Matthew Murdoch (Earth-311)

Matthew Murdoch is known as a blind balladeer. Secretly he is an adventurer for hire, who charged reasonable excessive prices to anyone who had the money, for any job.

As a child, Matthew was a fearless boy who would explore anywhere. One day, he found a deep cave on a beach. Inside, the walls were covered with a glowing green substance, which he tasted without a second thought before pushing deeper into the cave, where the green glow disappeared. When he eventually emerged from the cave, he believed that it was nighttime because he could not see.

He later learned that he had been struck blind within the cave, when his mother found him feverish and muttering about darkness. Though he lost his sight, the rest of Matthew's senses began to function with superhuman sharpness.^[1]

Matthew traveled as a blind beggar and poet, singing songs of heroes, and appearing weak and helpless. The Queen of England's head spymaster, Sir Nicholas Fury, had hired him to hunt down and protect Donal, the Templar keeper of Thor's staff.^[2] On the way to meet Donal he encountered a woman named Natasha, whom he referred to as the most dangerous woman in Europe.^[1]

His analysis of Natasha proved to be very accurate when she betrayed him by smashing a bottle over his head and pushing Matthew off a bridge into a canyon below. Murdoch survived, and appeared again in a dark cave just in time to save Donal from being attacked by Natasha's men. Matthew attempted to save Donal from her by taking him as away as he could, but Natasha had the cave entrance surrounded with a garrison of men, sent by Count Otto Von Doom of Latveria to capture the old man's treasure, Donal, and Matthew Murdoch.^[3]

Doom imprisoned him in one of the castle's cells and worked to uncover the secrets of the golden bauble that Donal gave to him to distract him from the true treasure: the staff.^[4]

Donal was also in contact with Doctor Strange, the former Queen's court magician and physician, who informed them that a group of heroes were on their way to the castle. When the imprisoned Captain of the Fantastick Four railed against his stone prison, it shook the castle from its foundations and freed Murdoch and Donal. Murdoch used his abilities to carry the old man and leap from wall to wall to the courtyard many feet below. When Doom's men cornered them, after Donal demanded to find his staff, the old man used it to transform himself into the thunder god, Thor.^[5]

Thor used his immortal powers to stop Doom's men and assist Carlos Javier's Witchbreed in their attack on Doom's castle, finally allowing Doom to use Thor's electricity to explode the golden sphere that Donal had given him, scarring Doom and bringing him to the brink of death. Then, Donal (as Thor) joined the group aboard their ship, headed to the New World to fix the tear in their universe; Murdoch used his own means to leave Latveria. Murdoch later appeared to King James, in the dark, threatening to cut his throat if he ever attacked the late Queen's spymaster, Fury. He then disappeared through the window, promising to return again if James was untrue to his word and and with a final warning not to touch his homeland of Ireland.^[6]