Matthew Murdock (Earth 1610)

## Daredevil

### Base of Operations

Knights; Nelson and Murdock Nelson and Murdock Law Office, Hell's Kitchen, New York City, New York

### Education

Columbia University (undergraduate); unidentified law school

## History

*Welcome to the world. You're one day older.*
--****Daredevil****
### Early Life

Matthew "Matt" Murdock was blinded in his youth but somehow secretly gifted with enhanced non-visual senses, Matt Murdock also lost his father, murdered for refusing to go along with a fixed fight.

### Columbia Law School

Even with that, though, Matt had his promise to his father - to make something of himself through his education. He enrolled at Columbia Law School, where he met and became enamored with Elektra Natchios. A string of violent occurrences at the school tore them apart, though. It started when one of Elektra's friends was raped by an influential, rich boy called Trey. Her friend went and pressed charges against Trey, backed up by Elektra, but Trey's father had them buried. Unable to accept that, Elektra snuck into his room one night and threatened Trey; something that only earned her and her family more pain when Trey hired thugs to burn down her father's business. Matt managed to draw a connection between the thugs and Trey, having him arrested again. And, once again, the charges were dropped.

Deciding that he would never stop, Elektra tricked Trey into a confrontation. As soon as Matt caught wind of it, he intervened to try and save Elektra's life... and keep Elektra from becoming a murderer. Refusing to listen to someone she didn't know, Matt had to reveal himself to Elektra - and his abilities - in a bid to gain her trust. Unfortunately, it only served to condemn him somewhat; she couldn't trust someone who had been lying to him through omission for this long. She cut Trey's femoral artery and fled, leaving Matt a choice; go with her, or save Trey's life, effectively ending things between her and Matt. It wasn't any choice at all. Even when it was someone like Trey, he couldn't let him die. Elektra withdrew from the college.

### Walter Savage Law Firm

Matt stayed on, furthering his education until he came to a point where he and his best friend - Franklin 'Foggy' Nelson - had the opportunity to intern beneath a fairly renowned lawyer: Walter Savage. Elektra and his paths crossed again before too long, though; under the pretense of helping recover her father's business, her cousins Paul and Leander Natchios used it as a front to launder money through it. Their bookkeeper, though, took the ledger and intended on taking it to the authorities. The ledger gave information on not only Paul and Leander, but the Kingpin and various other individuals; as a result, the Kingpin told Leander to get a hold of it, or Leander's life would be forfeit.

Since Elektra had been trying to find a way to have Leander release her father from Leander's debt, he saw this as a perfect opportunity; he sent Elektra to retrieve the ledger. The Kingpin, however, didn't trust Leander, and sent an assassin of his own to take care of it; Benjamin Poindexter, also known as Bullseye. Both trying to steal the ledger at the same time, Bullseye killed the bookkeeper and very nearly killed Elektra too. Bullseye took the opportunity for another type of mischief, though - he left an anonymous phone call, intending to frame Elektra for the bookkeeper's murder. Instead, her father was arrested for it.

Cue Matt, Elektra called on his aid to try and clear her father of the charges. It wasn't altogether too difficult to discover Bullseye's connection to the Kingpin; the trouble was trying to find a way to clear Elektra's father's name through that. As luck would have it, an opportunity arose; Walter Savage, the lawyer Matt had been interning under, had also been the bookkeeper's lawyer and had a second copy of the ledger, as well as a series of notes and testimonial tapes. Savage, however, wanted to profit from it; looking to sell the ledger to the Kingpin. Instead, the Kingpin had Bullseye kill Savage.

Elektra managed to get the ledger before Bullseye could, and she decided that her and Matt's paths had once again diverged. She knocked Matt out with a couple of sucker blows and the last Matt knew she left with the ledger to give it to the Kingpin in exchange for her father being released from prison and all charges against him being dropped. Later, Matt confronted her once more. Having run through what was left of Savage's notes and tapes, Matt told Elektra about them, telling her that they alone would have been more than enough to clear her father's name. There was another way, he told her. She could have done it without selling her soul. She could have done it without throwing in with Fisk.

Having stolen both his father from Matt, and as far as Matt's concerned, Elektra's soul, Matt's made it his life's work to take down the Kingpin, and to keep Hell's Kitchen safe.

Matt Murdock was one of the millions of people who perished when Magneto's "Ultimatum Wave" devastated New York City. His body was found by Spider-Man.[1] After his death, his mentor, Stick, found his replacement; he discovered Raymond Conner, a 12-year old boy that developed abilities similar to Matt and groomed him take the mantle of Daredevil.