Who Is Daredevil's Twin Brother? The Bizarre History of Mike Murdock, Explained

Summary Matt Murdock's creation of his fake twin brother, Mike Murdock, led to a series of absurd situations and identities juggling.

Mike Murdock ended up becoming a real person due to a bizarre turn of events involving an Inhuman's power.

Despite Mike Murdock's desire to have his own life, he tragically met his end at the hands of Kingpin, mistaking him for Daredevil.

Daredevil has always had a hard time keeping his identity secret. When Matt Murdock's secret identity became public, it was one of the worst days of his life, which was made all the worse by just how hard he tried to keep it secret. Matt would continually do ridiculous things to keep his identity safe, such as the time he completely made up having a twin brother, Mike Murdock. It only got weirder when that brother took on a life of his own.

Mike Murdock first "appeared" way back in 1967's Daredevil #25 by Stan Lee and Gene Colan. After Foggy and Karen come to suspect Matt Murdock is Daredevil (thanks to Spider-Man essentially telling them this), Matt has to think fast. He comes up with the absurd explanation of Daredevil not being Matt Murdock, but actually Mike Murdock, Matt's twin brother.

When pressed on this, Matt simply handwaves it away, arguing with Foggy that Mike is an eccentric adventurer who didn't want to be known and swore Matt to secrecy. It's an insane explanation, but Foggy and Karen agree to believe it, but only if they can meet Mike. This forces Matt to take on the role of Mike Murdock, which he would do several times over the coming years.

Related Matthew Murdock Is the Most Important Half of Daredevil's Identity Daredevil admits that his vigilantism is useless if he is not also able to address the wrongs in the legal system as lawyer Matt Murdock.

Matt Murdock Completely Made Up His Twin Brother

Daredevil #25 by Stan Lee, Gene Colan, Frank Giacoia, and Artie Simek

Matt Murdock is pretending to be Mike Murdock, who is pretending to be Daredevil, who is pretending to be Thor.

Throughout Daredevil #25, Matt has to juggle being Matt Murdock, fighting Leap-Frog as Daredevil, and being Mike Murdock to throw off Foggy and Karen's suspicions. It's an absolutely absurd moment in Matt Murdock's life, but he somehow manages to pull it off. This isn't just a way for Matt to protect his secret identity, though. Matt later admits that he enjoyed getting to be Mike because it allowed him to say all the things he couldn't as Matt. While masquerading as Mike, he playfully bullies Foggy and even hits on Karen, something he always wanted to do because of his feelings for her, but resisted doing because of his life as Daredevil.

As one might imagine, juggling three separate identities is an absolutely ridiculous thing to do, and the situations just keep getting more and more outlandish. In Daredevil #30, Matt needs to lure out some criminals who previously fought Thor. Naturally, Matt's idea is to dress up as Thor and swing around the city to attract their attention. This means that Matt Murdock is pretending to be Mike Murdock, who is pretending to be Daredevil, who is pretending to be Thor. And this isn't even the most ridiculous situation Mike is involved in.

Mike Murdock Makes Matt's Life Infinitely More Complicated

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These chemicals completely remove Matt's hyper-senses, turning him into an average blind man.

In Daredevil #31, Matt is sprayed with some chemicals that completely remove his hyper-senses, turning him into an average blind man. Still insistent on protecting his secret identity as Daredevil, Matt decides he simply has to convince Karen and Foggy that Daredevil is now blind, which, by extension, means that Mike is also blind. Matt decides to come up with the bizarre explanation that Mike and Matt simply have weak eyes, and Mike's blindness has set in later in life, causing sudden instant vision loss. This is despite the fact Matt's blindness was famously caused by an accident, and not genetics, but all the same, Foggy buys the explanation.

Other various Mike adventures include Mike going to court in place of Matt and battling Stilt-Man, and Mike, Karen, and Foggy vacationing in Montreal together.

Eventually, Matt decides that enough is enough. This whole Mike thing has gotten wildly out of control, so Matt devises a grand send-off. While Daredevil is fighting the Unholy Three, Matt stages an explosion and leaves part of his torn costume in the aftermath, where Foggy finds it. Foggy naturally believes that Mike has been blown apart in the explosion, and tearfully tells Matt.

Now, this can't result in the death of Daredevil, as Matt isn't going to stop being Daredevil. So, Matt simply explains that a new Daredevil has been trained — one whose identity Matt does not know — and will be taking over from Mike Murdock. This seems to solve all of Matt's problems, at least temporarily.

The last will and testament of Mike Murdock can be seen in Daredevil #1.5 (2011) by Mark Waid and Javier Rodriguez.

Mike Murdock Returns In A Way No One Would Expect

Daredevil #606 (2011) by Charles Soule, Phil Noto, and Clayton Cowles.

In 2018 Daredevil #606 by Charles Soule and Phil Noto, readers are treated to a shocking revelation: Mike Murdock is real. While responding to a bar brawl, Daredevil discovers it was started by Mike Murdock, who is seemingly a real person. He's not a clone or an LMD, he's a real living, breathing man. It turns out that Matt Murdock recently enlisted the help of an Inhuman known as Reader to bring down WIlson Fisk. Reader has the power to bring anything he reads to life. While reading a court report detailing Matt's adventures as Mike, Reader falls asleep due to how boring it is. This is a major problem because Reader is blind and must read through braille. His power also recharges while he's asleep. This means that, since Reader falls asleep with his fingers on Mike Murdock's name, Mike is turned into a real boy.

Daredevil initially wants to let Reader erase Mike, but after seeing just how much Mike wants to live, Matt relents and prevents Reader from erasing him. Mike then goes on to use a Norn Stone to rewrite reality. Instead of simply being someone who appeared one day with no real history, Mike is able to rewrite history so that he's always been there. This makes him lifelong friends with one of Wilson Fisk's children, whom he later goes into business with and attempts to build a criminal empire with.

Due to his rewriting reality, Mike Murdock was also the reason Matt was in the accident that gave him his superpowers!

Mike Murdock Couldn't Escape His Brother's Shadow

Despite Mike wanting to have his own life and his own goals, it's the shadow of his brother Matt that eventually ends Mike's life. During Devil's Reign #5 by Chip Zdarsky, Marco Checchetto, Marcio Menyz, and Clayton Cowles, Kingpin turns his attention to Mike after Mike impersonates Matt during a trial as a favor for Foggy. Under the impression that Mike is Matt, and knowing that Matt is Daredevil, Kingpin breaks into Matt's office and beats Mike to death. That's the ultimate tragedy of Mike Murdock. He is someone who was never meant to be real. He was a figment of Matt's imagination who came to life, but despite his best attempts, Mike Murdock still ended up being killed because Kingpin thought he was Daredevil, which is the exact reason Matt created him in the first place.