Welcome back! When we last left the man without fear, Matt had to rebuild himself from the bottom up. Guess you just can’t keep a good devil down. So what happens to Matt next and how does he survive? Let’s find out!
Finding a baby that may be the anti-Christ or possibly the new Christ, Matt’s sanity is put to the test as his life begins to spiral out of control again. Secretly drugged to cause him to go against his better judgement, events begin to happen around him putting those he cares about in danger. This time his best friend and former law partner Foggy Nelson is framed for murder. The information that Karen had given to Kingpin was sold to the villain Mysterio who’d put all these acts into motion due to his own death drawing near. In the end, Karen would be killed by Bullseye and the money she’d left for Matt would go into restarting Nelson and Murdock.
Still reeling from the loss of Karen, Matt would begin a romance with Maya Lopez, a deaf prodigy with photographic-reflexes similar to Taskmaster. This turned out to be a plot by the Kingpin to get Maya to kill Matt by making her believe Daredevil was responsible for her father’s death when in actuality it was Fisk himself. She’d take up the alias Echo and try to kill Daredevil but when she learned who he was and the truth of her father’s killer, she’d blind the Kingpin instead. The two would part ways with Maya taking to heroics with her Echo identity.
A newspaper would out Matt’s identity as Daredevil that he would deny and spend a lot of time and money to disprove and sue the paper for. During this time, Matt would meet Milla Donovan and begin dating. Matt would win a huge cash settlement from the lawsuit and with Milla’s help, pump the money into helping Hell’s Kitchen they would also have a secret marriage. At the same time, Matt would dethrone Fisk as the Kingpin and take over the title and rule over Hell’s Kitchen. Daredevil was now the Kingpin of Hell’s Kitchen, criminals gotta go.
The New Avengers would offer Matt membership but he’d turn it down due to not wanting to tarnish their image with having the current Kingpin as a member. Matt would eventually be arrested and put in prison for being the Kingpin, the Punisher would get arrested to play bodyguard for Matt so he could maintain that he was not Daredevil while being in the same cell block as Wilson Fisk and Bullseye. This was further assisted by Iron Fist masquerading as Daredevil while Matt was locked up. Matt and Punisher would stop many from breaking out of prison while they were able to escape.
Vanessa Fisk would blame Matt for all that had happened to her family and offered to help him disprove he was Daredevil in exchange for fighting on her husbands legal defense to get him out of prison. Even though Matt refused, she’d already set things to play out so Matt was free of the ties that claimed he was Daredevil. Deciding to assist Wilson Fisk for who Vanessa used to be and not the person she had become, Matt would still draw things out so that Wilson would miss Vanessa’s funeral.
Running a new law firm without publicity so as to keep themselves safe, it wouldn’t work too well. Milla would be targeted by a villain named Mister Fear who would drug her with a mind breaking chemical causing her to need to be put into an institution. Don’t ever date Daredevil, he’s a walking fridge.
A strange fortress would appear in Hell’s Kitchen, Matt suddenly was in charge of hundreds of ninja. When Bullseye arrived to fight Matt, Matt would kill him with a sai. Turns out, Matt was possessed by The Beast, the demon who runs The Hand. Many of Matt’s heroic friends would arrive to this Shadowland to stop The Hand and free Matt of his possession.
Trying to start over with a more upbeat and positive attitude, Matt would work alongside Foggy again, but due to mistrials from their opponents using the possibilty of Matt being Daredevil, they would begin training their clients to defend themselves in court. As Daredevil Matt would fight such strange villains as The Spot, Stiltman, and Bruiser. He’d explore the domain of the Mole Man to rescue his father’s bones. Take on the biggest criminal agencies in the world to hold onto a hard drive with all their greatest secrets. He’d also begin a tumultuous relationship with A.D.A. Kirsten Duffy. Finally joining the New Avengers would be very useful when Matt is kidnapped by Doctor Doom and trapped with all his senses taken away. It turns out that the chemicals that gave him his enhanced senses and radar sense would kick into high gear to give him limited vision if he lost his other senses.
Teaming up with Spider-Man and the Punisher, Matt would finally stop the criminal organizations after the hard drive. He’d convince Punisher to use rubber bullets and flash bangs instead of his normal fare. Foggy would learn he had cancer and Matt would use all their funding to help his friend get treatment. Learning someone was trying to recreate the chemical accident that gave Matt his powers by testing on random homeless of New York, Matt would be confronted by Ikari, a masked figure who possessed not only all his powers and skills, but still retained his eye sight. This was all the machinations of a not dead but actually quadriplegic Bullseye, the ensuing battle between Ikari and Matt would allow for Ikari to escape and leave Bullseye blind.
Uncovering that a white supremacist society had infiltrated almost all of New York’s government offices and services. Matt would fight them off and then reveal his identity as Daredevil to stop them from blackmailing him into silence. Now disbarred from New York, Matt, Kirsten, and Foggy would move to San Francisco. Before moving to San Francisco, Foggy would fake his death so Daredevil’s enemies wouldn’t be able to find him as easily in hospitals for his chemo therapy.
Openly acting as Daredevil, Matt would occasionally come to blows with The Shroud, San Francisco’s own blind vigilante who also had shadow powers. Matt would get a costume change to merge both his vigilante and lawyer identities and use his celebrity to help him get around the city. Ikari would return, having kidnapped Foggy and Kirsten under the order of Wilson Fisk. Fisk would give Matt his friends and his secret identity back if he promised to work for him. Matt was able to fight him off and free his friends.
Something strange happened, Matt was somehow able to erase the memories of everyone in the world that Matt Murdock is Daredevil, all except Foggy Nelson. Foggy hates Matt for this. The two are back in New York, Kirsten is left behind in San Francisco. Matt has taken to wearing a black with red highlights costume and training a new hero called Blindspot, a guy who built a homemade invisibility suit. The two would take on a cult leader called Tenfingers who seems to have taken his powers from The Hand, who want what’s theirs back.
There you have it folks! Matt Murdock is one of my all time absolute favorite characters out there. He’s got cool costumes and the coolest gadget around. A fully functional Daredevil billy club is number one on my Amazon wish list. The yellow costume is one of the greatest costumes in the history of terrible costumes. He’s had a movie starring Ben Affleck and now two seasons of a Netflix series starring Charlie Cox. Can’t wait to see what happens in The Defenders Netflix series. See you next time!
Suggested Reading
Daredevil Vol.2
Daredevil Vol. 3
Daredevil. Vol. 4
Dr. Bustos
drbustos@comicattack.net
