The Lawyer as Superhero: How Marvel Comics' Daredevil Depicts the American Court System and Legal Practice

• Author: Louis Michael Rosen
• Position: Reference Librarian and Associate Professor of Law Library at Barry University School of Law in Orlando, Florida
• Pages: 197-251

THE LAWYER AS SUPERHERO: HOW MARVEL COMICS’

DAREDEVIL DEPICTS THE AMERICAN COURT SYSTEM AND

LEGAL PRACTICE

LOUIS MICHAEL ROSEN*

TABLE OF CONTENTS

I. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................. 380

II. BACKGROUND: POPULAR CULTURE AND THE LAW THEORIES ....... 387

III. DAREDEVIL––THE STORY SO FAR ............................................... 391

A. Daredevil in the Sights of Frank Miller ....................................... 391

B. Daredevil Through the Eyes of Brian Michael Bendis ................ 395

C. Daredevil’s Journey to Redemption by David Hine .................... 402

D. Daredevil Goes Public, by Mark Waid ........................................ 406

IV. DAREDEVIL’S FRESH START AND BIGGEST CASE EVER, BY

CHARLES SOULE ...................................................................................... 417

V. CONCLUSION .................................................................................... 430

Copyright © 2019, Louis Michael Rosen.

* Louis Michael Rosen is a Reference Librarian and Associate Professor of Law Library

at Barry University School of Law in Orlando, Florida. He would like to thank Profess or

Taylor Simpson-Wood, his mentor , ally, advocate, cheerleader, and ever-patient editor as he

wrote this article. She invites him into her Popular Culture and the Law class every

semester to present a guest lecture on Superheroes and the Law, which formed the genesis

of this article. He would also like to thank Associate Dean of Information Services Glen-

Peter Ahlers, Associate Dire ctor and Head of Public S ervices Whitney Curtis, fellow

Reference Librarians Diana Botluk and Jason Murray, and fellow nerd Justo Fajardo for

their support, and Barry Law student Nicholas Walls for his inspiration. Finally, he must

thank his brilliant wife, Dr. Stacey Coffman-Rosen, for everything.

380 CAPITAL UNIVERSITY LAW REVIEW [47:379

I. INTRODUCTION

For the last twenty years, superheroes have been enjoying a crest of

popularity due to a seemingly never-ending series of movies and television

shows that mine decades of comic book source material for action and

drama. While these fictional characters are firmly entrenched in the

American cultural consciousness, the endless volumes of their cross-media

adventures also treat global audiences to a form of modern-day American

mythology, thrilling and inspiring viewers around the world. Despite

declining comic book sales,

1

mainstream culture is more familiar with

these iconic characters than ever before due to the broad exposure given to

the genre by film and television.

2

This has resulted in new fans becoming

familiar with more than just the iconic A-list heroes (like Batman,

Superman, Wonder Woman, and Spider-Man), but embracing all kinds of

superheroes once only known by the geekiest and most committed

collectors.

3

One of the many superheroes who has overcome decades of obscurity

to become a multimedia superstar is Marvel Comics’ Daredevil. Unlike all

the superheroes who are government super -soldiers, benevolent aliens,

crusading journalists, and perhaps most unrealistic of all, billionaire

1

See Milton Griepp, Comics and Graphic Novel Sales Down 6.5% in 2017, ICV2 (July

13, 2018, 6:21 AM), https://icv2.com/articles/news/view/40845/comics-graphic-novel-

sales-down-6-5-2017 [https://perma.cc/BJ62-MKPX]. See also Shannon O’Leary, Comics

Retailers Hope to Rebound in 2018, PUBLISHERS WKLY. (Feb. 9, 2018), https://www.

publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/comics/article/76031-comics-retailers-

hope-to-rebound-in-2018.html [https://perma.cc/AW9Z-LZX5].

2

Marvel Comics (own ed by the Walt Disney Company) owns our subject Daredevil, as

well as Spider-Man, Captain America, the Hul k, Iron Man, Thor, Wol verine, Deadpool, the

X-Men, the Avengers, the Guardians of the Galaxy, and all their villains and supporting

characters. See A to Z in Marvel Comic Characters, MARVEL, https://www.marvel.com/

comics/characters [https://perma.cc/H6X2-K66S] (for a catalogue of Marvel characters).

