BIOGRAPHY -- Page 2
Despite their hardships, the Murdock men persevered. Battling Jack’s trouble getting fights ended once he swallowed his pride and went to see Roscoe Sweeney, a boxing manager known in the underworld as “the Fixer.” Once under contract with Sweeney, Murdock began fighting again and surprisingly did very well against younger and leaner opponents. He made enough money to contribute towards Matt’s continued education in college. (According to one account, a younger Leland Owlsley was bookkeeper for the Fixer when Murdock didn’t take the dive. [Daredevil (6th series) Annual #1]) Matt’s own hard work and transcripts eventually earned him entry into Columbia University’s law school, with a healthy support from scholarships. There he became roommates with Franklin “Foggy” Nelson. [Daredevil (1st series) #1]
Jack Murdock brought his son to college for orientation but had some trouble letting go. When the Dean tried to redirect the Murdocks towards a separate orientation for “special needs” students, 
Jack stood up for his son and claimed Matt would be valedictorian one day, embarrassing Matt. Matt and Foggy got along okay when they met in the dorms, but Jack felt judged by Foggy’s obvious wealth compared to the Murdocks. At a local diner, some townies picked on Matt for being a “rich college boy,” and Jack went back to teach them a lesson later. Matt read his father’s intentions, though, and beat him back to the diner. While not overplaying his skills learned training with Stick, Matt made it clear to the townies and his watchful father than the blind boy could take care of himself. [Daredevil (1st series) #minus 1]
[Note: Daredevil continuity is infamously vague about his college years. Typically, a student would spend four years in college for an undergraduate degree before attending law school for another three years. However, Marvel writers often make it seem as if Matt went directly to law school out of high school, or simply didn’t recognize the two tiers involved. Matt and Foggy went to “State College” in Daredevil #1, with Columbia Law School not mentioned until #168. Daredevil: Man Without Fear claimed he went to Harvard, but Columbia is referenced more often.]
Matt and Foggy were friendly enough during the day, but at night Franklin was an assault on his senses. Even with noise-canceling headphones and a medical mask, the super-sensitive scholar could barely tolerate a roommate who fell asleep eating artificially-flavored snacks and snored like a foghorn. Still, Matt recognized that Foggy was a brilliant student with a knack for memorization 
and applying case precedent. He crumbled under pressure, though, a fact which made him an easy target for Professor Leopold York. Professor York was convinced Franklin was a trust-fund baby who bought his way into Columbia Law and refused to acknowledge he showed any natural talent whatsoever. York went so far as to accuse Foggy of plagiarizing a paper and pushed for him to be expelled from law school. The professor claimed Foggy’s term paper was copied verbatim from a past student’s submission. Matt knew an injustice when he heard it, especially since his hyper-senses told him Foggy was telling the truth. He tried to put in a good word for Foggy with York, only to realize it was York who was being dishonest.
Matt impulsively told York he knew he was lying, which only led the tenured professor to threaten to expel BOTH of them if Murdock continued pressing the matter. Undeterred, Matt Murdock would not let a bully stand. He staged a mock trial in the middle of class to present the case of York v. Nelson. With a flair for the dramatic, Matt managed to disprove York’s claim that Foggy had the opportunity to remove the original paper from York’s office, then returned it without him knowing it. In his bravado and theatrics, however, Matt failed to account for York’s counter-
argument that Nelson simply found another copy of the paper somewhere else. It was Foggy who summoned the courage to make the final argument in his own defense. He cited Professor York’s stroke from years after the date of the original paper, and how he re-taught himself to write with the opposite hand. And yet the notes on both papers had the same penmanship. York bitterly retracted his accusations, both boys eventually passed his class and Nelson & Murdock became friends for life. [Daredevil (3rd series) #12]
Matt and Foggy did a lot to support one another as their friendship grew in years to come, often without even talking about it. At first, Matt was constantly struggling with money, keeping his 
student loans and scholarship money on time and satisfying the financial aid office’s constant notices. After the affair with York, however, a quiet application of the Nelson money ensured Matt never had problems with financial aid again. [Daredevil (3rd series) #12] Meanwhile, when Foggy decided to pledge the Omega Delta fraternity, he had trouble with a brother named Brad Bailson. During his initiation, Foggy was instructed to crawl through an old drainage pipe from the frat house out to the river. It was uncomfortable for Foggy, as he barely fit, but it would have been worse if Brad went through with his plan to pump an industrial water hose into the pipe. Foggy might’ve drowned but, instead, he emerged from the pipe to find everybody laughing at Brad who… somehow… ended up dangling from a third story window tied in the water hose. [Daredevil (1st series) #226] According to one account, Brad didn’t get the message and continued bullying Foggy, even running him off the sidewalk with his car. One night, a masked figure removed Brad from his bed and carried him helpless through the campus rooftops before dangling him from the top of a building by his ankle. Brad Bailson was found the next morning, naked and hog-tied in the snow, having had a life-changing experience and dedicated himself to leaving Franklin Nelson alone for the rest of school. [Daredevil: Man Without Fear #2]
Not much else is known about Matt and Foggy’s time at Columbia or their fellow students. They were friends with Robert “Goldy” Goldman during their years at college. [Daredevil (6th series) #21] Matt also had a competitive rivalry with another student named Larry Cranston and beat him at mock trial. [Over the Edge #1] Columbia also hosted a foreign exchange student named Klaus Kruger, who spent time getting to know Matt and Foggy. [Daredevil (1st series) #9] All of these relationships would come back to haunt Matthew in the years to come.
