Daredevil/Spider-Man #4

Things Get Worse

Daredevil and Spider-Man have been trying to take down the Gang of Four, criminals that have been trying to replace the Kingpin of Crime. In the middle of the battle, Daredevil has realized that Copperhead — who died after their last encounter — is the real mastermind behind this whole scheme. That’s when Copperhead reveals that he has been transformed into an undead demon and unleashed a blast of mystical energy on the Man Without Fear.[1] That’s when Copperhead begins casting a spell and offering everyone gathered as a sacrifice to the devil, intending to make New York City as the devil’s new domain.[2]

While in Montana, Foggy Nelson and the Black Widow are forced to make repairs to their rented car in the middle of a blizzard on the way back from a fact-finding mission at one of the KIngpin’s accounting firms. The Black Widow had broken into a secret records room but only found some coins and jewels as well as photos of the Kingpin’s cat. Despite this failure to find any incriminating evidence, Foggy tells Natasha that he was able to find something they can use against Wilson Fisk.

Back in New York, the news media has become aware of the mystical barrier that has been placed over the Venturi dockside by Copperhead. Arriving on the scene are the Fantastic Four. While the rest of the team is busy trying to breach the barrier their leader, Mister Fantastic addresses the media and assures the viewing audience that this isn’t the work of a mutant or alien invaders. Inside the barrier, Daredevil and Spider-Man are recovering from the warping perspective caused by the spell. That’s when some of the Kingpin’s men, killed in a crossfire between the Owl’s Gang of Four and the NYPD, begin rising as the undead. While Spider-Man webs up these undead mobsters, a priest is shot in the crossfire. Daredevil rushes to the holy man’s side, but the priest knows that he is dying and tells Daredevil that damnation is upon them and that the only key to defeating the devil is Romans 12:21.* When Spider-Man cracks a joke, Daredevil gets upset with him, angering the web-slinger who has been annoyed about Daredevil’s criticizing his sense of humor since they have started working on this case together. When Daredevil tries to apologize, Spider-Man tells him to save it, saying his joking is that keeps him from going insane thinking about the people he couldn’t save on a given day. Spotting the source of the mystical barrier around them on a nearby rooftop, Spider-Man suggests they stick to the task at hand before they critique each other’s coping techniques. As they swing on toward the source of the disturbance they are unaware that the Owl is following after them.

When Daredevil and Spider-Man arrive at the epicenter of all this weirdness, they discover a church floating in the air. Daredevil recognizes it as the place where Karen Page died.[3] Inside they find Copperhead who has used mystical energies to suspend both Stilt-Man and Gladiator above the floor. The pair are being tormented by horrific visions of their imminent deaths. Copperhead explains that he was brought back to life by the devil to come back. Spider-Man doesn’t buy any of this and attempts to free Stilt-Man and Gladiator. However, when he touches the mystical energies suspending the pair, Spider-Man’s mind is suddenly flooded with images of his life, particularly the various tragedies he face.[4] Copperhead explains that the devil didn’t want his soul and instead sent him back to Earth to collect a pure soul instead. As such, Copperhead organized this whole ordeal in order to capture the pure soul of Spider-Man for his master. That’s when Daredevil puts a gun to his head and offers to kill himself in Spider-Man’s place. However, Copperhead reminds Daredevil that his Christian faith forbids suicide, no matter how noble, pointing out that killing himself will send his soul to Hell anyway and he will be separated from his beloved Karen for all eternity. However, before Daredevil can pull the trigger he is ambushed by the Owl who decides to take everyone else’s place. He then lunges at Copperhead, knocking them into the portal to Hell. Daredevil grabs the Owl’s hand and hold on tight, but the Owl tells him that he is renouncing his evil ways and sacrificing himself for the good of everyone Wresting free of Daredevil’s grasp, the Owl’s final words are that he never meant to be evil and that he was a good man once. Once the Owl and Copperhead pass through the portal, everything is restored to normal.[5]

