More than any other character, Daredevil is the face of Marvel's street-level stories. His red costume and swashbuckling past make him something of a halfway point between the colorful world of Spider-Man, Captain America and the Avengers, and the darker, more grounded tales of characters like Moon Knight and the Punisher. Despite this prominence within the Marvel Universe, his Ultimate Universe counterpart was a bit lacking.
Whereas Ultimate Spider-Man felt like a fresh, modern take on the character and his classic stories, the Ultimate version of Daredevil felt both too similar and too different from what fans expected. Here's what Ultimate Matt Murdock's story was and how it ultimately petered out in the long run.
Ultimate Daredevil
The Ultimate Universe Matt Murdock first appeared in Brian Michael Bendis and Bill Sienkiewicz's Ultimate Marvel Team-Up #7, before having his origin detailed in Greg Rucka and Salvador Larroca's Ultimate Daredevil and Elektra. This story gave him and the Greek assassin very similar backstories to the mainstream 616 Universe, albeit also incorporating elements from the Daredevil movie. Much like in the origin that Frank Miller wrote for the character, Matt and Elektra met in college where they quickly became infatuated with each other. In this continuity, Matt was also blind but gifted with advanced versions of his other senses, and his father, a boxer, was killed for refusing to throw a fight. Like in the movie, however, his killer was none other than Wilson Fisk, a.k.a. The Kingpin.
Matt and Elektra's relationship in this story becomes strained after one of Elektra's friends is sexually assaulted by a spoiled rich kid at the school. The young woman retaliates by attacking him and his friends, which only results in them destroying her father's business. When the law student Matt tries to get Elektra justice through the system, the boy's father's money only buries the case. This almost causes Elektra to kill him before Matt stops her. Before she could do more harm to him, he reveals his black-masked identity to her, as well as the nature of his powers. Still grief-stricken and vengeful, she forces Matt to choose between his sense of black and white justice or his love for her. When he chooses the latter, they part ways. Daredevil later becomes an ally of Spider-Man, who convinces him to not commit murder himself when he finally confronts Wilson Fisk. This pays off, as Fisk is eventually arrested and brought to justice the old-fashioned way.
Death of the Daredevil
Unfortunately, Daredevil himself never made much of a splash in the Ultimate Universe. Part of this stemmed from the Ultimate Daredevil and Elektra series, which largely did away the gritty street-level noir that defined the character.
In terms of tone, the story was much more of a romance comic book, again eschewing what people expected from the character's superhero and noir roots. This not only failed to fit in with what was expected of Daredevil, but also the Ultimate Universe in general, which was typically a much darker and more realistic place. Thus, turning one of Marvel's darker heroes into a shojo manga character was a less than exciting choice for most readers. Even the art went along with this romance tone, feeling more at home in a webcomic or modern webtoon.
Due to this lack of interest in this version of the character, Ultimate Daredevil was unceremoniously killed off during Ultimatum. None of his side or supporting characters showed up again, though a new, unrelated Daredevil was introduced later in a story involving vampires of all things. This only proves how absolutely irrelevant Daredevil was in the grand scheme of things. Given how much influence Ultimate Spider-Man, the Ultimates, The Maker and even the Jimmy Hudson Wolverine have had in recent years, it's safe to say that Ultimate Daredevil was the universe's only real failure.