Spider-Man has a well-known set of super powers – enhanced strength, speed, agility, wall crawling, and even a Spider-Sense that could make him a killer. But most fans may not know Spidey can also copy a different set of powers used by another famous Marvel superhero.
While Spider-Man hasn’t used these abilities in years, the storyline where he acquired these gifts of mimicry stand out as one of his most unique adventures. In Peter Parker The Spectacular Spider-Man #25-28, Spider-Man is rendered temporarily blind when a villain named the Masked Marauder removes his sight with his opti-blasts. Prompting the similarly blind superhero Daredevil to help a distressed Spider-Man cope with his new disability... or so he thinks.
On the surface, Matt Murdock is helping Spidey to continue his mission to stop the Marauder. But as Spider-Man learns to deal with his sightless state, he discovers a brand new use for his Spider powers.
Forced into battle, the sightless Spider-Man desperately focuses on his Spider-Sense, trying to get a clearer picture of his surroundings. Incredibly, it does – allowing Spider-Man to gain a sense of all the objects around him – just like Daredevil’s radar sense. Moments later, Spidey discovers his other senses have also heightened, including his smell and hearing, allowing him to track down people by listening to their heartbeats. Amusingly, Peter (who doesn’t know Daredevil's secret identity) believes he’s “the world’s first sightless superhero.”
Almost as soon as Peter discovers his new superhuman senses, however, his vision returns. Since he no longer requires his enhanced senses they immediately fade, along with his memory of his alternate way of seeing. Since that time, Peter hasn’t had to mimic Daredevil’s powers. But the adventure does show that he’s capable of manifesting superpowers identical to the Man Without Fear.
How Spider-Man was able to temporarily gain Daredevil’s superhuman senses remain unexplained. But a close look at their powers and origins offer some insight. From the beginning, Spider-Man has shown he can use his Spider-Sense to navigate total darkness. The danger sense is so accurate, Spidey even intentionally closes his eyes when facing foes like Mysterio, so the villain’s optical illusions don’t affect him. So Spider-Sense is already very similar to Daredevil’s radar sense, although Matt Murdock has received more training in its use.
Moreover, Spider-Man has shown the spider bite that gave him his powers enhanced all of his senses – including his vision – explaining why nearsighted Peter Parker doesn’t wear glasses anymore. In the MCU movie Captain America: Civil War, Peter explains that all of his senses were “dialed to 11” making it hard for him to focus. This suggests that the radioactive spider that transformed Peter was not too different from the radioactive sludge that empowered Matt Murdock.
Interestingly, the current Spider-Verse storylines suggest Peter was chosen to become one of the multiverse’s “Spider Totems” and the radiation that infused the spider was not entirely responsible for his superpowers. This could mean that if Peter had just been exposed to the radiation (without the spider), he could have developed superhuman senses like Daredevil. Since he retains his sight, unlike Murdock, Spider-Man doesn’t need to hone his other senses – only when he becomes blind do his enhanced senses instinctively compensate by becoming as sharp as Daredevil’s.
While all this remains speculation, Spider-Man’s unexpected link to Daredevil’s powers does hint at a stronger bond between these two heroes. Peter and Matt consider each other good friends, after all, and having briefly experienced life as a “Spider-Daredevil,” Spider-Man probably understands the Man Without Fear better than most people can.
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