful the Man Without Fear really is.

Superhuman Physiology

The radioactive isotope that blinded Matt Murdock also caused many enhancements to his physiology. Daredevil has superhuman senses (all except his eyesight, of course), including hearing, touch, smell, and taste. He also gained superhuman balance, reflexes, agility, and phenomenal spatial awareness.

His sensory system works on such an exceptional level that Matt requires tons of training to fully control them and even function as a normal human being. When he fought Psylocke in AVX: Vs. #4, she tried reading Daredevil’s mind but was completely overwhelmed with the sheer amount of information that Murdock’s mind receives and processes through his heightened senses.

Daredevil’s skin is especially sensitive. In History of the Radar Sense #4, we learn that his touch is so sensitive that he doesn’t need braille to read. He can feel the minor dents that ink leaves on paper, allowing him to read through touch at a much faster rate than a normal human being. 

Also, the skin sensitivity allows Matt to feel even the slightest changes in pressure or temperature. He can feel the body temperature, heartbeat, and sweating, allowing him to be a walking lie detector – pretty useful if you’re a lawyer. 

Recognizing distinct heartbeat rhythm, smell, and other traits allows him to identify a person even if they disguise themselves as someone else.

His hearing is so strong that he heard the most silent whisper from Electra through a full courtroom in Daredevil #24 (2019). The list goes on and on, but you get the gist – his senses are extraordinary.

As for his reflexes, Daredevil dodged bullets numerous times (Daredevil #233). A normal human’s reaction time is around 0.4 seconds – faster if trained. However, Matt’s reaction time is measured in microseconds, which is 0.000001 seconds.

His balance is also extraordinary despite being blind – Matt can balance on rooftops and jump from beam to beam with incredible precision.

Radar Sense

The radar sense is kind of like Daredevil’s eyesight. Don’t get me wrong – he is completely blind. However, his radar sense allows Matt to develop a mental picture of his surroundings, mapping out where all the objects and people are exactly.

Also, due to the ability being mental, Daredevil is almost immune to illusions, as most illusions mainly affect the visual stimulus. 

This ability is tightly connected with Matt’s sonar sense, allowing him to send sonar waves that bounce back from his surroundings, allowing Murdock to locate any person or object in his proximity. This is also why invisibility or camouflage doesn’t work against him.

Superhuman Nervous System Control

Through years of training his abilities, Matt can control his central nervous system to the point where he can amplify his strength to peak human/near-superhuman levels. The same goes for Matt’s speed. Matt can sprint through two blocks in just a few seconds when he focuses, as shown in Daredevil Vol. 2 #15.

Increased Stamina & Endurance

Daredevil showed that he could go through significant physical exertion for hours without feeling any fatigue (Daredevil #11). Through his nervous system control, Matt can hold his breath for an incredibly long time (Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z #3).

His endurance is also borderline superhuman, and his pain tolerance is spectacular. He can go five days without sleeping (Daredevil #176) and also kept going after being shot through both hands and having a flash gunshot wound on his head (Daredevil: Reborn #3).

Murdock can also heal at an accelerated rate, which was especially shown in the Daredevil Netflix series.

Minor Telepathic Abilities

While his telepathic abilities aren’t as powerful as some other superheroes, Daredevil achieved minor telepathic feats through Stick’s training, as shown in Daredevil #4. The abilities mostly rely on sensing a person’s reactions, changes in their heartbeat, and similar signs that help Murdock “read” them.

Also, due to the high training and sensory perception, Daredevil had shown a high telepathy resistance. Hardly anyone can read his mind.

Other Daredevil’s Skills & Abilities

As you can see, Daredevil has a plethora of superhuman powers. However, Matt also has other skills and abilities he combines with those powers to make him a much bigger threat.

Expert Attorney & Detective

Matt studied law for years, turning himself into an expert attorney over the years. He has a law firm specializing in social justice issues, working on many cases pro bono – just for the sake of capturing the perpetrators, such as rape cases, hate crimes, medical malpractice, child abuse, and much more.

Matt Murdock is also an expert detective, solving crimes the police can’t even move from a dead point using his knowledge, expert deductive abilities, and heightened senses to find clues on crime scenes.

Expert Martial Artist & Marksman

Since his childhood days, Matt has trained in martial arts. First, it started with boxing and then training with Stick, learning numerous martial arts skills and techniques. 

His fighting style, as stated in the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z #3, is a perfect blend of Boxing with Ninjutsu, Jiu-jitsu, Aiki-Jujutsu, Savate, Taekwondo, Kung Fu, Judo, Krav Maga, Silat, Karate, Capoeira, Eskrima, Aikido, and Greco-Roman Wrestling.

He’s also a prolific marksman, capable of using almost any weapon to a master level. However, due to his strict no-kill policy, Daredevil usually relies on throwing his billy clubs, knives, shurikens, and other weaponry that he can use non-lethally.

Expert Acrobat

Only a handful of Marvel characters are as good as Daredevil regarding his acrobatic skills. Murdock is prolific in gymnastics and all kinds of acrobatic techniques that can easily match even the best acrobats in the Marvel universe, such as Spider-Man, Elektra, Shang-Chi, Black Panther, and others.

The Man Without Fear

Daredevil has fear inside him, but through sheer mental training over the years, especially during his time with Stick, Matt Murdock became the Man Without Fear. He’s almost immune to fear or anxiety in any situation – instead of letting that fear cripple him, Matt embraces it, using it to be even sharper in battle.

That also makes him immune to fear toxins and similar substances that make others shiver and succumb.