BIOGRAPHY-- Page 1
Matt Murdock was born to a strong Irish Catholic family in Clinton, the neighborhood of Manhattan better known as Hell’s Kitchen. Matt was told that his mother died when he was very young, leaving Matt to be raised alone by his father. “Battling Jack” Murdock was an aging prize-fighter who wanted more from his son than using his fists to get through life. Jack could barely make ends meet for the two of them, as boxing offers were coming in more slowly as he got older. Jack told Matt that he promised Matt’s mother before she died that Matt would make something of himself as an educated man. He made Matthew vow not to raise his fists in anger. He would focus on his education and studies rather than rough-housing with the other boys in the streets.
Matt idolized Battling Jack and wanted to be like him, but he honored his vow to his father not to 
be a fighter and adopted Jack’s promise to his mother as his own. Still, it was tough growing up in a neighborhood like Hell’s Kitchen without getting into the occasional scrap, even for fun. As the neighborhood kids saw Matt was constantly reading his schoolbooks and never played outdoors with them, he got a reputation as a weakling. Although he didn’t realize it at the time, Matt also came across as a braggart and a show-off to the other kids. He was always talking about how great his dad the boxer was, and how rich he’d be once he graduated college. One boy named Nate Hackett mockingly nicknamed Matt “Daredevil” and the name stuck growing up. Nate was a ringleader who often led the other boys in bullying Matt, trying to provoke a reaction from “Daredevil” Murdock. [Daredevil (1st series) #1, Daredevil (3rd series) #28]
Angry over being held back by his promise to his father, Matt sublimated his aggression by training in private. While technically not a fighter, Matt Murdock vigorously trained his body every day in an exercise regime designed to make him a top athlete, should he ever decide to become one. (This would be the first of many technicalities and loopholes Matt would use over his life to 
justify doing what he wanted, despite his vow to his parents.) Sometimes he even snuck into Fogwell’s Gym, where his dad gave boxing instruction to younger fighters for extra money. Matt stayed in the shadows, listening to Battlin’ Jack’s coaching. He remembered his promise, however, and made sure he was always top of his classes in school before working on his fitness training. [Daredevil (1st series) #1, Daredevil: Black Armor #1]
Things were often tough for the Murdock men. In order to make ends meet, Jack Murdock once took a job as a masked professional wrestler, stylized as the Red Devil, a form of fighting he found foolish and disgraceful. Matt followed his father to the ring once and found Jack crying afterwards over what he was forced to do in order to keep food on the table. Jack quit afterwards, telling Matt to forget he ever saw the Red Devil and to always be true to his own code. [Daredevil (1st series) #200] It wasn’t easy constantly holding himself to Jack’s strict standards. Matt continued to be tormented by the neighborhood kids as he grew older, and the bullying had a traumatic effect on his childhood. Even one of his few friends, Johnny Squarejohn, joined the Hell’s Kitchen Barons as they reached their teens. Because Matt refused to use his fists, he was no good to the Barons and Johnny turned against Matt. [Daredevil (1st series) #203, 209]
Still, Matt knew better than to fight back. As bad as the bullying was, raising his fists had serious consequences at home. One time on the way home from school, Stymie Schmidt grabbed an expensive book Jack had bought Matt. When Stymie started ripping out the pages, Matt snapped. He beat Stymie… in fact, he apparently beat several of the boys, thanks to his private training. When he got home and told Jack Murdock what had happened, though, Matt’s father was not 
pleased his son won the fight. Already drunk and stretched for work, Jack saw the fight as Matt throwing away the chances Jack strived to give him. Jack was furious and lashed out, hitting his son in rage for the first time. That night, sitting alone on the Brooklyn Bridge, Matt reasoned out how even people like his father, his hero, could do bad things. The world needed rules to keep it under control. Laws. In the years that passed, Matt would consciously suppress memory of his father’s beating, especially after he died. But he never forgot the decision he made that night to become a lawyer and the champion of the people’s laws. [Daredevil (1st series) #191] (Later stories would indicate that Jack Murdock didn’t strike his son “once,” but multiple times over his childhood. Matt admitted to sanitizing his own memories of Battlin’ Jack to remember his father as he wanted.) [Daredevil (1st series) #236, Daredevil: Father #1]
Matt’s life would change dramatically one day after he was chased by Nate Hackett and his bullies. [Daredevil (3rd series) #28] A truck carrying radioactive chemicals from Ajax Atomic Labs lost its brakes and was hurtling out of control towards a blind man on a cross walk. Without thinking of his own safety, fifteen-year-old Matt leapt into the street and pushed the blind man out of the way, only to be hit by the truck himself. The vehicle overturned and some radioactive material from the cargo canisters fell onto Matt’s face. In the hospital, the doctors examined the 
damage done to his eyes and determined Matt would likely be blind for life. Though blind, his other senses had been augmented dramatically, giving him superhuman perceptions of hearing, smell, taste, touch and even a unique “radar sense.” [Daredevil (1st series) #1]
Matt was nearly overwhelmed by his enhanced senses at first, unable to screen out the intense world of sound, smell and touch that battered him from all sides. One night in the hospital, though, a woman came to visit Matt when he should’ve been sleeping. She spoke softly with Matthew and asked him to think of these changes as a blessing. As he promised, she kissed him on the forehead and he felt the cross around her neck. [Daredevil (1st series) #229] This visit gave him hope, but a blind ninja master named Stick gave him training. Stick was a member of the Chaste, an order of holy warriors who opposed the demon-worshipping ninja clan known as the Hand. 
They often recruited potential warriors called Adepts at a young age for a lifetime of training to defend the world from the Beast of the Hand. [Daredevil (1st series) #176-177] Sources vary on how Matt came to Stick’s attention. Some say Stick learned of Matt after his accident, from his own mentor Master Izo, [Daredevil (1st series) #500] while others suggest he was scouting Matt’s private training even beforehand. [Daredevil: Man Without Fear #1]
Stick knew the world of hyper-senses was open to any who had the proper training. The radiation affecting Matt only gave him a glimpse into this realm of experience, which would soon fade. With Stick’s training, though, Matt would retain the expanded perceptions, gaining the discipline to hone his hyper-senses and use them to compensate for his lack of sight, even exceed the limitations of normal vision. [Daredevil (1st series) #188, Daredevil (3rd series) #25] As his sensei, Stick helped Matt develop an additional “radar sense,” allowing him to feel the contours of a room and objects in his vicinity. Through meditation, Matt became capable of focusing his senses, controlling what he let into his world and adjusting his range of sensitivity as an act of will. 
He learned how to navigate the world without sight, never missing a beat with his athletic and acrobatic training. Matt developed a unique fighting style under Stick, incorporating aspects of Eastern martial arts and ninjitsu into his more traditional boxing and prize-fighting. However, Stick eventually decided that Matt would not make a good member of the Chaste. Having found Matthew too late in life to shape him properly, Stick thought he would always be ruled by his passions and outside matters. Therefore, Stick ended their training. [Daredevil (1st series) #190] The exact point when Stick abandoned Matt and how is contested. Some sources suggest their training ended in high school, others indicate it continued into college after Matt met Elektra. [Elektra #minus1, Daredevil: Man Without Fear #2]
[Note: The limited series Daredevil: Man Without Fear occupies an ambiguous place in continuity. It changed some aspects of Daredevil’s origin and added new aspects. Some aspects of MWF have been referenced in regular continuity, while others are explicitly denounced. However, Matt’s first meeting with Stick and his training is something that is often talked about but never SEEN anywhere other than MWF. For that reason, its interpretation is directly added to this portion of the Bio in order to fill in the blanks.]