Ooh, ooh, is anyone else thinking about the Blair Roche incident in Watchmen as inspiration fuel?
For the uninitiated...
Movie version: (not the original, but the one I'm familiar with. Has some really cool, really important lines you don't get from the article.) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45V6db9CKcc
In Watchmen, Walter Kovacs took it upon himself to find Blair Roche, a kidnapped six-year-old girl, with his alter-ego Rorschach. At the time, he was apparently similar to Matt, at least in how he went about his business; vigilante with a strong moral code, willing to break bones, but not to kill. "Soft on scum," in his own words. (Interestingly enough, a lot of things about him remind me of Matt albeit with a grimdark flair; He had a reputation for having a vicious temper, was taken away from his abusive mother at the age of 10 to live in a group home for problem children, and did well in school, particularly in religion classes and boxing.) When he entered the home of his prime suspect, Gerald Grice, he discovered gristly evidence that he'd butchered her and fed her to his dogs; a bloody butcher's block, children's clothes in the furnace, and dogs fighting over a human femur. Kovacs suffered a psychotic break.
He killed Grice's dogs and, when the man himself returned home, attacked him and cuffed him to the radiator. His fate depends on which version you watch; in the comics, he hands Grice his own saw and sets the house ablaze, suggesting that he not attempt to saw through the cuffs as it would take too long. Grice fails to cut off his own hand and burns alive.
In the film, Grice starts out cocky, saying he can't prove anything, and even laughing at Rorschach when he does present evidence; apparently he isn't too afraid of the idea of prison. But it becomes more and more apparent that Rorschach is unstable, and finally, when he grabs the butcher's knife from the table, Grice panics and begs him to arrest him. Rorschach says that only men get arrested-- Dogs get put down. He does so.
After that, he considers his alter ego his real self, and therefore does not hold a job or participate in society. He spends the time he is not in the mask as a vagrant holding a sign that reads 'The end is nigh.' He's a moral absolutist incapable of compromise, known for his unflinching brutality and strange mannerisms; he's pathologically antisocial with odd speech patterns and a penchant for morbidity, and in one notable instance has killed a man by dumping the contents of an entire deep-fryer over him in "self-defense."
...See, the tricky part of this whole thing is getting Matt past his religious reservations... This would have to be accomplished by a situation far outside of his scope. Like what happened with Blair Roche. Stumbling upon something completely unexpected. Way worse than, say, just a friend getting shot.
On the other hand, while Rorschach's whole unhinged mental fracture deal is seriously radicool, the supernatural scenarios give a lot of room for heartbreak. In a normal situation, the catalyst would have to be ridiculously severe to be able to get Matt into that mindset in the first place, and even harder would be to make him stay there. If he was screwed up that badly I'm not sure how much Matt would be left, and otherwise Daredevil's reign of terror would be rather short. But the other ways... Literally losing his humanity... Once he flips that switch, he wouldn't be able to have second thoughts later. Not until someone else (The Avengers? Stick??) steps in and finds a way to fix it. The fallout would be less psychological, but so much more painful.
Re: Gen, Dark!Matt
For the uninitiated...
Movie version: (not the original, but the one I'm familiar with. Has some really cool, really important lines you don't get from the article.) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45V6db9CKcc
Comics version: http://watchmen.wikia.com/wiki/Blair_Roche
In Watchmen, Walter Kovacs took it upon himself to find Blair Roche, a kidnapped six-year-old girl, with his alter-ego Rorschach. At the time, he was apparently similar to Matt, at least in how he went about his business; vigilante with a strong moral code, willing to break bones, but not to kill. "Soft on scum," in his own words. (Interestingly enough, a lot of things about him remind me of Matt albeit with a grimdark flair; He had a reputation for having a vicious temper, was taken away from his abusive mother at the age of 10 to live in a group home for problem children, and did well in school, particularly in religion classes and boxing.) When he entered the home of his prime suspect, Gerald Grice, he discovered gristly evidence that he'd butchered her and fed her to his dogs; a bloody butcher's block, children's clothes in the furnace, and dogs fighting over a human femur. Kovacs suffered a psychotic break.
He killed Grice's dogs and, when the man himself returned home, attacked him and cuffed him to the radiator. His fate depends on which version you watch; in the comics, he hands Grice his own saw and sets the house ablaze, suggesting that he not attempt to saw through the cuffs as it would take too long. Grice fails to cut off his own hand and burns alive.
In the film, Grice starts out cocky, saying he can't prove anything, and even laughing at Rorschach when he does present evidence; apparently he isn't too afraid of the idea of prison. But it becomes more and more apparent that Rorschach is unstable, and finally, when he grabs the butcher's knife from the table, Grice panics and begs him to arrest him. Rorschach says that only men get arrested-- Dogs get put down. He does so.
After that, he considers his alter ego his real self, and therefore does not hold a job or participate in society. He spends the time he is not in the mask as a vagrant holding a sign that reads 'The end is nigh.' He's a moral absolutist incapable of compromise, known for his unflinching brutality and strange mannerisms; he's pathologically antisocial with odd speech patterns and a penchant for morbidity, and in one notable instance has killed a man by dumping the contents of an entire deep-fryer over him in "self-defense."
...See, the tricky part of this whole thing is getting Matt past his religious reservations... This would have to be accomplished by a situation far outside of his scope. Like what happened with Blair Roche. Stumbling upon something completely unexpected. Way worse than, say, just a friend getting shot.
On the other hand, while Rorschach's whole unhinged mental fracture deal is seriously radicool, the supernatural scenarios give a lot of room for heartbreak. In a normal situation, the catalyst would have to be ridiculously severe to be able to get Matt into that mindset in the first place, and even harder would be to make him stay there. If he was screwed up that badly I'm not sure how much Matt would be left, and otherwise Daredevil's reign of terror would be rather short. But the other ways... Literally losing his humanity... Once he flips that switch, he wouldn't be able to have second thoughts later. Not until someone else (The Avengers? Stick??) steps in and finds a way to fix it. The fallout would be less psychological, but so much more painful.