Matt Murdock: Daredevil Appreciation 2019

[cc008]

has there ever been a substantive team-up with Daredevil and Iron Man?

We got a little bit in the Hunt for Wolverine Dead Ends one shot. & they clashed in Superior Iron Man.

[Tony Stark]

We got a little bit in the Hunt for Wolverine Dead Ends one shot. & they clashed in Superior Iron Man.

I would love to see them team up more. To me they are equally as interesting out of their suits as they are in them.

[Arsenal]

I’m curious, do any of you guys have DD or a favorite comic book character as your phone backgrounds?

Got Cap as my home screen

[Nanashi]

Daredevil and Elektra by Roberto Zaghi

[bomaya]

I LOVED issue #2. Man oh man. That was great. What an amazing week of comics... between this, Punisher, and Captain America. Three STELLAR books.

I liked DD but thought Cap was poorly done. Also found it just odd that two books in the same week had Wilson Fisk visited by someone questioning him about a death that implicated a major super-hero as the murderer. I know there's no original ideas anymore but come on...

[Nanashi]

The Kingpin by Jeff Dekal

[your_name_here]

The Kingpin by Jeff Dekal

That’s awesome.

[cc008]

I liked DD but thought Cap was poorly done. Also found it just odd that two books in the same week had Wilson Fisk visited by someone questioning him about a death that implicated a major super-hero as the murderer. I know there's no original ideas anymore but come on...

It is odd that both books have something similar going on. You'd think these things would be brought up at summits or whatever. It doesn't really bother me though. I thought Sharon's meeting with Fisk was the highlight of that Cap issue.

[Nanashi]

Daredevil by Lee Weeks

[Nanashi]

Daredevil by Francesco Segala

[The Overlord]

Do you think Daredevil's rogue's gallery should be revamped? I'm not talking about Bullseye or Kingpin, those characters do not need to be changed. I also hope new villains like Coyote, Ikari, and Muse stick around, I like those guys. I am talking about the B-list villains from the Silver Age and the 80s and 90s.

Owl seems like a mess of a character, he is the most reoccurring Silver Age villain, but the writers change him all the time, he goes from sympathetic to monstrous, intelligent to stupid, depending on who is writing him. Also Waid essentially made him omniscient, shouldn't he be out of DD's league at that point or will that be forgotten? In theory he should be the DD villain who is aiming for Kingpin's throne and while not being as cunning as Fisk, he should be smart and be more reckless and willing to resort to extreme methods, then the more calm and collected Kingpin, but it seems like they hardly interact, without being a less competent, but more reckless and still dangerous rival vying for Fisk's throne, it just seems like he goes into generic crime boss stories, which really doesn't make him stand out in any way.


Jester, here is a villain that has a bad rap for being a Joker knock off. Either retire Jester (he did try to reform in the 80s, only for that to be undone, for no good reason) or revamp him. Maybe throw out his terrible Silver Age origin and retcon it so he was once a asprining actor with talent who career was sabotaged by a rival who became a famous /Hollywood star and DD has to defend this guy from the Jester's revenge. Maybe he can kidnap civilians and force them to star in a movie of his own making, that could be creepy.

Gladiator is a character that I feel needs a follow-up, he was reformed for decades, till Mr. Bont and Mr. Fear dragged him back to a life of crime. I think that story needs development.

Mr. Fear, I wouldn't change him at this point, but I do think Matt needs to kick his butt as payback for all the evil things he has done. I am talking about the Cranston version of the character, the others are not so great.

Bullet, here is a great concept that hardly ever gets used correctly. He is a villain who is also a single father with a son who has autism, there is a lot you can do that with, but often he just seems like a generic hired thug in the comics.

Bushwacker, the writers can't decide whether he is a Bullseye clone (a psychopath assassin who just likes killing people) or a religious fundamentalist who kills because he thinks he is on a mission from God to do so. I greatly prefer the religious fundamentalist angle, it makes him more unique and better contrast to Matt, rather being another psycho for hire villain.

The Wildboys, I would make them a large street gang, rather than just a pair of street thugs, they would be more a threat and could be Kingpin's bagmen, handling smaller jobs on the streets.

The Hand. Yeah, I think the Hand needs a revamp, I think they are all style and no substance. Give them a more defined leader and give that guy a personality and give some of the members more personality too. At this point, I think the Foot from TMNT is more interesting than the Hand and they were created as a parody of the Hand.

Also I am not sure what you do with D-listers like Stilt-Man, Leap-Frog and Matador.

Anyone else you think should be revamped?

[Fearless]

Do you think Daredevil's rogue's gallery should be revamped? I'm not talking about Bullseye or Kingpin, those characters do not need to be changed. I also hope new villains like Coyote, Ikari, and Muse stick around, I like those guys. I am talking about the B-list villains from the Silver Age and the 80s and 90s.

