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Jack Murdock (character)

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Jonathan "Jack" Murdock is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. He was a professional championship Boxer in his day; as well as being the father of Matthew "Matt" Murdock (Daredevil) and his magically created twin brother Michael "Mike" Murdock, and the ex-husband of Maggie Murdock. Jack Murdock was murdered because of the local gangster, The Fixer's (AKA Roscoe Sweeney's) men when he refused to throw a fight for him in front of his son Matt, while Jack was working for The Fixer at the time as one of thugs in secret. After his Father is murdered, it inspires Matt to use hyper sense powers along with his Martial Arts training to avenge his father's murder as the Superhero Daredevil. Jack Murdock was created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist Bill Everett. The character first appeared in Daredevil #1 (April 1964).[1]

Jack Murdock
Publication information
PublisherMarvel Comics
First appearanceDaredevil #1 (April 1964)
Created byStan Lee (writer)
Bill Everett (artist)
In-story information
Full nameJonathan Murdock
SpeciesHuman
Place of originEarth
PartnershipsMaggie Murdock
Supporting character ofMatt Murdock (son)
Mike Murdock (magic son)
Notable aliasesJack Murdock, Battlin' Jack, The Devil, Kid Murdock,
Abilities
  • Trained athlete
  • Professional boxer

He has been portrayed by Scott L. Schwartz in Spider-Man (2002) and David Keith in Daredevil (2003). Jack Murdock was also portrayed by John Patrick Hayden in the first and third seasons of the Marvel Television production streaming television series Daredevil, set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).

Publication history

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Jack Murdock first appeared in Daredevil #1 and was created by Stan Lee and Bill Everett.[2]

Fictional character biography

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Born Jonathan Murdock, he went by Jack for short, and lived an average life in New York. He eventually met and fell in love with a woman named Maggie Grace, which led to the birth of a son, Matt. Although their life was good together, Maggie eventually divorced him and went on to join a convent, becoming a nun.

Jack didn't want Matt growing up hating his mother for leaving them and decided to tell him she died when he was little. From then on, Jack raised Matt as a single parent by becoming a boxer fighting other boxers like Happy Hogan and others while doing the best that he could to support Matt. [3][4][5][6]

As time went by, Jack found it hard to support his son on boxing alone and ended up going to a local mobster named Roscoe Sweeney, known as the "Fixer" because he fixed boxing matches to make money off of them. Jack made an agreement with him: Jack would be one of his enforcers, and in return, Sweeney would fix his fights so that Jack would win and make more money.[7][8][9][10][11][12][13]

When Matt saw his father in the pupil of his eye roughing up someone for money to give to the Fixer, he fled from the scene in shock and got into a car accident, when he saved an old blind man from getting hit by a truck carrying radioactive chemicals. Blinded by the chemicals, Matt developed superhuman senses. Heartbroken by what he put his son through, Jack vowed to never work for the Fixer again and helped Matt adjust to his blindness, unaware of his powers.

Matt soon entered college and law school, studying to become a lawyer, while Jack continued to be a boxer. Unfortunately, Jack soon became involved with Roscoe Sweeney again when he returned to town; Sweeney revealed that Jack actually still worked for him, by showing him that all the fights he won over the years were the result of Sweeney fixing his matches so that Jack would win and he could make more money off him in return.[14][15][16][17][18][19]

But this time, Sweeney paid Jack to lose the match. Jack reluctantly accepted the deal. But as the fight started he saw Matt in the crowd cheering him on. Knowing he couldn't disappoint his son, Jack rebelled against the Fixer's orders and won the fight with all his might in Matt's honor.[20][21] In retaliation, Sweeney had Slade and the rest of his men ambush and kill Jack as he left the gym.

Thereafter, Matt Murdock put his powers and training to use as the crime-fighter Daredevil and brought his father's killers to justice.[22][23][24]

Since then, Jack Murdock has appeared in flashbacks throughout Matt's life as Daredevil, and later the childhood of the magically created Mike Murdock after he uses a Norn stone to insert himself into history. At one point an amnesiac Matt began calling himself "Jack Murdock" when he couldn't remember his own name, although he eventually recalled his own true identity.

Alternate versions

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Daredevil Noir

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From Daredevil Noir April, 2009 a man named Orville Halloran was hired to kill Jack Murdock for not agreeing to throw a fight in the ring when he was told to.

Ultimate Marvel

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Jack Murdock maintains the same role in the Ultimate Comics as he does in the 616 continuity.

What If?

