10 Ways Ben Affleck’s Daredevil Movie Has Aged Surprisingly Well

While the 2003 Daredevil movie starring Ben Affleck as Matt Murdock isn’t a Marvel movie that’s usually held in high regard, certain creative choices in it have stood the test of time. Charlie Cox’s MCU Daredevil is one of the most well-developed versions of the character, with three Daredevil seasons at Netflix, one crossover series in the form of Defenders, three MCU appearances in Spider-Man: No Way Home, She-Hulk: Attorney At Law, and Echo, and one MCU show in Marvel Studios’ Daredevil: Born Again. However, Cox is not the first actor to bring the Man Without Fear to live-action.

Fourteen years after 1989’s The Trial of the Incredible Hulk marked Daredevil’s live-action debut with Rex Smith as Matt Murdock, Ben Affleck played the hero in 2003’s Daredevil. Some aspects of Daredevil seem dated in comparison to other early 2000 non-MCU Marvel movies like Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy and the early X-Men films. For instance, Daredevil‘s soundtrack, CGI, and overall tone have often been criticized. But while Daredevil‘s weak points are a product of their time, there are also several details that have aged surprisingly well.

10 2003’s Daredevil Helped Pioneer Gritty Superhero Movies

Superhero Movies Were Still Experimenting With Darker Tones In The Early 2000s

With the genre on the rise at the time, experimenting with a dark tone was a risky choice for a superhero movie. Ang Lee’s Hulk couldn’t capture audiences with its blend of comic book-inspired editing and cerebral story, and Daredevil‘s surprisingly tragic story wasn’t popular either. However, Daredevil‘s attempt at a dark superhero movie is commendable given how little precedent it had. Ben Affleck’s unfortunately unpopular Daredevil couldn’t avoid most tragedies in his life, and his victory over Kingpin barely got him anything but the satisfaction of physical revenge in return.

Visually, Daredevil may be one of the darkest superhero movies released at the time. No previous superhero movie had dared to be so violent and tragic, at least not without a similar amount of comedic relief to compensate. Besides, Daredevil stood out due to its lack of supernatural elements, which had always been present to some degree in superhero movies since Tim Burton’s Batman Returns. Of course, the formula for dark and gritty superhero movies would only be perfected a few years later by Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins and The Dark Knight.

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9 Daredevil’s Violence Was A Bold Move In 2003

The Daredevil Movie Is Quite Violent For An Early 2000s Superhero Movie

Daredevil built upon Blade‘s action scenes with its less fantastical plot, and it didn’t hesitate to harm or kill the characters in rather gruesome ways. Bullseye murders an innocent old lady with a paperclip, kills Elektra’s father with Daredevil’s billy clubs, and pierces Elektra’s hand with her own Sai before stabbing her in the stomach. Daredevil lets a criminal get crushed by a train and breaks Kingpin’s legs during their final confrontation — and that’s not counting the footage included in the R-rated director’s cut. As another positive point, Daredevil‘s brutality effectively underlines the theme of violence only breeding more violence.

8 Ben Affleck’s Daredevil Is A Vulnerable Hero

Matt Murdock’s Human Weaknesses Are A Highlight Of The 2003 Daredevil Movie

In 2002, Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man made Peter Parker a visibly vulnerable hero who ended up physically and emotionally hurt after every battle, and Daredevil followed suit the following year. In Daredevil, Ben Affleck’s Matt Murdock is shown to be heavily scarred, requires heavy painkillers to function, and even spits out a tooth after a fight. He’s constantly tormented by visions of his painful memories and needs to sleep in a sensory deprivation tank in order to avoid hearing every crime in the city while he sleeps. This intimate look at the hero’s vulnerability was groundbreaking, albeit overlooked, at the time.

7 Michael Clarke Duncan’s Kingpin Did The Villain Justice

Michael Clarke Duncan’s Portrayal Of Wilson Fisk Is One Of The Most Memorable Parts Of The Daredevil Movie

Kingpin’s ruthlessness and physical grandeur provides any actor with plenty of material to work with, and Michael Clarke Duncan wasted none of it. Although Bullseye does most of the dirty work, Kingpin makes an impression from the get-go by snapping his bodyguard’s neck just to prove a point, and his looming presence makes him terrifying as the villain who pulls the strings behind every death in the movie. When Daredevil finally confronts him, Kingpin beats him to a pulp for most of the fight until Daredevil finds his weakness. Even then, Duncan’s Kingpin laughs at Daredevil and promises he’ll return.

