1993 – Man Without Red Pyjamas
While The Trial of The Incredible Hulk was not a fitting way to portray the character of Daredevil in the eyes of some fans, comic book writer Frank Miller and artist John Romita Jr. felt differently. In their updated origin of the character, they ditched the yellow suit and brought in a more ninja-like approach that took inspiration from the TV movie (according to the creators however, this design was already in place way before the TV movie aired and it was all their idea). It is funny however that this look took inspiration (reportedly) from the TV movie and now the Netflix TV series is taking inspiration from this book. Who would have thought that The Trial of The Incredible Hulk would have such an impact on the character?
1998 – Matt who?
So, yeah, the 90s weren’t always a great time for Marvel Comics. During a bleak period of creativity and nearing bankruptcy, Marvel decided to make Daredevil an Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. with the idea that they wiped his memory of who he was and re-programmed him to think he was someone else. Yep. The result is a costume that is… sort of like Daredevil, but not quite Daredevil enough and would last a few issues during the Flying Blind arc. He would be back in the red suit when Kevin Smith was brought on board to reboot the character in late 1998 with Guardian Devil.
2003 – Batfleck Begins
In what would be his audition tape to play Batman (a brooding vigilante whose father was murdered by thugs in an alley), Ben Affleck was the first man to bring Daredevil to the big screen in the 2003 movie that has aged about as well as its soundtrack. As with all comic book movies made around the time, the suit was re-designed to be “modern” and “realistic”: a very deep shade of burgundy leather suit that had a zipper down the middle and the DD emblem pushed to the side. And yes, The Director’s Cut is marginally better. Marginally. The suit still looks the same.
2010 – Shadowland
Daredevil became a baddie! In a series that split opinions, Matt Murdock turned to the darkside and became the leader of The Hand, the ninja organisation he’d been fighting against since the very beginning. Well, he became possessed, so it wasn’t really his fault. In a clever twist, artist Billy Tan simply flipped the colour scheme of the character round to be black on red with a ninja-like DD to show off his new darker side. This again would only last during the Shadowland run and Daredevil was back to black on red shortly thereafter.
2015 – Road to The Defenders
And that brings us all the way to today. While we’ve yet to see the red suit in action, we’ve seen Charlie Cox’s new ninja-like suit that took inspiration from Man Without Fear from 1993. It’s a cool look, but it will be even cooler once he puts on that iconic look. Only a few more days to wait!
Which is your favourite look for Daredevil?
Luke Owen is the Deputy Editor of Flickering Myth and the host of the Flickering Myth Podcast. You can follow him on Twitter @LukeWritesStuff.
Originally published April 8, 2015. Updated April 15, 2018.