The following morning, Matt Murdock keeps his meeting with Wilson Fist, who has hired Murdock’s law firm to defend him during the city’s inquiry into an explosion at Fisk Tower.[6] By this point, Fisk has come up with an elaborate ruse to explain the explosion, expecting to tell the courts that there was a film being shot in the building that was being funded by Fisk Enterprises had funded. Matt stops WIlson there and invites his partner, Foggy Nelson in to explain why Nelson and Murdock will not be representing him on this case. Foggy explains how he was sent to Wisconsin to check Fisk’s financial records. He discovered that Fisk’s office building still had lead paint. Nelson and Murdock could not support a client that engaged in illegal activity as the investigation into the blast would force them to reveal the truth. Fisk realizes he’s being blackmailed, and Murdock doesn’t deny it telling him that the United States is a litigious country and he shouldn’t have any trouble finding someone else to represent him. As they leave, Matt tells Fisk that their bill will be sent to him in the mail. When they leave, Foggy is impressed by what they pulled off, but Matt points out that it couldn’t have been done without him. That’s when Foggy asks Matt if it’s all right if he tries to ask Natasha Romanov out on a date. Matt gives Nelson his blessing but warns him that there is a reason why she is called the Black Widow.[7]

That evening, Daredevil meets with Spider-Man atop the Empire State Building where they try to make sense of what they saw. Daredevil can’t believe it since many of their foes were supposed to be dead but somehow they keep coming back.[8] The pair then apologize to each other for coming at odds over how they deal with things. Daredevil admits that he doesn’t have much of a sense of humor. The part as friends again and as Spider-Man web-slings away he is unaware that Daredevil has tacked a “kick me” sign on his back.

Recurring Characters

Daredevil, Spider-Man, Kingpin, Gang of Four (Owl, Copperhead, Stilt-Man, Gladiator), Foggy Nelson, Black Widow, Fantastic Four (Mister Fantastic, Invisible Woman, Human Torch, Thing)

Continuity Notes

1. Copperhead clashed with Daredevil in Daredevil #124-125. That battle ended when Copperhead was killed by a bolt of lightning.

2. Copperhead states that he is working for the devil in this story, given all the Biblical trappings in this story one is supposed to assume he means the famed Christian devil. However, in the Marvel Universe, there are many demonic entities that have claimed or been misidentified as the Christian devil (Mephisto, Satannish, Thog, Marduk Kurios and many many more) To that end, the Copperhead entry in the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z #2 verifies that the identity of which demon Copperhead is working for is unknown.

3. Karen Page was murdered by Bullseye in Daredevil (vol. 2) #5.

4. Of these fragments of memories, Spider-Man sees the death of Uncle Ben from Amazing Fantasy #15 (because of course, he did) and the death of Gwen Stacy in Amazing Spider-Man #121.

5. Although the Owl seemingly perishes here, he returns in Daredevil/Bullseye: The Target #1. An explanation for his return is never fully explained. His most recent profile in Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z #8 merely says that he returned and provides no further explanation.

6. You might remember the building was blown up by an attack by the Owl in the first issue of this limited series. It should be noted that Kingpin is wearing sunglasses here because at the time of this story he had recently been blinded in Daredevil (vol. 2) #15. His vision will be later restored in issue #46 of that same series.

7. Mention is made of how Daredevil and Black Widow used to be an item. The pair worked together from Daredevil #81 until issue #124 of that series. During that period the pair became romantically involved. The Black Widow broke it off when she came to see herself as being seen as Daredevil’s sidekick at the cost of her own independence.

8. Daredevil mentions how he was recently led to believe the Mysterio was dead and now he isn’t. However, the details behind this are far more complicated than that. Prior to this story, the original Mysterio —Quentin Beck — committed suicide in Daredevil (vol. 2) #7. At the time of this story, another Mysterio had recently surfaced in Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 2) #8, who left everyone wondering if he was Beck or not. It’s later revealed in Spider-Man: Mysterio Manifesto #1-3 that this is actually Daniel Burkhart, the second Mysterio, who reprised the role to honor Beck following his death. Eventually, the original Mysterio will appear alive again in, Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 5) #1 explains that he was resurrected by a demonic entity calling itself Kindred, but that’s a far more complicated story to cover here.

Topical References

• Foggy states that lead paint had been banned in the city of New York over forty years ago. The state of New York banned the use of lead in paint products due to the negative health effects in 1960, which would have been over 40 years after this comic was originally published. As this is a real-world reference the length of time between the lead paint ban and this story should be considered topical.

Other Notes

• Romans 12:21 reads “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” or at least some variation of that depending on which translation of the Bible you’re reading.