SPOILER ALERT: This article contains spoilers for the Daredevil series and Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery.
On March 21st, 1969, American folk duo Simon & Garfunkel released a single titled “The Boxer.” 46 years and 25 days later, on April 15 2015, Marvel and Netflix released the first season of Daredevil, based on a comic-book character created by Stan Lee and Bill Everett in 1964. 10 years, 7 months, and 27 years after Daredevil’s release, on December 12, 2025, Netflix premiered Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery. Through the magic of TikTok edits (linked below), these three works of art came together to help me discover what I now believe to be one of the coolest and most complex character archetypes of all time: The Catholic Fighter.
I will begin with Daredevil, the show that first introduced me to this archetype (and some good news: its spinoff show, Daredevil: Born Again, just began its second season). Throughout the first three seasons, Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox)—lawyer, Catholic, and vigilante—struggles to balance his legal responsibilities, his religious beliefs, and a self-appointed duty to right the wrongs of Hell’s Kitchen, New York. Murdock’s faith is double-edged: he believes that he is a servant of God, and also that God has cursed him with a need for violence. In one poignant scene, he asks his priest: “Why did [God] put the devil in me?” Ultimately, Murdock must decide whether to break his “no-kill” rule in order to end crime lord Wilson Fisk’s (Vincent D’Onofrio) reign of terror. At its core, Murdock’s question is a theological one: Who is the greater evil: the man who kills, or the man who stands by and lets evil win?
In Wake Up Dead Man, Father Jud Duplenticity (Josh O’Connor) faces a similar moral dilemma. He’s a boxer-turned-priest, who, like Matt, must battle with the fighter instinct inside of him. Director Rian Johnson applies Father Jud’s internal conflict to the Catholic church in America as a whole, begging the question: Why do some religious leaders approach their audiences like fighters, rather than as caretakers? In one scene, Father Jud explains: “The guy I killed in the ring… I hated him. I remember, I knew he was in trouble, and I kept going and going until I felt him break. It wasn’t an accident, I killed him with hate in my heart.” Ultimately, Jud decides that God cannot hide or fix him, but loves him beyond his guilt. This conclusion is what brings Father Jud to his final decision to end the central whodunnit and continue to serve the church. The film is not anti-religion, nor pro-religion—crucially, the charming detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) still leaves the story as an atheist. Rather, it is a study of the conflict between the urge to fight and the duty to open one’s arms.
Finally, I must talk about the song that ties these two Catholic boxers together. “The Boxer” begins as a story about a poor young boy, and crescendos into a final verse about a boxer. Trumpets begin to play in this momentous conclusion, as the narrator describes the scene in front of him:
In the clearing stands a boxer
And a fighter by his trade
And he carries the reminders
Of every glove that laid him down
Or cut him till he cried out
In his anger and his shame
“I am leaving, I am leaving”
But the fighter still remains
Paul Simon’s lyrics could easily apply to Matt Murdock or Jud Duplenticy: Both fighters, both religious, both driven by anger and shame. Despite their efforts, they can never really let their anger go. The fighter still remains.
It is difficult to explain why this newfound trope speaks to me so deeply. Maybe I relate to these heavily conflicted characters—much of their anger mirrors my own—and I think their decisions, whether it be to act on their instincts or not, provide me with a deeper understanding of my own internal conflicts.
In the final episode of Daredevil Season 3, Matt finally gets his opportunity to kill Wilson Fisk. Fisk even encourages it—he taunts, “C’mon, kill me!” But Matt keeps refusing, despite his urges: “God knows I want to, but you don’t get to destroy who I am.” This final declaration reveals Matt’s truth: his moral code—his “no kill” rule—is not just something he believes, it is a non-negotiable part of him. Losing it would be to lose himself. Through this moment, Matt Murdock proves that nothing—no impulse, no desire—should stand in the way of your core values. That is what continually draws me back to this show. Well, that and the fact that Daredevil has some of the best cinematography in the entire MCU.
Father Jud Duplenticity preaches a similar message. There is one scene in Wake Up, Dead Man that I think about almost daily. Father Jud sits in a small chair in a gymnasium. Across from him sit three men at separate desks. Presumably, some sort of council. He is asking for forgiveness; earlier, he had punched an ignorant colleague. As he explains himself, as he explains his fighting instinct, he says, “it’s this”, as he opens his arms and, “not this”, as he holds them up like a boxer. This quote—this moment—defines the rest of the movie, and has defined my thought process since I watched it in December (three times!). When I grow angry, this scene comes to mind. And, sure, I’m still angry afterwards. But it helps me to slow down, and accept before I accuse.
If you ever get angry (which, if you’re human, you do), I would recommend either of these two pieces of media. Daredevil will provide you some temporary catharsis, as he punches and kicks his way through Hell’s Kitchen, but Matt Murdock will ultimately stay true to his strict moral code. Father Jud’s journey through a tumultuous “whodunnit” with the Foghorn-Leghorn accented Benoit Blanc will be a humorous and thrilling watch, but it will also remind you to give people grace. And of course, to tie it all together, give “The Boxer” a listen. Or thirty.
TikTok Edits! (a.k.a. the internet’s most beautiful creation) :
- Wake Up, Dead Man to “The Boxer”: https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZP8bgfEfK/
- Daredevil to “The Boxer”: https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZP8bgxKVX/
- The two of them!: https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZP8bgD7rh/