Out of all the street-level heroes Marvel has to offer, Daredevil is one of the best and strongest; with his hyper-senses, it's almost impossible to land a hit on him and even harder to lie to him. However, it turns out his built-in lie detector has one very easy to exploit weakness.
Despite being a street-level hero who rarely goes up against cosmic threats, Daredevil is stronger than most people think. Not only does he have essentially a version of Spider-Sense, allowing him to evade any attack coming his way, but he also has hyper hearing and a heightened sense of smell. This enables him to do all kinds of things, like detect how many people are in a room across the street, or follow someone by the scent of their perfume or cologne. But one of the biggest powers Daredevil has is his ability to detect whether someone is lying due to the rate their heart is beating at. This power is unbelievably useful, not just as a defense attorney but also as a vigilante. But despite how powerful this ability is, it is not flawless.
Not Even Daredevil is Above Being Fooled
The secret to fooling Daredevil's abilities can be seen in Daredevil #184 by Frank Miller, Roger McKenzie, and Klaus Janson. In this storyline, Daredevil has to prove that a kid did not murder a drug dealer who got his sister hooked on crack. Daredevil, using his hyper senses, is able to tell that the child isn't lying when he says he wasn't the one to shoot the drug dealer, despite having ample motive and being at the scene of the crime. Daredevil is successfully able to prove the kid's innocence, and aims to pin the crime on local mob boss Hogman. However, Matt is shocked when Hogman claims innocence as well and also isn't lying.
Daredevil uses his lawyer skills to get Hogman proven not guilty as well. Once Hogman is exonerated, he asks Matt if there's any chance of a retrial. Matt tells him that he's good to go, there's no chance of a retrial at all. So Hogman takes the opportunity to tell Daredevil that he is 100 percent guilty. He absolutely killed that man. Matt is shocked since his superpowers told him Hogman wasn't lying earlier. So how did Hogman, a petty gangster, beat one of the strongest superpowers in comics? Well, the answer is actually pretty simple.
How to Fool Daredevil's Lie Detector
Eventually, Daredevil is able to chase Hogman down and realizes Hogman has a pacemaker. That's how he was able to avoid Daredevil being able to tell that he was lying. A pacemaker is used to regulate the 's heartbeat, so doing things like lying wouldn't make it jump. There isn't any supernatural explanation, Hogman isn't some stone-cold killer who can lie easily. He is just a man with a bad heart, so he needed a pacemaker. This goes to show that as powerful as Daredevil is, he's not infallible. If Hogman didn't to the crime, he likely would get to walk free. This plot point also brings into question Matt's entire view on the law. Matt explains to the young boy who lost his sister, that the law works and that given time, it'll catch the bad people. But considering Matt himself is tricked into helping a bad person escape the law, that might not necessarily be true.
While Hogman is eventually brought to justice, it's really only due to the fact that he its guilt himself. While Daredevil is a great hero, he might rely on his powers a bit too much to judge whether someone is deserving of justice.
