How did Daredevil get his superpowers? The MCU vigilante's story revealed

Matthew Murdock/Daredevil has cultivated a fanbase for the past decade. The 2015 Netflix series Marvel's Daredevil breathed new life into the character after souring the people on The Man Without Fear through the much-reviled 2003 Ben Affleck movie titled the same. The first opening scene of the Netflix series is that of Battlin' Jack Murdock trying to help his son, who loses the ability of sight after an accident.

Both in the comics and the MCU, Matt Murdock, as a young boy, met an accident in which some toxic chemicals got into his eyes, blinding him. However, the same chemicals also grant him heightened senses, including hearing and smell. Trained by a visually impaired sensei named Stick, Matt, as an adult, goes on to become a lawyer who masks up as the vigilante Daredevil.

The 13-episode-long Netflix series follows Matt Murdock's attempts to legally bring down Wilson Fisk, the notorious mob boss referred to as the "Kingpin." The synopsis for the series reads:

"Blinded as a young boy, Matt Murdock fights injustice by day as a lawyer and by night as the super hero Daredevil in Hell's Kitchen, New York City."

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How did Daredevil get his powers in the MCU?

As stated earlier, the first scene of the series is that of Jack Murdock, a boxer, trying to comfort his nine-year-old son Matt, who saved the life of an old man from getting hit by a truck carrying some dangerous chemicals. However, those chemicals get in Matt's eyes, causing him to lose sight. But these chemicals also enhanced Matt's other senses, which will help him in his vigilante career.

Shortly after this accident, Jack fights Crusher Creel in a boxing match. Jack Murdock managed to beat Creel in that fight, but he was supposed to lose that match. Thus, mobster Roscoe Sweeney kills Jack, effectively orphaning young Matt.

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MCU Daredevil's key moments:

Daredevil's journey in the Marvel Cinematic Universe began almost a decade ago through the original Netflix series. Here are the highlights in MCU Daredevil's career:

• Meeting Foggy Nelson

For college, Matt joins Columbia University for a law degree. There, he meets Foggy Nelson. This friendship is one of the MCU Daredevil's heart-warming aspects. After their degree, they work together for a while at Landman and Zack, and one day, Matt decides to quit, and Foggy joins him. A case involving the Roxxon plant played a role in Matt's decision to quit.

• Establishing the law firm and meeting Karen Page

Matt and Foggy quit Landman and Zack and establish their law practice, and the former becomes a masked vigilante shortly before the beginning of the first episode of Daredevil. Their first case is proving the innocence of Karen Page, who is arrested for the murder of one of her colleagues at Union Allied.

They successfully prove her innocence, and she joins their firm, establishing the heart and soul of this MCU series.

• Bringing down Fisk:

One of Matt's career highlights is bringing down Fisk legally in the finale of the first season of the Netflix series. Fisk is arrested by the testimony of the corrupt police officer Carl Hoffman. But this may not mean much because the Kingpin returns as a central antagonist in the third season, and in Born Again, he is the New mayor of New York City.

• Meeting Punisher

A few months after defeating Wilson Fisk, a member of the Kitchen Irish, Grotto requests Foggy and Matt's help and meets them. However, Grotto is pursued by a dangerous attacker, dubbed The Punisher, who is revealed to be Frank Castle. Castle and Daredevil's conversation regarding their difference in approach to crime fighting is a highlight in the second season.

After he is arrested, Murdock takes up Castle's case, but as that happens, he is distracted by the return of Elektra and The Hand's sinister plot. While Matt loses Elektra in the fight against The Hand, they and Elektra eventually return.

• Teaming up with The Defenders

At the beginning of The Defenders, Matt has given up being the vigilante after experiencing Elektra's supposed death. However, soon, he learns about her resurrection and teams up with Danny Rand, Luke Cage, and Jessica Jones to fight The Hand's original founders, who haven't aged a day, and thwart their sinister plan.

• Fighting Bullseye

Daredevil Season 3 introduces us to Benjamin Poindexter, this show's version of the villain Bullseye. He is one of the most dangerous characters because anything can turn into a weapon in his hands. In the third season, Fisk convinces Poindexter to suit up as Daredevil to tarnish the vigilante's reputation.

However, Fisk has Benjamin's "North Star" murdered, thus, he turns on Fisk upon learning this information. The Man Without Fear, Fisk, and Bullseye have a three-way fight in the season 3 finale in which Kingpin breaks Poindexter's spine. Matt manages to defeat Fisk and gets him to stop going after Karen and Foggy by blackmailing Fisk about Vennessa's involvement in the death of an FBI agent.

• His defense of Spider-Man

Netflix has slowly started canceling its Marvel shows since Luke Cage Season 2. The same happened to the Daredevil season, too. However, in December 2021, Kevin Feige confirmed that Charlie Cox was back as Matt Murdock in the MCU. We see Cox return as the lawyer in Spider-Man: No Way Home, where he clears Peter Parker's name. Later, he is also seen defending Happy in a deleted scene.

• A hook-up with She-Hulk

In the eighth and penultimate episode of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, Matt serves as the defense lawyer for fashion designer Luke Jacobson for supposedly giving Eugene Patilio a super suit that malfunctions. Matt manages to convince the judge that Patilio didn't follow Luke's instructions, thus making it Eugene's fault rather than the fashion designer's.

Enraged, Eugene, in his Leap Frog suit, abducts Luke, requiring Matt to suit up in his vigilante outfit, which is yellow. After a brief tussle with She-Hulk, he teams up with her to rescue Luke. After getting Leap Frog arrested, Jen and Matt have a one-night stand.

• Losing Foggy:

March 4, 2025, saw the two-episode premiere of Daredevil: Born Again. In the opening moments of the first episode, we see Foggy, Matt, and Karen celebrating the retirement of police officer Cherry at Josie's Bar. But Foggy gets a call from one of his clients, which is soon revealed to be a ruse. Turns out that Bullseye had set this up and fatally shoots Foggy.

As of now, we don't have a reason why Bullseye chose to kill Foggy in the first episode.

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Follow Matt Murdock's latest exploits as The Man Without Fear on Daredevil: Born Again on Disney+.