Owl seems like a mess of a character, he is the most reoccurring Silver Age villain, but the writers change him all the time, he goes from sympathetic to monstrous, intelligent to stupid, depending on who is writing him. Also Waid essentially made him omniscient, shouldn't he be out of DD's league at that point or will that be forgotten? In theory he should be the DD villain who is aiming for Kingpin's throne and while not being as cunning as Fisk, he should be smart and be more reckless and willing to resort to extreme methods, then the more calm and collected Kingpin, but it seems like they hardly interact, without being a less competent, but more reckless and still dangerous rival vying for Fisk's throne, it just seems like he goes into generic crime boss stories, which really doesn't make him stand out in any way.


Jester, here is a villain that has a bad rap for being a Joker knock off. Either retire Jester (he did try to reform in the 80s, only for that to be undone, for no good reason) or revamp him. Maybe throw out his terrible Silver Age origin and retcon it so he was once a asprining actor with talent who career was sabotaged by a rival who became a famous /Hollywood star and DD has to defend this guy from the Jester's revenge. Maybe he can kidnap civilians and force them to star in a movie of his own making, that could be creepy.

Gladiator is a character that I feel needs a follow-up, he was reformed for decades, till Mr. Bont and Mr. Fear dragged him back to a life of crime. I think that story needs development.

Mr. Fear, I wouldn't change him at this point, but I do think Matt needs to kick his butt as payback for all the evil things he has done. I am talking about the Cranston version of the character, the others are not so great.

Bullet, here is a great concept that hardly ever gets used correctly. He is a villain who is also a single father with a son who has autism, there is a lot you can do that with, but often he just seems like a generic hired thug in the comics.

Bushwacker, the writers can't decide whether he is a Bullseye clone (a psychopath assassin who just likes killing people) or a religious fundamentalist who kills because he thinks he is on a mission from God to do so. I greatly prefer the religious fundamentalist angle, it makes him more unique and better contrast to Matt, rather being another psycho for hire villain.

The Wildboys, I would make them a large street gang, rather than just a pair of street thugs, they would be more a threat and could be Kingpin's bagmen, handling smaller jobs on the streets.

The Hand. Yeah, I think the Hand needs a revamp, I think they are all style and no substance. Give them a more defined leader and give that guy a personality and give some of the members more personality too. At this point, I think the Foot from TMNT is more interesting than the Hand and they were created as a parody of the Hand.

Anyone else you think should be revamped?

I think mostly the focus of his rogue gallery needs to lay off Fisk, Bullseye, and the Hand for a while. I feel like a lot of writers introduce or redefine villains that are great at the start but are either not handled the same by other writers or just forgotten. Typhoid Mary, Ikari, Lady Bullseye, and Muse are great examples. Typhoid was awesome when Nocenti created her, and all the way up until Bendis had her talking gibberish (the initial introduction of her in Bendis' run I thought was great) she seemed like she could undoubtedly be one of the most threatening recurring DD villains when she appears. Lady Bullseye I think had an awesome couple of story arcs in Brubaker's run and I didn't mind her working with Bullseye/Ikari in Waid's, but I think she could do with a revamp. Ikari and Muse both would be awesome to stick around and delve more into, Ikari in particular has a lot of ground that can be established.

I liked a lot of what Waid did as far as antagonists go. Putting Leap Frog in a mech, the stuff he did with Owl (though I do like your take on Owl as an opposite to Fisk), even having the Shroud as an anti-hero kind of antagonist, all that has potential to me. I think Coyote was interesting but ultimately needed more to stand out. I also liked Jester in Waid's run and think he can work as kind of a parody of Joker in some ways.

Mister Fear was awesome in Brubaker's run and I've always felt like he should be more recurring. Especially with how he kind of won in that story arc, it feels like there's unfinished business there. I've always liked Gladiator in virtually every story involving him but I think he's a character that is best used in spurts.

The problem with the Hand to me is that they lack a distinct face/leader for themselves and I think all the Beast stuff is just kind of too far out there most of the time. I would rather see Ikari or Lady Bullseye as a long-term leader for the Hand and work with establishing their antagonistic relationship to Daredevil than anything with the Beast.

Purple Man is a DD villain with a lot of potential but he's kind of been usurped by Jessica Jones now. I still feel like he should still have sporadic appearances like the stuff in Waid's run and Soule's, which were some of the best arcs of those runs.

To me DD has a very good rogues gallery, but the issue is that he doesn't really have consistency with them other than Kingpin, Bullseye, and the Hand. I wouldn't mind seeing a character like Death-Stalker brought back and reworked. I think there could be interesting potential in just bringing in another character or two that are general Marvel Universe villains to tussle with Matt as well. The Gorgon was always one that would be interesting to me because of his powerset versus Matt's, and he has ties with the Hand and Hydra, which could offer up stuff like Captain America/Black Widow style team-ups to deal with him and his allies.

