Daredevil has been around since the Silver Age, but his rise to prominence through Frank Miller was emblematic of the Dark Age in the 1980s. This gritty, noir-tinged take on the character completely revised and revitalized the character, putting him on the map. Beforehand, he never had such success, and so it's fitting that the attempts to take him back to the pre-Miller days have always been seen as a downward trajectory.

Such a take on Daredevil may be employed in the upcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe TV series She-Hulk. Though Disney will likely tone him down from how he was portrayed in his Netflix series. This new take needs to ultimately hew closer to Miller's revision of the Man Without Fear and instead of a more lighthearted take.

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Frank Miller's Daredevil Saved the Character from Generic Obscurity

Frank Miller Daredevil art

Daredevil was created by Stan Lee and Bill Everett and debuted in Daredevil #1 (1964). However, he wouldn't hit it big until nearly 20 years later. Even his most diehard fans would be hard-pressed to name many must-read stories for the ol' Hornhead from this era. The Silver Age Daredevil comics typically ranged from mediocre to rather bad, with the character and his adventures coming off as a knockoff of the much more popular Spider-Man. Even Frank Miller stated 'that Daredevil was something Lee and Everett sort of bashed out to pay bills.

The swashbuckling, lighthearted tone of those books was almost forever abandoned once Miller gave Daredevil a more unique noir, street-level crime tone. There would be a few runs that would temporarily return Daredevil to his earlier portrayal, namely Mark Waid's colorful and almost uncharacteristic run. For the most part, however, Frank Miller's dark writing would become synonymous with Daredevil, helping to separate him from the likes of Spider-Man and the later character, Deadpool. If anything, Daredevil could be seen as nonexistent until Frank Miller took over, with the earlier issues being sort of apocrypha. For the sake of continuing the success of the Netflix series, Marvel Studios should follow in Miller's footsteps.

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Daredevil Has Evolved Beyond His Original Incarnation -- Yellow Suit and All

daredevil alongside a list of artists' names

With the hero seen wearing his classic yellow and red costume instead of the red and black version, many believe that Daredevil's portrayal in She-Hulk will do away with his usual seriousness and be more comedic. This isn't an unwarranted fear, given the fact that Marvel Studios is known for injecting tons of comedy into their productions. Likewise, there's no way that they would ever try to continue the dark and gritty tone of the Netflix show, as it's simply too far away from the family-friendly fare that they're known for. As much as this would seemingly justify having Daredevil turn over a kiddy new leaf, it's worth remembering that this simply isn't where the character's strengths lie.

As mentioned, Daredevil only really came into his own with a gritty tone that separated him from other heroes. That's especially necessary for the MCU, where many of the characters and their respective shows and movies are bleeding together due to a lack of tonal diversity. One example is Moon Knight, a character who is meant to be dark like Daredevil, yet was cracking jokes in his Disney+ TV show. That was out of character for the Fist of Khonshu, and anything similar would ruin what makes Daredevil great. Since the Miller run was where he got his real start, doing anything else with the Devil of Hell's Kitchen is essentially watering him down. Having him crack jokes with She-Hulk and act like any other MCU character is a waste of Daredevil's potential -- potential that would have never been reached without Frank Miller changing him for the better.