Daredevil Message Board

[rgj]

The evidence:

1) Marvel Universe Handbook: DD's hearing, taste and olfactory senses are classified as PHYSICAL powers. This also includes a "superhumanly acute power of concentration, allowing him to sift though his sensory input and concentrate on any one specific stimulius to the extent of the exclusion of others (of course, we all know what an OVERWHELMING stimulus can do to our intrepid hero). The MUH describes Matt's radar as a MENTAL power: A "radar sense" which allows him to sense the proximity (yes, as KM said in the encyclopedia--it is a proximity sense!) of objects and persons around himself which allows him to resolve the presense of objects at a distance of 80 feet.

2) As described by Stan Lee (issue #5) with an illustration showing waves eminating form Matt's head. "Normally, my radar sense goes out, hits objects, and bounces back, giving me a mental picture of my surroundings! But, when there is too much movement and confusion all about me, the "picture" which comes back is garbled and distorted.

3) DD #167 epilogue by David Michelinie expands in more scientific terms Lee's definition. Again, an illustration which shows waves eminating form DD's mind. "DD has an uncanny radar sense. Like a bat. He emits probing high frequency waves. Waves which break against any solid object, and breaking, send back signals audible only to DD. From these signals, his brain instantly forms silhouette images of everything around him. In this manner, he "sees" in every direction."

4) Issue #169, by Frank Miller, where DD is fighting Bulls in the subway (and DD is having trouble focusing on his radar cause of all the other sensory overload). NARRATIVE: Even his radar sense fails him. As ever, the waves flow from his brain. Probing the world about him. But the descriptive signals return to a brain that is stunned, confused . . . his foe eludes him."


DD's radar has never, to my knowledge, been defined in any other way (unless you count the crappy movie). While the definiton has never changed, different writers have changed on how poweful the radar can be. Chichester had DD's radar send back the details of a squashed cockroach. Bendis! had Matt scan Luke Cage's appartment complex for people using drugs (that's more than 80 feet). Of course, it would make more sense that Matt use his sense of smell to search for drugs, but whatever. And, Matt's radar has been portrayed as being able to penetrate solid objects (like walls and water), and thus "see" behind that object, so it does act as sonar too (but the principle is the same).

Anyway, that's the radar.

rgj

[Danny conway]

i dont think the movie was crappy.
in fact it was the way that they visualised DDs radar in that film that really made it all make sense to me.
or as my wife said " i didnt really get the radar thing untill then."

[RedSunOfKrypton]

Well the movie's RADAR is actually echolocation. The high frequency waves David Michelinie mentions being audible, would obviously be soundwaves, ultrasonic ones to be precise, which means echolocation. So the movie's description isn't so different afterall.

[MarcWagz]

the movie is completely wrong though.
First... its in first person?

[theunrealstudios]

Matts condition is a rare and extreme form of synesthesia: the neorological condition that joins senses. so his auditory sense (ecolocation or sonar) mixed with his ofactory sense (smell) along with "radar" mixed with his visual memories. radar is a mental sense (as stated above) and Miller describes it that all humans have it but it's locked away in the brain to those untrained (trained members who've shown promising example are Stick, Stone, Shaft, Claw as with other members of the Chaste to be superiour to Matts).

the movie was very basic at showing his powers to not confuse audiences. They went with sonar in first person (which by the way it would be in third ).

To picture a synetite as extreme as Matt, imagine this: the radar spreads from you in all directions displaying bodies, objects, their shapes and what not, now mix that with the hearing specific sounds like pulse, breathing, small little things like the popping of cartalidge etc. for smell, the brain translates into visual representations (like steam). together it creates a strange visual world.

[theunrealstudios]

what absolutely confirms he has synesthesia is that in "Parts of a hole" when he plays the piano he sees colours, smells scents, tastes things that aren't in his mouth and has specific memories with the sounds of each note. Serious nurological damage in the brain thanks to radioactive material.