What Martial Arts Does Superhero Daredevil Know?

Daredevil (aka Matt Murdock) is somewhat of a unique superhero, due to the fact that he is blind, yet very capable of fighting. During the daredevil series on Netflix, as well as the original movie, daredevil shows off an impressive showcase of martial arts skills.

The origin of the daredevil story is much like any other superhero. He saves a man by pushing him out of the path of a truck but comes in contact with a radioactive substance that causes him to become blind. However, not only is daredevil blinded by the substance, but his other senses also become enhanced, causing him to have an acute sense of sound – similar to a bat’s radar. As with most other superheroes, daredevil is extremely athletic which can be seen by his jumps and gymnastic abilities. This is required to pull off a number of the fighting techniques displayed in the series.

Other than training at Fogwells gym, there is not any information given in the series about how Daredevil learned to fight. Other than boxing, gymnastics, and general physical conditioning, no hints are shown on screen. This may have been edited to keep viewers entertained as in the original comic book series he was trained by a man named Stick.

Much like any other superhero story, the daredevil backstory is marred by tragedy. His father is killed by a criminal so he vows to seek revenge. Daredevil brings multiple criminals to justice, usually having to use his martial arts skills to overpower them.

What Martial Arts Styles Does Daredevil Know?

Boxing

Daredevil’s most trained martial art during the series is boxing, which makes sense as his father Jack Murdock was an established boxer. In fact, it was his father’s relationship with “the fixer” which saw him become embroiled in the criminal underworld of rigged boxing matches that eventually led to his death. Daredevil appears to have superhuman strength which allows him to floor almost any attacker with a single body shot or head strike. You can clearly see in the series that daredevil also boxes with a certain level of skill and ability that is not world class level, but certainly up to par with what you would expect from an amateur boxer.

Silat / Kali / Eskrima

Perhaps the most used martial art in the Netflix series is kali. This is a Filippino martial art based around weapons fighting as well as disarming your opponent. Daredevil is well known for carrying his two batons throughout the series, which can be turned into a full length stick, nunchuks, as well as a grappling hook which are mostly featured in the original comic books.

Daredevil also uses defensive kali as you would expect, as many of his adversaries carry weapons of their own. He uses kali to disarm their knives which requires basic submission holds you will find in other martial arts such as hapkido and aikido.

It should be noted that Kali, Eskrima, and Silat are not exactly the same, so it could be argued these techniques are from any of the three arts listed. However, they all are very similar so it is impossible to say for sure.

Wing Chun

Wing chun is often the movie director’s martial art of choice in modern day. The reason for this is that the close combat trapping technique looks very nice on camera, especially when compared to a grinding and ugly martial art such as wrestling.

Daredevil uses wing chun in several fight scenes during the Nextflix series in close quarter situations by blocking and then countering with various strikes of his own.

Taekwondo

Taekwondo is also a very popular choice for fight choreographers, so it is no surprise to see it being featured in daredevil on Netflix. The kicking martial art is certainly not overused as there are only a couple of fight scenes that use Taekwondo, but they are obvious when viewed. This is because daredevil uses spinning kick techniques (as you would expect), since these look the coolest on camera, despite not being overly practical.

This is a change from the comic book where Daredevil typically only used kung fu based kicks, quite possibly because they are easier to draw and do not require an animated sequence to display what has happened.

Wushu

Yet another style of martial art that is popular on camera is wushu. This art combines well with the gymnastic abilities of daredevil since he is able to somersault, flip and strike his opponents at the same time. The most obvious use of wushu comes in the stairwell scene which takes place in Season 1, Episode 3 with the use of his chain weapon. Daredevil is able to use a spinning technique to disarm the gun of an assailant in the stairwell which is a common move in wushu performance (although a stick will be used, not a chain).

Of course, your chance of disarming a man with a gun using wushu is incredibly unlikely, but this is a superhero series after all.

Others

Daredevil is seen using other martial arts during the series, but only on a small number of occasions. His muay thai abilities seem very polished as he is able to land both knees and elbows flooring opponents. You could argue this is wing chun rather than muay thai as the lines begin to blur between martial arts when techniques are overlapping.

Lastly, daredevil also performs a fairly sloppy Tai Otoshi judo throw which looks to be the martial art that was given the least attention during the series. He also gets an adversary in an uncontrolled armlock which is also purely executed. This is an area where the producers likely used a striking expert to film a grappling sequence hoping nobody would notice.