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In the recent Netflix Daredevil series, when receiving his first official armor at the end of the first season, Matt is told that "the red parts" offer one kind of protection, while "the black parts" offer another.

Now, obviously the armorer didn't know that Daredevil was blind, and to be fair, Daredevil isn't hampered too much by being blind anyway, in a practical sense. He can do pretty much anything that a normal person can do, thanks to his heightened other senses. And with regard to the armor specifically, he could probably figure out the relative protection capabilities by touch, or by testing its material and flexibility while wearing it, etc.

But the question remains: does Daredevil have any mechanism for distinguishing an object based on its color?

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    Well, in the movie he demonstrates the ability to smell hotness, so I would argue that he could at the very least distinguish color by taste, smell, or via the way the radar signal is affected by the dyes present to distinguish which dye is used.
    – Broklynite
    Commented Jun 26, 2015 at 0:04
  • Given how the different colored parts of the armor shield from different things, it's fair to assume they're made from different things and therefore sound bounces off them differently. The armorer spoke in colors because it's the easiest distinction to make at a glance, but that doesn't mean it's the only distinction between the two armor types.
    – Flater
    Commented Jun 26, 2015 at 12:18
  • Did you mean only in the show? Because I don't remember such a thing in the show, but he definitely can in the comics, and if that falls under your scope I'll write up a comics-based answer :)
    – Jenayah
    Commented Sep 30, 2018 at 19:32

2 Answers 2

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No. None of his senses are easily able to compensate for his lack of color sense. He might be able to determine color if he can distinguish the dye used either by taste or smell, since natural dyes often have distinctive scents and or chemical signatures.

  • If Daredevil were to spend the time it takes to learn and memorize the scent of particular dyes or chemical coloring, then perhaps he could have an idea of a particular color. But color is for the most part an absolute visual designation system.

See Also: Are there any drawbacks to Daredevil being blind?

Related Genre Reference:

  • The pulp adventurer, Doc Savage, Man of Bronze had a training ritual he engaged in every day where he would expose himself to certain chemicals in order to recognize the scent and/or taste if they were not too toxic. This would give him an advantage if he were to sense this substance later.

  • Lester Dent described Doc Savage as a mix of Sherlock Holmes' deductive abilities, Tarzan's outstanding physical abilities, Craig Kennedy's scientific education, and Abraham Lincoln's goodness.

  • Due to intensive training from birth and daily two hour exercise he possesses strength, speed, stamina, and reflexes which border on superhuman.

  • His intelligence is similarly enhanced and he possesses a photographic memory. Doc is a trained physician, surgeon, scientist, adventurer, inventor, explorer, pilot, seaman, as well as a talented classical musician(violin). In addition, he has trained himself to recognize various scents.

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    Color is absolutely not mostly visual. You perceive it as mostly visual because you sense color through your eyes. Color is merely the absence of a reflection of other colors. A color, as you perceive it, is a wavelength of light. My point being, color is a wavelength of energy. If you do a google search for "spectrum of visible light" you will see how what we see falls into all of light (we see incredibly little). Considering how color is energy and how his senses are all heightened, I see no reason why he cant feel color. That being said, I dont know the comics - so maybe they do say he cant
    – searchengine27
    Commented Jul 1, 2015 at 20:38
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    But DareDevil is not a mystic or magical, how on earth would he feel energy? Never mind the fact you're talking about trying to "feel" the wavelength of light, which might I add is known as a virtual particle AKA it has no mass. That's taking comic-science to comic-scientology levels. :p
    – Stormie
    Commented Jul 27, 2015 at 14:07
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    I love Doc Savage. He's the Batman of pulp fiction.
    – Omegacron
    Commented Aug 7, 2015 at 13:16
  • @Stormie we feel light wavelengths with our eyes. We feel pain when the light is too intense - and you're right that it does have no mass but it does have momentum. If Daredevil had an alternate sense that could pick up the momentum of light, it's entirely possible that he could sense color. Of course, Daredevil doesn't, that we know of - but in a general sense it's possible.
    – Wayne Werner
    Commented Mar 28, 2016 at 21:20
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I feel like if he can't he could learn by wavelengths of light he could use his sense of touch for feeling the differences in color

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  • Based upon what? Are there any instances of this ability being demonstrated?
    – Politank-Z
    Commented Oct 7, 2017 at 4:14
  • Do your feelings have any evidence to support them?
    – Blackwood
    Commented Oct 7, 2017 at 4:41

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