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Daredevil and seeing colours

 
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RedSunOfKrypton
Flying Blind


Joined: 28 Jun 2006
Posts: 6

PostPosted: Wed Jun 28, 2006 4:06 pm    Post subject: Daredevil and seeing colours Reply with quote

Does anyone else think DD should be able to discern colours? I mean each colour gives off a slightly different temperature that even normal humans can detect with some practice, even at slight distances from their skin, so for DD this should be no problem at all. Thoughts?
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Dimetre
Underboss


Joined: 16 Feb 2006
Posts: 1366
Location: Toronto

PostPosted: Sun Jul 02, 2006 7:43 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Stan Lee certainly thought so. Back in Daredevil Vol. 1 #1 on page 14, when Matt was first making the orginal yellow costume, Lee had Matt say, "I can even blend the colors, for each colored fabric has a different feel to me!"

I would think, though, for Matt to determine what colour something is, he would have to be pretty close to the object to detect what amount of light is being bounced off the object etc. More recently during Bendis' run some yahoo in a restaurant taunted Daredevil by asking him to tell him what colour his shirt was. Daredevil left without giving an answer, possibly because he didn't know.
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Marvel Knight
Playing to the Camera


Joined: 21 Aug 2007
Posts: 137
Location: Kingston, ON, Canada

PostPosted: Tue Aug 28, 2007 12:49 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Dimetre wrote:
Stan Lee certainly thought so. Back in Daredevil Vol. 1 #1 on page 14, when Matt was first making the orginal yellow costume, Lee had Matt say, "I can even blend the colors, for each colored fabric has a different feel to me!"

I would think, though, for Matt to determine what colour something is, he would have to be pretty close to the object to detect what amount of light is being bounced off the object etc. More recently during Bendis' run some yahoo in a restaurant taunted Daredevil by asking him to tell him what colour his shirt was. Daredevil left without giving an answer, possibly because he didn't know.


His ability to determine colour may also be compromised by his memory of the colour spectrum. He hasn't been able to see colour since he was a child, and while he obviously would remember certain colours vividly I don't know to what extent he would be able to discern all the different shades, hues and nuances there are in colour just from his percetion of heat. He would probably have to be close to the object like you said, and then he might simply get an idea as to what the colour is rather than a perfect image of it.
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jumonji
Guardian Devil


Joined: 23 Sep 2007
Posts: 636
Location: Too close to the Arctic circle

PostPosted: Sun Sep 30, 2007 7:36 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The Marvel character description (which is really pathetic in terms of scope, don't you think?) mentions an ability to discern between different colors, but I can't remeber seeing that before. It might be new. On the other hand, some of the "science" explaining why he should be able to do this is a little weird in my opinion. Or maybe taking too many physics classes in college ruined me? Smile

There was that bit in the Guardian Devil arc where DD mentions having been in a white room that I reacted to, although I suppose he would notice if there was an unusual amount of light present.

In general, I sometimes get the feeling that writers are working a little harder than they need to to make up for Matt's blindness. His being a formidable fighter doesn't mean that he has to able to color coordinate his wardrobe. The occasional "blind moment" adds to the depth of the character, in my opinion, and makes all the really neat stuff he actually can do even cooler.

UPDATE: Okay, I'm a nerd. I had to check out the science on the whole color thing because I knew there was something not quite right about it. So here's the deal: At normal room temperature, different colors do NOT have different temperatures and cannot be distinguished by the amount of heat they radiate. People often get confused on this point, partly because we often casually refer to colors as being "warm" or "cold" (photographers are well familiar with the concept) and because some objects begin to glow when heated to particular temperatures. The colors of stars are related to the amount of heat they give off, but you would have to heat an object to very high temperatures to get this effect though. The only "radiation" bouncing off objects is visible light, so unless DD has also developed photoreceptors, he can't "see" color. But who am I to argue with Marvel? Smile

UPDATE 2: The 2004 MUH says that DD can only guess at what color something is. So, there you go! Smile
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Icarus
Flying Blind


Joined: 30 Aug 2011
Posts: 2
Location: Dallas

PostPosted: Wed Aug 31, 2011 10:34 am    Post subject: Colour value and heat Reply with quote

There is another tiny bit to this rather fascinating conversation. While it's an established fact that colours in and of themselves so not give off heat, they can reflect and absorb heat. Just as a black t-shirt is much warmer to wear on a Summer day, a white one is cooler. The thing of this is that it is not in the "visible spectrum". That's the key to what is being discussed here. The Ultraviolet spectrum is heat; heat is transmitted in UV rays.

Now, Matt could certainly feel differences in temperature, even if minute. It would merely be a discernible presence or lack of heat. But, the thing is that it isn't in "colour". This is what artists refer to as "local value". In a world where everything is measured without colour, it is only shades that matter. A dark blue shirt, for example, may well reflect the same intensity of UV as a maroon shirt, for example. Or a tan one, as a pink one. So, while Matt might be able to tell - at best - if a colour is lighter or darker, he certainly isn't likely to be able to tell one colour from another based on it's hue.

While it is true that Matt often uses more than one sense to discern an object, in this case, (in my opinion) this light/dark perception (for which he would have to touch an object or be within inches of to perceive) would be little different or better than the other senses he has.
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