Daredevil’s Violent Vocation: God’s Calling or the Justification of Man?

Sometimes I’m surprised I’ve not written of Daredevil before.  I spend a lot of time thinking, talking, and writing about the intersection of comic books and theology and teach theology at a Catholic Mercy school and am a lifelong Catholic.  So Matt Murdock/Daredevil feels like a character made for me.  A lawyer by day who lost his sight as a child, Matt uses the radar sense he gained, along with his extensive martial arts training, to protect the people of Hell’s Kitchen as Daredevil.  As Marvel’s most prominent Catholic character, his faith and his relationship with God influence all areas of his life, superheroing included.  He attends Mass.  He goes to confession.  His parish priest and nuns are trusted natural supports.  But I never “got” Daredevil.  My brother David loved him but I wasn’t interested.  He felt like a bargain basement Spider-Man (when quippy) or bargain basement Batman (when dour).  Then I began reading Chip Zdarsky (writer) and Marco Checchetto (main artist on the run)’s Daredevil and OH. MY. GOSH.  I get it now!  Twenty-seven issues in and I love it!  A major story beat is Matt discerning God’s will in his life and, naturally, I was excited to explore this myself.  Is Daredevil’s vocation divinely ordained or an example of someone trying to sanctify their all-too-human violence in God’s name?

Netflix, Amazon, Hulu…And My Exhaustion With Streaming Shows

To be upfront at the start, this is going to be a First World Problem lamentation.  But it’s been on my mind a lot lately and two factors – the sitcom Scrubs and a recent conversation with Jeff – have led me to finally write this post.  So here it is folks, we live in an age where (for those of us with the means and possibility of access) we have thousands of shows and thousands of movies available to be streamed whenever our little hearts’ desire…and I’m kind of exhausted by it all.  I am.  More and more I find myself missing the “old days,” when a TV show was on once a week and you either saw it, caught it in reruns, or it was forever lost to you.  Sure, I missed a lot.  But what I caught I caught because I loved it.

Considering the Defenders’ Painful Absence in Infinity War

It’s been a month and change since “the most ambitious crossover ever” hit theatres with Avengers: Infinity War so that means no one is talking/thinking about it anymore.  Haha, I’m kidding…but only sort of.  Honestly, where is the time for multiple viewings and full immersions when we jump from Black Panther to Avengers: Infinity War to Deadpool 2 to Solo: A Star Wars Story to Jurassic Word: Fallen Kingdom all in the space of a few months?  It’s nothing but tentpole blockbuster after tentpole blockbuster, all demanding my total allegiance…for three weeks and asking nothing more from me after I buy tickets to boost the opening box office weekend.  We have no time to savor anything anymore.  But that’s the lamentation for another piece.  This piece is going to examine the painful absence of the Defenders from Avengers: Infinity War as the 4,000,000,000^th sign these characters do not, by any stretch of the imagination, live in the same universe.