Its longtime rival, DC Comics (owned by Warner Bros.), owns Superman, Batman, Wonder

Woman, The Flas h, Green Lantern, Green Arrow, Aq uaman, the Justice League, and a ll

their villains and supporting characters. See Character s, DCCOMICS, https://

www.dccomics.com/characters [https://perma.cc/W55E-HRCP] (for a catalogue of DC

characters). When I introduce legal research concepts to 1L students, I tell them to think of

Westlaw and LexisNexis as the Marvel and DC Comics of legal research databases.

Sometimes it gets a nervous chuckle or two.

3

I have been a superhero fan my whole life, learning to read from comic books,

collecting comics and action figures, and loving the movies and television shows that

adapted these heroes for larger audiences. As a child in the 1980s, and especially as a

teenager in the 1990s, I felt like part of a special club, as most characters weren’t exactly

household names. I always gravitated toward the underdogs and cult favorites anyway,

rather than the most popular characters.

2019] THE LAWYER AS SUPERHERO 381

captains of industry with a social conscience, Daredevil just happens to be

an attorney, one of relatively few comic book characters who leads this

particular double life.

4

The monthly Daredevil comic book series

5

and

recent streaming television show on Netflix

6

offer unique opportunities to

tell allegorical stories about a well-intentioned lawyer navigating the legal

profession, acting heroically, and occasionally making major mistakes.

They offer commentary and teaching moments about the law to audiences

who largely acquire their limited legal knowledge through other popular

culture sources.

A case can also be made for using Daredevil comics as a teaching tool

for law students to demonstrate legal issues in areas such as criminal law

and procedure, constitutional law, and professional responsibility, among

others.

7

Consequently, this article will focus on the portrayals of

Daredevil’s secret identity, attorney Matthew Murdock, and the legal

system in Daredevil comic books, and the lessons that readers and

television audiences may be absorbing as they consume various writers’

interpretations of Daredevil.

Daredevil first appeared in 1964, in Marvel Comics’ Daredevil #1, a

co-creation of prolific writer Stan Lee and artist Bill Everett.

8

The

4

See generally William A. Hilyerd, Hi Superman, I’m a Lawyer: A Guide to Attor neys

(and Other Legal Professionals) Portrayed in American Comic Books: 1910–2007, 15

WIDENER L. REV. 159 (2009) (for a brief history of attorney characters in comic books).

5

Marvel Comics publishes Daredevil almost continuously since the character’s creation

in 1964, in five separate series, each starting with a new #1 issue. Volume 1 was published

from 1964–1998, Volume 2 from 1998–2010, Volume 3 from 2011–2014, Volume 4 from

2014–2015, and Volume 5 from 2015 to the present. See Comics, MANWITHOUTFEAR.COM,

http://www.manwithoutfear.com/daredevil-comics.shtml [https://p erma.cc/SB25-RXRF].

6

Season 1 of Daredevil debuted on the Netflix streaming service in April 2015,

followed by Season 2 in March 2016, and Season 3 in October 2018. See Daredevil Episode

List, IMDB, https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3322312/episodes?season=3 [https://perma.cc/

7XDZ-CHDW] (Select a season number from the “Season” dropdown to view a list of

episodes organized by airdate from that season).

7

See Thomas Giddens, Comics, Law, and Aesthet ics: Towards the Use of Graphic

Fiction in Legal Studies, 6 L. & HUMAN. 85, 87 (2012) (suggesti ng that comics have the

potential to promote narrative discourse on issues of law and justice in a humanities-based

approach to interdisciplinary legal studies).

8

Marvel Comics, one of the “big two” comic book p ublishers alongside older rival DC

Comics, debuted its first superhero comic, Stan Lee an d artist Jack Kirby’s Fantastic Four

#1, in 1961; quickly following it with Spider-Man, the Hulk, Iron Man, Thor, the X-Men,

the Avengers, and our Dare devil––all co-created by Lee and his artist collaborators, and all

beloved, enduring character s to this day. See Stan Lee Biography, BIOGRAPHY,

https://www.biography.com/people/stan-lee-21101093 [https://perma.cc/475R-W869].