[Mike_Murdock]

Do you think Daredevil's rogue's gallery should be revamped?

I think Daredevil has a good rogue's gallery that's often ignored for the characters Frank Miller used (with the Owl being the only other one that seems to get much attention).

Jester, here is a villain that has a bad rap for being a Joker knock off. Either retire Jester (he did try to reform in the 80s, only for that to be undone, for no good reason) or revamp him. Maybe throw out his terrible Silver Age origin and retcon it so he was once a asprining actor with talent who career was sabotaged by a rival who became a famous /Hollywood star and DD has to defend this guy from the Jester's revenge. Maybe he can kidnap civilians and force them to star in a movie of his own making, that could be creepy.

Case in point, I love the Jester. He's not really at all like the Joker. And making him more deranged like that is actually pushing him unnecessarily in that direction. The Jester's big thing is that he wants to be seen as a star. His original action was that he faked his own death to frame Daredevil for it so he could get fame for apprehending Daredevil for his murder. He has to be used in the right context, but that doesn't mean turn him into the Joker. I also thought he had a great redemption story during Denny O'Neil's run and was used in a clever way in Bob Gale's run. Making him a straight-up villain seems a waste these days.

Mr. Fear, I wouldn't change him at this point, but I do think Matt needs to kick his butt as payback for all the evil things he has done. I am talking about the Cranston version of the character, the others are not so great.

The one wasted potential is that he's a lawyer. My idea for Mr. Fear would be to make his identity secret again. As of right now, he doesn't know Matt's secret. If they make that mutual, they could have Matt and Cranston go head-to-head in court and in costume.

[The Overlord]

I think Daredevil has a good rogue's gallery that's often ignored for the characters Frank Miller used (with the Owl being the only other one that seems to get much attention).

Well almost any rogues gallery is great in theory, but the execution, the care you give the characters and the type of storties you give them, that's what makes a great rogues gallery, you do not have that, you do not have a great rogues gallery.

Case in point, I love the Jester. He's not really at all like the Joker. And making him more deranged like that is actually pushing him unnecessarily in that direction. The Jester's big thing is that he wants to be seen as a star. His original action was that he faked his own death to frame Daredevil for it so he could get fame for apprehending Daredevil for his murder. He has to be used in the right context, but that doesn't mean turn him into the Joker. I also thought he had a great redemption story during Denny O'Neil's run and was used in a clever way in Bob Gale's run. Making him a straight-up villain seems a waste these days.[/QUOTE]

To be fair, Joker is a straight up monster and I am not suggesting such a thing with Jester, Jester wanting revenge on someone who ruined his life, is not a Joker story, Joker is not motivated by revenge. Maybe Joker kidnapped people and put them into movies, I don't know. But too often, Jester seems like a plot device rather then a character, that demon plot Bendis gave him, any B-list villain could have filled that role.

Frankly, I think Jester's origin kinda sucks, where he is too stupid to take acting lessons to become a good actor, although today's internet culture is filled with idiot attention seekers who get rewarded for their efforts, he seems better off making obnoxious youtube videos then robbing banks. Logan Paul is a huge jerk, but he has not broken the law, yet.

Though apparently, he died in a recent She-Hulk story, where Jennifer defended him in court, because the cops entrapped him, she lost and he gets shot in a prison riot, but then he comes back, is a criminal again (which undermines the She-Hulk storyline) just to get beaten by Jessica Jones and Spider-Woman.

Really if Jester is going to be a super villain, he needs a reason to be one, otherwise, just reform him already, he can get attention fighting crime rather then causing it, so what motive does he have to remain a villain? Or heck, why be a super villain at all and just be another obnxious Logan Paul type video star? Does being a super villain serve his goals and if they don't, maybe he shouldn't be a super villain, they have dancing around with reforming for 30 plus years, the writers either do it or don't and explain why he doesn't want to reform.

To me a villain needs a good reason to be a villain and if the writers can't come up with one, give him a different role.

The problem with Jester, is the writers only seem to treat him like a character, maybe 40% of the time, other times, he is just a plot device, which undermines the character stuff.

The one wasted potential is that he's a lawyer. My idea for Mr. Fear would be to make his identity secret again. As of right now, he doesn't know Matt's secret. If they make that mutual, they could have Matt and Cranston go head-to-head in court and in costume.

Isn't Cranston a public criminal? I assume he would be disbarred.

[Mike_Murdock]

He is. But it's not like an attorney who was publicly seen as having broken the law and recently disbarred didn't find a way for his identity to become secret again and to no longer be disbarred. He once went under a fake name and taught law, but that's not the same thing at all.