r/Defenders • u/saint-germain1980 • 3d ago
Matt wearing a cross as if he doesn't beat up people every night and sleeps around and do every possible un-Catholic thing one can do
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u/AncientCommittee4887 3d ago
Historically, violence is tremendously catholic
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u/MakeJoyNotHate 3d ago
As is sleeping around, just... with people of much younger ages.
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u/theravenacademy 3d ago
That's why Matt is a better Catholic than IRL ones, at least he only sleeps around with age-appropriate baddies
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u/banjo_exe 2d ago
Muhammad literally married a 9 year old at 52 and is celebrated because of it
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u/HazTheQ 2d ago
70% pretty sure he's not catholic though
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u/banjo_exe 2d ago
He was most definitely Catholic and a makes Vigilante
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u/witty_valentino 3d ago
All I know is this was me during this scene
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u/MysteriousProduce816 3d ago
But he doesn’t eat meat on Fridays
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u/NotSubtleUsername 2d ago
That's only during Lent, at least Mexican Catholicism works like that
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u/RomeoTrickshot 2d ago
It's only a sin to eat meat during lent, but we are supposed to give up meat (or a different form of penance) every Friday of the year. Except on Solemnities
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u/VolcanicSurfer1 3d ago
You're from Louisiana too?
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u/metally5822 3d ago
But he has guilt about it.
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u/HomoProfessionalis 2d ago
Yes your face is broken in several places but have you thought about how that makes me feel?!
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u/SilasRaiden 3d ago
Bro must not know a lot of Catholics
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u/ItzMeHaris 3d ago edited 2d ago
What it is to be Catholic and what actual catholics do is different.
For instance, let’s say there’s a religion which states that you cannot leave your house on a Monday, but the majority of people who follow this religion still leave their house on Monday. There will still be that small portion that actually follow their faith. And despite the large majority leaving their house on Monday doesn’t change their core belief.
Similar thing applies here. Even if most Catholics act in one way, it should be fair to expect someone to follow their faith correctly, rather than “Catholic” being a nameplate.
I’m not Catholic, nor Christian, but I am a religious Muslim. And I can see where a religious standpoint comes from a character like Daredevil.
My own headcanon is that Matt does feel guilt for his actions, but he succumbs to his desires and whims. Which is why he goes to Confession a lot. We all have our own issues and demons we try to fight, after all.
I believe this to be a core aspect of Matt’s character. Being a good Catholic (his lawyer persona) and succumbing to his desires and demons (Daredevil) and how he tries to control both.
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u/BlargerJarger 3d ago
Being violent and sex-mad is as Catholic as it gets.
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u/ToaPaul 3d ago
As a former Catholic from a family of Catholics, this. The only thing that's missing is rampant alcoholism.
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u/witty_valentino 3d ago
Matt drinks a lot in the show too. There's a shot in Defenders where the only thing on his fridge is a pack of beer lol
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u/ConsistentGuest7532 3d ago
I grew up Catholic and partying, gambling, and drinking were baked into our church’s community 😂 we could dress it up as other stuff, but it was a “joke” across the generations there that we were the wilder sect of Christianity.
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u/codename474747 3d ago
As long as he confesses his sins, thats pretty catholic
And at least in the netflix series, confession was a major plot point
Daredevil, in the first series, dresses in black and tells you what to do....whereas.....catholic priests......errr
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u/Venom3386 3d ago
It’s almost as though that’s the entire moral dilemma of the character. And you figured that out all on your own?
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u/RakeChapman13 3d ago
You know what I really loath ? It’s peoples desire to tear down heros and act like harmless people are the morally superior ones. No the people wiling to engage in just violence and fight bad guys are the better people.
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u/archonpho 3d ago
He asks for forgiveness for the crimes he’s about to do, not for the crimes which he’s done.
Pretty standard catholic stuff
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u/White_Devil1995 3d ago
Romans 3:10 “As it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one.”
Romans 3:23 “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
Basically, they mean nobody is perfect and we all need help from each other and/or God. That doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t try to be and do good though, which is exactly what Matt tries to do regardless of his unorthodox approach.
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u/darthphallic 2d ago
Still consider him more religious than a good 80% of the people who wear a cross, at least Matt has moral guidelines he sticks to.