6 Colin Farrell’s Bullseye Bridges The Gap Between Silly And Dark Superhero Movies

Colin Farrell’s Bullseye Is As Cruel As He Is Campy

Save for Ian McKellen’s Magneto, most superhero movie antagonists before 2003’s Daredevil had been campy or outlandish in one way or another. Colin Farrell’s Bullseye is no exception, but his extravagant personality is complemented by his brutal killing methods and his thirst for blood. Bullseye jokes around during his fight sequences, but unlike other villains, he doesn’t give the hero time to turn the tide at the last second. In fact, Farrell’s Bullseye makes sure Daredevil is watching when Elektra and her father die, and he undeniably crosses the line when he fondles Elektra before murdering her in cold blood.

5 Elektra’s Death Proved Superhero Movies Could Have High Stakes

Jennifer Garner’s Elektra Is The First Major Hero To Die In A Marvel Movie

Daredevil also broke new ground by going one step beyond killing the hero’s closest relative. Ben Affleck’s Matt Murdock is already tormented by his father’s death when he fights Bullseye, but his desire for vengeance isn’t enough to prevent more tragedies in his life. As much as he tries, Daredevil is unable to save Elektra, and he barely gets a second to explain the truth about her father’s death to her before she dies. Although Elektra resurrects in her 2005 spinoff, Daredevil makes her death permanent for Matt Murdock.

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4 2003’s Daredevil Put A Nice Spin On Matt Murdock‘s Powers

Daredevil’s Sonar Ability Captures The Essence Of His Powers Accurately

Daredevil’s abilities are simple in theory, but they could have been difficult to translate to live-action without making them look silly or dull. 2003’s Daredevil finds the right balance for Matt Murdock’s sonar abilities, as they’re a clear visual representation of what he perceives, but they don’t come off as a full-fledged superpower. Matt Murdock’s sonar vision plays a much bigger role in 2003’s Daredevil than it does in Netflix’s Daredevil series, where it rarely appears explicitly onscreen. In the movie, Daredevil’s powerful sonar vision constantly overwhelms him, but it ultimately becomes his best weapon against Bullseye and Kingpin.

3 Daredevil’s Suit Is More Realistic Than The MCU’s Usually Overdesigned Costumes

Ben Affleck’s Daredevil Suit Suffers From The Opposite Problem Of The MCU’s Superhero Costumes

Daredevil’s suit in 2003’s Daredevil is the epitome of the early-aughts’ obsession with dark leather, which began with The Matrix‘s leather trenchcoats and their influence on comic book movies and shows like X-Men and Smallville. But looking back, Daredevil’s 2003 leather suit is a breath of fresh air from the tactical approach to superhero attire popularized by the Dark Knight trilogy, as well as from many MCU costumes’ overdesigned style. An easily-replaceable, all-leather suit makes sense for a lawyer with limited resources and no connections to in-universe costume designers specialized in superhero suits.

2 Ben Affleck’s Daredevil Struggles With Morality

Matt Murdock Is A Brutal Anti-Hero In The 2003 Daredevil Movie

Matt Murdock’s willingness to kill in the Daredevil movie is controversially less restrained than his comic book counterpart’s, but it reveals a dark side of the protagonist that few superhero movies had explored before. Ben Affleck’s Matt Murdock upholds the law and nurtures his faith as a regular citizen, but lets his vengeful desires loose as a vigilante. However, death weighs on Daredevil’s conscience, as the satisfaction of killing the criminals who supposedly deserve death also continues the cycle, and innocent people close to Matt Murdock suffer the same fate as a result.

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1 Ben Affleck’s Daredevil Uses His Billy Clubs More Than Charlie Cox’s Matt Murdock

Matt Murdock’s Billy Clubs Have A Bigger Role In The 2003 Daredevil Movie

Similarly to his sonar vision, Ben Affleck’s Matt Murdock uses his billy clubs more often and in more creative ways in 2003’s Daredevil than Charlie Cox’s Daredevil does in his own series and the MCU. Matt’s billy clubs in the movie have a sharp wire connecting them, as well as a mechanism that allows him to shoot them like a powerful projectile and a grapple hook. Daredevil’s billy clubs also play a narrative purpose in the Daredevil movie as dangerous weapons that often get used against him.