All superheroes have gone through a period of trial and tribulation in their lives, and in some cases, it's those tragedies that were the impetus for their decision to don spandex in the first place. However, when it comes to heroes that have seen more than their fair share of tragedy, nobody tops Daredevil.

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Throughout the course of his life, Matt Murdock has been subject to physical, mental and emotional pressures that no other character would have been able to endure, much less fight back from. These are the worst things to happen to him.

10 ATTACKED & ABANDONED BY HIS MOTHER

Poor Matt Murdock's troubles literally started in the crib, as he was assaulted and later abandoned by his mother. Suffering from severe postpartum depression, Maggie attempted to attack baby Matt but was stopped by her husband, Jack. Stricken with guilt and grief, Maggie left her family out of fear she would try to hurt them again and took refuge with the church. Becoming a nun, Maggie would encounter Matt again years later, helping Daredevil to recover from some serious injuries.

9 WAS BLINDED

Diving to push a pedestrian out of the way of an oncoming truck carrying radioactive waste, a young Matt Murdock was blinded by the ensuing spray of toxic material but gained the meta-human abilities of enhanced hearing and radar senses. These abilities are fantastic but are so sensitively tuned that Matt experienced severe physical pain and disorientation following his accident, and took years to learn how to cope and use them effectively.

8 HIS FATHER DIED

jack murdock hugging

The first of many significant deaths of close loved ones in Matt Murdock's life was that of his dad's, Battlin'Jack Murdock. A boxer, Jack was murdered when he refused to throw a fight at the behest of a local mobster. Despite recent retcons that present Jack Murdock as abusive, for a majority of Daredevil's history, Matt looked up to and idolized his father as someone of integrity and perseverance. Someone who was not afraid of hard work and with whom he enjoyed a good relationship.

7 DISBARRED

During the seminal Born Again story arc, The Kingpin managed to get a hold of Daredevil's secret identity and proceeded to use it to systematically tear apart Matt Murdock's life bit by bit. One way in which he did this was to use his political influence and muscle to have Murdock disbarred. Unable to practice law, Murdock had many jobs before he eventually managed to lift the ban and become a practicing lawyer again.

6 EXPOSED SECRET IDENTITY

Daredevil may have the worst-kept secret identity in all of comics, and that’s saying a lot. His identity has been exposed at least four times, including a pretty lame cover-up the first time involving the creation and sham death of a twin brother named Mike.

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The last twenty years have seen Daredevil’s identity exposed to the world but explained away in some contrived or ham-fisted way. By far, the exposure that has had the most impact was Karen Page’s selling Matt’s secret for a drug fix and the information eventually finding its way to his worst enemy, The Kingpin.

5 LOST HIS SANITY

Seeing your life totally dismantled piece by piece can have more than a little negative effect on your psyche, to say the least. Having lost his practice, his apartment, his standing in the community and almost all the things that made up his identity in Born Again, Matt experienced a period of depression and hopelessness that clouded his ability to rationalize. Having to take residence in shifty hotels and on the streets did not contribute to Matt’s mental stability, and though not as insane as Bullseye or The Joker, Matt was definitely not in control of his faculties for a time.

4 HE DIED

death of daredevil

Daredevil's crimefighting career ended the way it started in The Death of Daredevil when Matt Murdock jumped in front of a moving vehicle to save someone's life. Taking the full brunt of the collision, Matt laid on the operating table of a hospital, envisioning his final triumph over Wilson Fisk before he realized the full gravity of his situation. He then slowly slipped into death, as black pages in the issue indicated the hero's demise. However, the lifeline piercing that blackness at the end of the issue indicated that Matt had not given up yet, but there's no mistake that he was deceased for a time.

3 HE WAS POSSESSED

The somewhat maligned Shadowland story arc saw Daredevil take leadership of the ninja clan The Hand, and use it to clean up the streets in a more violent and final way. Part of Daredevil's new approach was to kill his archnemesis Bullseye, which caught the attention of Marvel's street-level heroes.

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Figuring something was wrong with him, the heroes soon realize that Matt Murdock was actually possessed by The Hand's demon liaison, The Beast. Although Matt was eventually purged of the demonic infestation, the incident wreaked havoc on his already tormented soul.

2 HIS GIRLFRIEND ELEKTRA WAS MURDERED

Death of Elektra in Daredevil

Elektra Natchios and Matt Murdock met when they were both college students and began a passionate love affair. Elektra was able to kindle a wild side in Matt, but the relationship was cut short when she disappeared. Years later, Daredevil would meet Elektra again, this time as a hired assassin vying for a position as the chief killer for The Kingpin.

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Unfortunately, Bullseye was competing for the same position, and in one of comics' most famous deaths, he impaled her through the chest with her own sai. Her death was emotionally harrowing for Matt and was a significant escalation in the enmity between him and Bullseye.

1 HIS GIRLFRIEND KAREN PAGE WAS MURDERED

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Arguably Daredevil's greatest love was Karen Page, with whom he spent a majority of his comics existence in an on-again, off-again romance. That is until she was murdered by Bullseye. Stepping in front of a billy club aimed at Daredevil's head by his arch-nemesis, the projectile pierced her heart, and she died in Matt's arms. Her death was one Matt barely recovered from, actually contemplating suicide in his throes of grief.

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