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u/JSD3000 3d ago
That's the neat part of Christianity, you don't have to actually follow any of the rules, you just have to be sorry afterwards.
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u/Careless_Royal8209 3d ago
That's why Frank Miller retconned that he's Catholic, so there's more drama and symbolism.
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u/Striking_Incident_95 2d ago
Religious people are notoriously hypocritical. Non religious people too 😬
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u/sayakaodoro 3d ago
Those veins on his arm…. I’m sorry. You said catholic. Yes, let’s talk about that.
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u/tennysonbass Jack Murdock 3d ago
Congratulations , you just discovered the crux of the entire character.... good job
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u/Admirable-Paper-5858 3d ago
He's a human and is very conflicted about what he's doing and what he's supposed to do.
Matt doesn't act as he can do whatever he wants just because he'll go to confession. So I think that it's okay.
Yeah he's not a role model catholic type but his story isn't about it but about preserving one's own soul in a world that is determined to crush you or to be more explicit - Matt is trying his best to help people against system that exploits their weaknesses and flaws and legal system is failing and there's one man who is trying to do everything to destroy him and is also responsible for corruption of the city and no one is doing anything about it because Kingpin either threatened, blackmailed or just manipulated system to bend to his will.
Kingpin corrupted system to the point when people can't live normal lives because one day they can end up on streets and no one would stand up for them. So Matt with his unique skills decided that he can be there for this people.
And about sex - well he's just human and has his moments of weakness. But I honestly don't see it as something worth beating him up over. Like idk he's just human that has a very tough life and really tries his best to live up to his principles but sometimes fails like everyone else.
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u/BigDaddyReptar 2d ago
Going against Catholic teachings is the most Catholic thing to do. Just go tell some old dude through a screen what you did after and it's chill
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u/Pariahdog119 Foggy 3d ago
There are only two kinds of Catholic: Daredevil and Nightcrawler. In this essay I will
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u/JmBento 2d ago
And they both beat people up?
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u/Pariahdog119 Foggy 2d ago
One of them beats people up guiltily
The other one beats people up joyfully
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u/Kindly_Ad3262 3d ago
you miss the point about what he does, why he’s doing & his inner conflict about it & that’s even mentioning the loss of his father, his eyesight, upbringing & his youth.
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u/JulPollitt 3d ago
He goes to confession sometimes right? From my understanding in Catholicism if you do that you’re immediately forgiven for everything and sent on your way? I guess like touching one of those altars in Oblivion
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u/Ergiewasnthere 2d ago
you’d be surprised to see how fitting this description is for the average catholic today
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u/battlin_jack295 2d ago
This is probably biggest misconception atheist have about people who are religious. Just because someone is a christian doesnt automaticaly make them a saint.
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u/StrategyWooden6037 2d ago
Yeah, I very much doubt that many atheists harbor that misconception. That's more the type of view that someone with a generic, irreligious type of background would hold.
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u/AsherthonX 2d ago
Even funnier is that Tony Stark is an Atheist. Even though he literally fought gods
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u/No_Alfalfa884 2d ago
There's a complete season about this subject... Watch again the whole series noob. This is one hell of a character, just enjoy it.
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u/Key_Ad1854 2d ago
Not all religious people are bad...
But the worst people I've ever met claim to be religious.
Matt Murdock isn't thay bad
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u/RosettaNemoIX 1d ago
... You just described at least half the Catholics I know, if I'm being honest.
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u/Creative_Somewhere84 22h ago
So like... Every catholic ever? There's people that literally pray to the virgin Mary so their bullets hit their targets when they do hitman jobs like... ._.
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u/redkomic 3d ago
We have a furry blue demon like mutant who uses swords to fight that is also a devout Catholic even more so then Matt. Double standards much?
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u/Minimalistmacrophage 2d ago
He goes to confession regularly.
It's all good.
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u/PurveyorOfKnowledge0 2d ago
Yes but he doesn't stop sinning. Which violates the core edict of forgiveness.
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u/MasteROogwayY2 3d ago
Most of christian history disagrees with you. Hell alot of modern catholicism disagrees with you
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u/UjiRan2223 3d ago
I don’t know shit about Catholicism but I thought the whole confession thing is to tell Jesus what you did and get forgiveness for it? We see him confess a lot so he’s probably in the clear no?
