Heroic qualities of Beowulf and the comic character Daredevil?

        Daredevil experiences complexities subsequent to facing blindness and the death of his father. Despite these crippling ordeals, he strives to save the people of New York City from criminals and villains who evade justice and prosecution. Daredevil shows his devotion by never giving up, but continuing to save New York after facing life-changing experiences. “Matt vowed to serve the law as Matt Murdock and to fight evils beyond the law's reach as Daredevil” (Lee 5). The strength of a hero is not always measuring the size of him, but also by his mental ability. Daredevil’s strength is mental; being lawyer that tries to provide justice. When he cannot prevail at bringing justice through the courts, Daredevil takes matters into his own hands. Daredevil shows his bravery by continuing to fight for justice after becoming blind.

        Beowulf is born with his immense amount of strength, becoming the strongest man of his time. Beowulf prefers to fight his battles alone. He favors putting only himself in harm’s way while defeating evil villains. Beowulf chooses to fight his enemies in hand to hand combat by stating, “I hereby renounce/sward and the shelter of the broad shield,/the heavy war-board: hand-to-hand” (Beowulf 436-438). Beowulf wears a metal head piece, chain mail, and carries and sward. “Beowulf got ready,/donned his war-gear, indifferent to death;/his mighty, hand forged, fine-webbed mail” (Beowulf 1442-1444). His gear is made of metal to resist any sort of attack upon him.

        Unlike Beowulf, who received his powers naturally, Daredevil is blinded by a radioactive substance that falls from a vehicle. After blinding him the substance strengthens his four other senses making him have super abilities. “Yet while he no longer can see, the radioactive exposure heightens his remaining senses beyond normal human ability” (Lee 2). Daredevil’s main goal was to bring justice. He fights against other heroes because they kill their opponents. Daredevil wants justice brought, if his enemies are dead he cannot achieve his objective. He prefers to defeat his villains alone, but if assistance is needed, The Punisher is there as his backup. Daredevil wears a red costume with the letters DD on his chest. He carries a billy club disguised as a cane in civilian clothing. “It is a versatile, multi-purpose weapon, stronger than any fist. It contains thirty feet of aircraft control cable, which is connected to a case-hardened steel grapnel. Internal mechanisms allow the cable to be neatly wound and unwound, while a powerful spring launches the grapnel” (Lee 3). This weapon contains much more sophistication that Beowulf’s weapon of choice.

        Although Beowulf and Daredevil contain very similar aspects that almost any hero holds, such as devotion, strength, and bravery they also have differences. Being different heroes from two different eras, they have different fighting habits that evolved from one period to the other. They also have a very different ending. Beowulf dies in the end whereas most heroes from the twentieth century prevail to make it possible to continue the story onward such as in Daredevil. Beowulf and Daredevil contain similar aspects, yet include very different story lines evolving from one era to the next. Daredevil will achieve overall victory over Beowulf.