In the six-plus decades since Matt Murdock first debuted as the swashbuckling scourge of Hell’s Kitchen’s criminal underworld, he’s met his fair share of villains. But the threat posed by them pales in comparison to the one posed by Matt himself. He’s turned himself over to a brutal prison system (twice), been possessed by the demonic entity in charge of The Hand, and even chose to stay in the Marvel Universe’s version of actual Hell in order to save his friends. And yet none of that has quite blown up his life the way his incredibly fraught romantic entanglements have, which include everything from an extra-marital affair with a crime boss’ wife to a complicated relationship with the most dangerous former assassin in the Avengers.
Although they haven’t been as frequent or as explosive so far as in the comics, both the original Daredevil Netflix show and its revival have tipped the hat to Murdock’s toxic love life and the collateral damage left behind in its wake. In the first season Matt’s inconsistency and lies created an insurmountable rift between him and his then-girlfriend Heather Glenn, the unwitting psychiatrist of the serial murderer Muse and one of his only surviving victims; the compounded stress and trauma of both events sent her into the open arms of Mayor Fisk’s administration while also making her increasingly psychologically unstable throughout Season 2. Courtesy of some set leaks for Season 3, we now know exactly what Heather’s arc is building towards…and while it’s certainly an interesting twist, her development was a golden opportunity to re-introduce another villain that didn’t live up to her fullest potential in her first introduction.
