I'm as sick as hearing "Daredevil is just a Batman ripoff" as I am of hearing "Deadpool = Life". Batman and Daredevil are two shining examples of the vigilante character tropes, and it's about time I split the difference and educate you readers on this question: What's The Difference?
Created in 1938 by Bob Kane and Bill Finger in "Detective Comics #27", a character bred from the mythos of Sherlock Holmes, Dracula, The Shadow, and Zorro, a legend was crafted from the ideals abandoned by The Man of Steel. Following the first superhero, America met it's first antihero. The Dark Knight, The Caped Crusader, Gotham's Savior. The Batman. Bruce Wayne was ten years old when he witnessed the murder of his parents by a random act of crime. He gave up his childhood and travelled the Earth. Becoming a martial artist, a scientist, a scholar, a detective, a man of deadly abilities sculpted by the vengeance growing in his heart. He returned to the broken city of Gotham, ran by corrupt police and empires of criminals, Bruce Wayne struggled to find the means of changing his home. One night-as he bled in his study-Bruce Wayne was visited by a bat that shattered his window and sat on his father's marble bust. He then realized the truth, the truth that criminals are a superstitious and cowardly lot, that to inspire fear in the hearts of men Bruce Wayne would need to escape his humanity and become a creature of the night, a watchful shadow to haunt the city and enforce justice. To assure that not another child losses their family. Bruce Wayne stood that night and claimed, "I will become a bat". Batman was the first mainstream superhero not to have any superhuman powers, but he made up for it with his skills and resources. He trained under various masters around the world, training in every martial art known to man and crafting his body into peak physical condition. Batman has dug himself out of a 6-foot grave, escaped supposedly unescapable deathtraps, and create contingency plans to demobilize his fellow members of The Justice League by studying their weaknesses. Among his arsenal he carries throwing weapons called Batarangs, grappling hooks, pellets of varied effects, bolas, small explosives, tracking devices, and access to vehicles that traverse land, sea, and air. Above all, Batman's mind is his powerful tool. Batman is a master detective, able to predict his foes actions and solve mysterious identities easily. Batman once convinced a God to become a mortal man on the principle of "the human experience" and then socked him in the jaw. Superman-Bruce Wayne's best friend-has regarded Batman as both "the smartest man he knows" and "the most dangerous man alive". Batman's motivation and feats have deserved him a place among The Justice League, he has bred a family of crime fighters, his arsenal and reach has crossed the DC Universe to it's very ends. Even death cannot put The Dark Knight down, the loss of loved ones cannot put The Dark Knight down, because the war on crime is a war that never ends and a war The Dark Knight will never stop fighting.
Before he was The Devil of Hell's Kitchen, before he was blind, Matthew Murdock was still The Man Without Fear. In his first appearance-"Daredevil #1" in 1964 by Stan Lee and Bill Everett-Matt Murdock saved the life of a blind man by pushing out of a truck's path, but chemicals from the crashed truck spilled onto the young Murdock's eyes and forever blinded him. The sightless Murdock grew up with his father, heavy-wieght boxer "Battling" Jack Murdock. After crossing his employers and refusing to throw a fight, Jack won his last bout and was killed, leaving all he had to his son Matt. Matt continued to grow under the tutorship of a blind martial artist named Stick, who taught Matt how to use his heightened senses to his advantage. Setting up a civilian life as the morally-decisive defense attorney Matt Murdock, our hero spent his nights fighting crime on the streets of Hell's Kitchen as Daredevil. Unable to see injustice, but being ever aware of the evil that corrupts his home, the evil that took his father's life. Stan Lee's thought process behind Daredevil was done on a whim, he thought he could create a blind superhero and make that work. Surprising even Stan The Man himself, Daredevil was one of Marvel's earliest success stories, he was most grounded and human of their characters. The Fantastic Four fought cosmic entities and The Avengers battled gods and even Spider-Man battled superhuman criminals, Daredevil crawled among the bleak streets and ripped crime out by the root, tackling organized crime and washing out the grime corruption had laid in his city. Questions of morality spun through his mind constantly, and being a "helpless lawyer" acted a good cover and a harder realization. That if the law could not punish those who rot the world, vengeance would be the only tool left unbroken. Along with gymnastics, American boxing and stick-fighting, Daredevil's martial arts abilities rank high in the MCU, with a mix of arts like ninjutsu, jujitsu, aikito, and kung fu to name a few. His arsenal is limited to a special baton fitted in his walking stick, this baton can act as a roped-projectile, a grappling hook and a blunt weapon. He is a master lawyer, having an encyclopedic knowledge of law. His detective skills are masterful too, helping that his other senses allow him to see better than any person capable of sight. He can tell if someone is lying by listening to their heartbeat, he can track someone by their smell, he can detect a person's diet by smelling their meals through their breath, he can get the layout of a room by listening to conversation in said room, changes in temperature, air currents, air density, shifts of bones and the taste of metal in the air allow Daredevil can be omnipresent with his location and situation. Though he has rarely allied with The Avengers, Daredevil is better known for his relationships with other street-level heroes like The Punisher, Elektra, Spider-Man, and The Heroes for Hire. Although he may not fight aliens or topple Gods or save the universe, Daredevil is the watchful eye for the man on the streets, the guardian to all who walk under the superhero umbrella. While Thor strikes Galactus with his mighty hammer, Daredevil makes sure the citizens of Hell's Kitchen can sleep soundly at night. Although his actions may seem minuscule, they are never unneeded.
Batman and Daredevil are spawned from the same urge to rid the streets of crime, to offset the corruption of one's home and strike terror into those who wish harm upon them. They dress as fear, they neglect fear, they carry fear like a weapon, they are the men who walk the fine line between fighting evil and becoming the thing they hate. Batman is rich and protected, but left his fortune behind to mold his body into a weapon. Daredevil is grounded and vulnerable, but uses his weaknesses to his advantage. Both represent the masked horror of what a rotted city can create, both are men of principle, morality and unrelenting vengeance. They are the creatures man fears, the bat and the devil.
Thank you for reading.
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