Does Daredevil Need to Be Blind to Be an Effective Fighter?

Once or twice in Daredevil's (DD) early years, he was given his sight back and promptly found that his hyper-senses and most of his skills were gone. These plot devices were always more about the hard choice of taking his blindness back than anything that made sense. However, in the writings of Frank Miller, radiation accidents and blindness were used as shortcuts to finding their full human potential. In general, restoring Daredevil's sight ought to slow him down for a while but only until he learned to cope with the new sense in combination with the others. It shouldn't be a problem at the start all he'd have to do in an emergency is close his eyes. But mastering it might not be a great improvement for fighting itself.

Dynamic Senses and Fighting Abilities

DD's radar has always provided the same fast-scanning ability that sight does for the rest of us. Therefore, it would almost be more accurate to say that he's just got color-blind sight instead of our night-blind sight. With sight, he'd have one more way to spot tiny cues in his opponents, but that would only add so much when he can already track their heartbeats and smell their sweat. One other advantage it might give is for those moments where Daredevil is overwhelmed by loud noises.

Superhuman Senses and Fighting

Daredevil's enhanced senses could theoretically help him in a variety of situations, such as anticipating attacks or recognizing subtle cues in his environment. If his radar is actually sonar from his hearing and is jammed by too much noise, loud subway roars would only make him stick to his eyes for a minute. But if those moments are simply the pain of any sense being overloaded, he'd still be as helpless as if he were truly blind. This is an exercise in pure speculation, and Daredevil's senses have been described in several ways in the comics, media, and movies.

The Multiple Representations of Daredevil's Senses

Let's compare some of the descriptions of Daredevil's senses. In the traditional comics, Daredevil's radar sense is described like radar or sonar, with his brain sending out a constant pulse that seems to echo back to him, giving him a pinpoint omnidirectional map of his environment. It can even penetrate some material, allowing him to "see" through walls.

Compare that with the first live-action version of Daredevil, played by Ben Affleck in the Daredevil (2003 film). This version of the character had senses much more analogous to radar, where he could strike his billy club on a solid object and sense the environment as the sound waves reflected back to him. He was able to "see" the Elektra character's face in the rain because of the proximate echos the raindrops were making on her face. While not the most well-received film, this exploration of his heightened senses makes a lot of sense. If this Daredevil recovered his sight, he might learn to combine his omnidirectional echolocation with his eye sight so that sight does not interfere. He can literally see behind above and below him if he is receiving echoes from those directions.

Then there's the recently completed three seasons of Daredevil on Netflix. In this version, he described it as if the world was on fire, meaning he could feel the vibrations of the world as it was constantly changing against him like flame is constantly changing. Here is an example of what he sees when he is looking at the nurse character, Claire, played by Rosario Dawson, you can watch on YouTube.

The similarity in outcome is notable. And I'd conclude that he'd learn to combine his senses to include his sense of sight. Perhaps he'd "see" far more like what we'd imagine we'd see if we can see into the infrared and ultraviolet.

Mastering His Environment

Returning to the comics, Daredevil's sight was temporarily restored by an omnipotent being called The Beyonder, but Matt Murdock, Daredevil's real name, declined to keep the gift because he knew if he kept it too long he'd do anything to keep it. However, earlier in the same issue, he commented that his combined set of senses allowed him to sense the world with "greater acuity."

Others may conclude that sight would dull his other senses, but other characters like Wolverine have greater eyesight, smell, and touch than humans have if not as "super" as Daredevil's. If there is anything Matt Murdock has demonstrated it is that he can master his environment.