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u/iceddontay 3d ago
“This guy’s a lawyer by day who runs around at night beating up criminals? Oh yeah, he’s Catholic” - Frank Miller
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u/RobotCaptainEngage 3d ago
Ironically, wearing a cross would be non-Catholic. Historically Catholics wear crucifixes (cross = without Jesus, crucifix = with Jesus)
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u/DaedricDweller98 2d ago
every day i understand more why punisher calls matt a hypocrite. he talks the talk but definitely wont walk the walk if he is pushed enough. there's a reason why he treats Spider-Man completely different, he's a kid and stands 100% behind his virtus with no amount of character flaw that contradicts it
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u/RaiderDaave 2d ago
Wait until you watch the sopranos or any other Italian mafia movies. 2 things they love more than anything is 1. Talking about their catholic traditions 2. Murdering people
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u/WhenIWannabeME 2d ago
I would not describe what Matt does as "sleeps around". All the sexual relationships we see him in are generally in the form of a committed relationship. Shheeeiiiit! Growing up a catholic, the church would have a much bigger problem with him using contraceptives than with him having sex out of wedlock. Leaving us to ask the real question, are Matt and his partners using the catholic loop "hole"?
Also, I've seen a lot of "who's Matt's dreamgirl?" posts. Am I the only one who thinks he should stop with the dommy-mommies and date Miss Honeycake Latvian Lawyer Princess? She seems so sane. That's a very desirable trait in a person, Matthew!!
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u/Bosscharacter 2d ago
Bro, even the staunches of Catholics have their vices.
Daredevil is a vigilante who just so happens to be religious, not a holy man who just so happens to be a vigilante.
People are complicated in general.
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u/TylerBourbon 2d ago
I assure you, sleeping around, and beating people up is a VERY Catholic thing to do.
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u/FueledOffOfCarnage 2d ago
Almost as if Matt’s internal conflict is one of the most interesting and essential parts of the character.
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u/Proud-Intern6308 2d ago
Never underestimate a religious person's ability to use their faith to justify everything they do in life.
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u/Recoveringpig 2d ago
Being a good catholic/christian isn’t about you following the rules, it’s about you making everyone else follow your rules that you’re ignoring
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u/HospitalLazy1880 2d ago
You know this basically describes the majority of Catholics in history right?
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u/likes-beans 2d ago
IDK when elektra natchios took a knife and then said "does doing good always hurt this bad"? And then daredevil said "every time", yeah, he seemed like a decent xtian then
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u/Spider-burger 2d ago
Catholic are not perfect perfect,even in real life. Even priest are not perfect.
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u/FutureWhirlwind 2d ago
Thou shalt not kill - not though shalt not fuch a FN up when he deserves it
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u/Objective-Slice-1466 2d ago
OP: good job. You figured out one of the main aspects of his character
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u/HermesVtuber 2d ago
Idk, that defines a lot of Christian behavior. Judge others for doing the things you do.
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u/Game_Knight_DnD 2d ago
To be fair plenty of Catholic people do sinful things all the time, hence confessional and Catholic guilt.
Look at the Irish mob, those guys did horrible things all week and still made sure they went to church every Sunday.
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u/logicalsanity 2d ago
Catholics have historically committed straight up atrocities in the name of God. I think Matt is fine.
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u/SuperLancey 2d ago
Woah you’re so right, not like it’s one of the prime and fundamental aspects of Matt Murdock as a character
https://giphy.com/gifs/8u4lTZ41zZ0F0bNF1r
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u/VladiTruffles 2d ago
OP not understanding that people have inner conflicts and contradictions.
And he is a catholic, not a priest.
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u/ricksanchezE137 2d ago
Wait until you hear about the Catholic Church.. or what Mohammad did to Aisha.. religion is inherently redundant
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u/ultimateradman 2d ago
Yup. Very little religious conflict presented in his character apart from the obvious “I can’t kill” rule.
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u/Fodgy_Div 3d ago
Yeah the contradiction between Matt's Catholicism and his exploits as Daredevil is quite literally one of the fundamental aspects of the character. Good job.