Daredevil: Superheroes and Disability. Justice, Stigma and Law

In this chapter, we will focus on the figure of a superhero, in whose adventures disability often appears: the reflections developed here start from the character of Daredevil and from the representation given to him in cinema and in TV shows, rather than in Marvel comics. Our starting point is the story of Matthew Murdock, who became blind due to an accident with a radioactive substance that occurred as a teenager and who, as an adult, divides his time between the courtrooms, being a lawyer by day and a superhero who fights the criminals he couldn’t nail in the courtroom by night. Recalling the adventures of Daredevil will also allow us to question ourselves on more general theoretical legal issues: dealing with superheroes allows us to understand the legal and political shortcomings which make the presence of a superhero necessary. We will try to identify four possible fault lines and give a summary reading of them; the first of them concerns the ‘classic’ tension between law and justice, sometimes resulting in a decisive and radical distance.