While at Columbia, Matt encountered an extraordinarily beautiful new student, Elektra Natchios, the daughter of the Greek ambassador to the United States. Matt felt like he had to get to know her, and he was willing to show off his acrobatic skills to divert her bodyguards and speak with Elektra personally. Elektra loved her father, studying as a political science major to follow in his 
footsteps and help the world, but his protectiveness was also smothering to her. She eagerly went along with the charismatic Matthew, breaking curfew and growing closer as time went on. Elektra had studied the martial arts as well ever since the death of her mother, and these two daredevils had much in common. Matt even shared the secret of his enhanced senses with Elektra, something he had never done with Foggy or even his father.
The love affair between Matthew and Elektra came to a tragic end roughly a year after they met. Elektra and her father were taken hostage by terrorists and held in the administration building of Columbia. Police encircled the building, but no one was able to get inside to rescue the hostages. Disguising himself with a scarf, Matt used his cane and the skills Stick taught him to infiltrate the building. He quietly disabled several gunmen before locating the room where Elektra and Hugo Natchios were being held. Calling out a secret cue only Elektra would recognize, Matt leapt into the room and together they disabled several terrorists. When one of the armed men went out the window, however, a bystander gathered outside shouted “They’re killing the hostages!” This 
miscall caused the police to open fire on the occupied room, just as Hugo Natchios struggled to his feet. Elektra was forced to watch as her beloved father was gunned down by the very men trying to save them. Her heart grew cold after that, and Elektra left Matt and her studies to return to Europe. [Daredevil (1st series) #168]
As Matt was nearing graduation, he and Foggy got tickets to see Battlin’ Jack Murdock fight for the title in his boxing circuit. Before the match, however, the Fixer revealed he had arranged for Murdock’s meteoric rise up the charts, getting other boxers to take dives against the aging 
pugilist. Now, he expected Jack to go down in the first rounds, against all betting odds, in order to cash in by betting against his own boxer. Jack’s pride prevented him from taking the fall, though – he knew his son was in the audience to witness his fight, and couldn’t take a dive in Matt’s presence. Battlin’ Jack Murdock fought for the title and won against his opponent “Crusher” Creel, taking home his victory. That night, though, the Fixer’s hitman Slade shot Jack dead in the streets as a warning to others, leaving Matt Murdock an orphan. [Daredevil (1st series) #1]
Matt was crushed by his father’s death, but he stayed on the path Jack wanted for him, becoming valedictorian of his class at Columbia Law. After graduation, Matt and Foggy partnered up to open their own practice, Nelson & Murdock. Foggy hired young Karen Page as a secretary and office 
manager, and both lawyers were quickly smitten with Miss Page. Still, Matt couldn’t forget about his father’s death. Matt’s promise to his father still held that “Matt Murdock” couldn’t be a fighter or use his fists to solve problems. However, Matt rationalized that his promise wouldn’t hold if he adopted an entirely new identity. With his super-senses and years of physical training, Matt thought he could aid others outside the law as a costumed crime-fighter. Borrowing his childhood nickname, Matt Murdock crafted a costume and dubbed himself Daredevil, the Man Without Fear.
Daredevil’s first mission was to secure justice for Jack Murdock. He assaulted Sweeney’s 
associates in order to get a line on the Fixer. With his cane specially-modified as a billy club, Daredevil beat on the criminals while trying to shake loose a confession from them. His super-senses not only carried him through the fight with a half-dozen men, they also measured the Fixer’s biometrics, allowing Matt to read when Sweeney was lying to him. His pressure and intuition rattled the crooks, particularly Slade, who was worried Daredevil would identify him as the triggerman in Jack Murdock’s murder. After Slade and the Fixer let some confessions slip, Daredevil bluffed them that his billy club contained a recording device, causing the two men to flee in a last, desperate maneuver.
Daredevil followed the two criminals, using his civilian clothes and super-senses to discreetly track the smell of the Fixer’s cigar. Daredevil therefore got the drop on the men as they fled into the subway. After striking down Slade with his club, Daredevil pursued Sweeney on the tracks, until a heart attack stopped the Fixer’s getaway short. Rushing back to Slade, Daredevil bluffed again that Sweeney gave a full confession, pinning the murder on Slade. The hitman grew angry and blurted out that he only pulled the trigger, but Sweeney gave the order to kill Jack Murdock. Members of the transit police overheard this confession, and Slade was arrested for the murder of Matt’s father. This victory convinced Matt he could bring about justice by continuing to work in and outside of the law as it suited him. [Daredevil (1st series) #1]
