Daredevil is a Much Better Driver Than Anyone Realizes
Marvel's Daredevil is best known for his martial acrobatics, considerable legal knowledge, and his extraordinarily enhanced sensory abilities. But one skill fans may not know about is his aptitude behind the wheel. As surprising as it seems, Daredevil has driven a car on multiple occasions, and he’s actually better at it than most would expect.
It’s been studied and supported that real-life blind people develop more nuanced aural capacity than their seeing peers. Stan Lee obviously took creative liberty with this concept when creating Matt Murdock, since the radioactive waste that spilled into his prepubescent eyes supercharged the-future Daredevil's remaining senses 200%. In particular, his hearing was amplified into an echolocation ability he calls “radar sense”, allowing him to perceive his surroundings as well as the relative distance of objects and people therein. So, in the several times he’s had to use an automobile it has been this super sense that most helps him navigate.
The earliest example comes from Daredevil #8 (1965) by Stan Lee and Wally Wood. The issue sees Daredevil save a woman from a runaway car, only to discover that car has an explosive on board. The issue implies that the vigilante is more skilled at driving because of his blindness, and herein is also where readers first see the concentric rings emanating from his head that would become the signature illustration of Daredevil’s radar. And thanks to it, Daredevil manages to steer the car into the pier where it detonates harmlessly—at least to everyone on land. Daredevil would late pilot an honest-to-God airplane on a long-distance overseas flight.
Another notable instance of Matt Murdock's driving prowess can be found in Frank Miller’s Born Again (1986). Notorious for his more grounded approach to superheroes, Miller subdued Daredevil’s powers and revamped them so that they could occasionally work to his disadvantage. This is illustrated when Captain America's dark counterpart, Nuke, overdoses on adrenaline pills after being unleashed on Hell’s Kitchen by arch-mafioso Wilson Fisk. Daredevil tosses him into the back seat of a stolen car and careens through the streets to try and get him to the ER before his heart implodes, but his attempts to navigate are additionally hampered by a torrential downpour overloading what little environmental info he can gather through the broken windshield. Though it should be noted that even in this state he doesn’t kill anyone, and he’s even able to change course entirely when Nuke dies, driving his body to the Daily Bugle instead.
To be sure, Matt doesn’t enjoy driving and wouldn’t use it as his default method of movement. He’s much more at home tumbling over rooftops to catch Hell’s Kitchen's worst villains, but writers enjoy putting him in situations where he has to make do while operating a vehicle. Mark Waid continued the tradition in his run by having Hornhead pursue the Stunt Master down a bridge, this time operating the car with his billy club. Given his particular techniques it’s likely for the best that Daredevil doesn’t have a license, but make no mistake: to drive at all in New York City, one truly would have to be a Man Without Fear.