8 Reasons Why Daredevil Is Marvel's Greatest Superhero
2. The Character Has Limits
Marvel Comics
Despite the red spandex, superhuman abilities and outlandish villains, Daredevil actually offers a very human portrayal of the Marvel Universe as we know it. Again, this is something that has been synonymous with Marvel for decades, but in their quest to create relatable characters, their heroes can and often do fail.
No Marvel hero has become more accustomed to this sense of defeat than Daredevil himself, but in his darkest moments humanity is really best embodied. He may be superhuman, but the character is not impervious to the mental strains of daily life, nor its physical constraints either - ignoring his heightened agility of course.
Moral ambiguity is enshrined in the Daredevil mythos - in many ways it is its hallmark. Seeing how Matt grapples with these obscure themes grounds the series in a gritty ambience other comic book heroes fail to really emulate, and this is best encompassed when Daredevil does get hit, or when he's shown struggling. It shows that whilst he may be one of Marvel's most accomplished fighters, he isn't exactly invulnerable. Rather, it's his vulnerability that makes the character so great.
WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well.
In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.
