Drawing on Social Cognitive Domain Theory and Christian philosophy, the chapter explores the centrality of Daredevil’s understanding of and response to the distinction between the letter and spirit of the law.

Philosopher Paul Ricoeur, speaking on justice, notes that while injustice is ubiquitous throughout society, whereas how to best address it is not. Or, put another way, it is easier to identify what is morally wrong in social relations than to ensure those relations are morally right. Vigilantes exemplify this discrepancy, and one notable example is Daredevil: Born Again.

The findings suggesting that people understand morally relevant actions involving antagonists differently than those involving others–coupled with the fact that various forms of this distinction feature heavily in superhero narratives (e.g., hero-villain, criminal-victim, innocent-guilty, malevolent force-unwitting host)–point to a potential area of scholarly inquiry when thinking about what it means to treat others fairly across different contexts.

These features are explored through analyses rooted in three distinct disciplines and applied to three superheroes whose narratives are often rooted in the communities in which they live: sociology (Daredevil and Hell’s Kitchen), psychology (Black Panther and Wakanda), and citizenship education (Batman and Gotham).