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In What If? Daredevil became an Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.?, Jack Murdock was still alive and well. At the same time, his son Matt was involved in an accident when he was still a kid by a truck carrying a radioactive isotope. Tony Stark, employer of the truck driver, put the unconscious Matt into his car that transformed into a plane and took off into the air boarding the newly completed S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier. Tony spoke with S.H.I.E.L.D. director Nick Fury, who informed him that Matt's senses had become superhumanly acute thanks to the radiation. Once Matt had fully recovered, a man named Dr. Frost removed the bandages from his eyes. Much to Matt's surprise, he had been rendered blind but his new hyper senses made up for it. Nick Fury offered to help Matt deal with his blindness and newfound powers by joining S.H.I.E.L.D. and training with them. Years later, Jack was attacked and kidnapped in his apartment by a Life Model decoy created by Hydra and modeled after Matt and held prisoner in their base. Matt soon found out and tracked him down to the Hydra facility holding him and defeated several Hydra agents before finding Jack. After that, Hydra agents surrounded both Jack and Matt; but S.H.I.E.L.D. agents soon came to the rescue and began their attack on the Hydra base by gassing the room, while Matt handed his father a gas mask and they both made it to safety while being picked up by S.H.I.E.L.D.; Jack said that now that Matt was a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, Jack didn't have to sign up with the Fixer to support him, but also reminded Matt about the promise he made to his mother about becoming someone important in life. Matt responded he would; and that no one would know that Matt Murdock was a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent in disguise, they would only know him by his old nickname as a kid: Daredevil.

In What If? Daredevil's Dad Had Thrown The Big Fight?, Jack survived his final fight when he went along with the deal to take a dive. Much later, Wilson Fisk attempted to extort money from the boxing ring of "K.O." Rigolletto, but Rigolletto didn't have any to hand over. So, Fisk instead accepted Rigolletto's boxer Matt Murdock as payment instead. When Fisk offered money to Matthew Murdock, Matt accepted the offer due to fear of Fisk's reputation. Matt scored a series of victories in the boxing ring for him. Fisk then ordered Matt to take a fall in his next fight, but Matt ultimately refused and won the fight. In retaliation, Fisk had Matt's father Jack Murdock killed.

Daredevil: End of Days

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The past history of Jonathan Murdock on Earth-12121 mirrors that of his Earth-616 counterpart.

Powers and abilities

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Jack Murdock had no superhuman abilities. But he was a trained athlete and professional boxer with good stamina which he continued to maintain even as he grew older.

In other media

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Television

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  • Jack Murdock appears in a flashback in the Spider-Man episode "Framed". This version was forced into crime as one of the Kingpin's thugs. After his son Matt is blinded by radioactive chemicals being transported by the Kingpin, Jack is stricken with grief and vows to bring Kingpin to justice. However, he is killed by Kingpin's men in the process.
  • Jack Murdock appears in flashbacks depicted in the first season of Daredevil (2015), portrayed by John Patrick Hayden. As in the comics, he is killed after refusing to take a dive in one of Roscoe Sweeney's matches.[25][26] In the third season, Jack appears in a hallucination that Matt Murdock interacts with when he is at Fogwell's Gym.[27]

Film

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  • An unnamed wrestler who appears in Spider-Man (2002), portrayed by an uncredited Scott L. Schwartz, is identified as Jack Murdock in the film's novelization.[28]
  • Jack Murdock appears in Daredevil (2003), portrayed by David Keith. This version, also known as the Devil, worked as an enforcer for local mobster Eddie Fallon (portrayed by Mark Margolis). He is later killed by the Kingpin after refusing to take a dive in one of Fallon's matches.

References

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  1. ^ Daredevil Vol 1 #1
  2. ^ "Daredevil | Creators, Stories, & Origins". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 2020-04-15.
  3. ^ Daredevil (vol. 2) #-1
  4. ^ Daredevil #1
  5. ^ Daredevil #53
  6. ^ Daredevil #156
  7. ^ Daredevil #164
  8. ^ Daredevil #177
  9. ^ Daredevil #191
  10. ^ Daredevil #200
  11. ^ Daredevil #235
  12. ^ Daredevil #260
  13. ^ Daredevil #362
  14. ^ Daredevil (vol. 2) #0.5
  15. ^ Daredevil (vol. 2) #7
  16. ^ Daredevil (vol. 2) #58
  17. ^ Daredevil (vol. 2) #83
  18. ^ Daredevil (vol. 2) #91
  19. ^ Daredevil #500
  20. ^ Daredevil (vol. 3) #17
  21. ^ Daredevil (vol. 3) #28
  22. ^ Daredevil (vol. 4) #1.50
  23. ^ Daredevil (vol. 4) #6
  24. ^ Daredevil (vol. 4) #7
  25. ^ Abraham, Phil (director); Drew Goddard (writer) (April 10, 2015). "Into the Ring". Marvel's Daredevil. Season 1. Episode 1. Netflix.
  26. ^ Abraham, Phil (director); Drew Goddard (writer) (April 10, 2015). "Cut Man". Marvel's Daredevil. Season 1. Episode 2. Netflix.
  27. ^ Lynch, Jennifer (director); Erik Oleson & Sam Ernst (writer) (October 19, 2018). "Revelations". Marvel's Daredevil. Season 3. Episode 9. Netflix.
  28. ^ Jung, Michael (October 18, 2020). "Namor The Sub-Mariner Has A Secret Cameo In Raimi's Spider-Man 2". Screen Rant.
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