Matt Murdock Is Daredevil Again, But NOT For The Reason You Expected
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| Spoilers for Daredevil #21 ahead! |
When Marvel first announced that Daredevil would be putting on the iconic red suit again, it felt like a triumph. The Daredevil series centers around serious questions of crime, guilt, and redemption, anchored in Matt Murdock hanging up the Daredevil name and costume. For Murdock to return to his brightly-colored superhero persona, it seemed that it would mean either return to grace or abandonment of his moral quest. As readers of the new issue Daredevil #21 have discovered, the truth is much darker and stranger.
In the first issue of the current Daredevil run, written by Chip Zdarsky and illustrated by Marco Checchetto, the horned crimefighter accidentally killed a petty criminal during a routine patrol. The deed caused the NYPD to turn against him; it also caused Spider-Man to demand he retire as Daredevil, a request he followed. When he realized he could never avoid fighting crime, he put on a black mask and fought as an unnamed vigilante with a penance to carry out.
At the end of the climactic issue 20, Daredevil seemed to have won; he had stopped mercenaries from burning Hell's Kitchen to the ground and fought back against the neighborhood's corrupt police force. But in victory, he had one more step to take in seeking justice: turning himself in for murder. Issue 21 deals with the messy consequences of that act: seeking representation, arranging a trial, and attempting to adopt a legal procedure that had never been used before.
Matt's defense lawyer and best friend, Foggy, gave him a word of personal advice: if he does put himself before the court, revealing his secret identity would put all his loved ones at risk. So Matt and Foggy write up a proposal: building from the Marvel Universe legal precedent that superheroes are allowed to testify under mask and codename, Daredevil would be tried under the mask, without ever revealing his real name to the public. And so Matt Murdock put on the Daredevil costume and name for the first time since losing it, not to begin his heroic career one more, but to potentially end it.
Legal drama on this serious, procedural level is extremely rare outside of Daredevil. Not only is this apparent stunt given appropriate emotional weight, but its grounds in (fictional) case law make it feel deserved. At the same time, this kind of dark, hollow victory is also a precious trademark of the character. Only Daredevil could take such a triumphant return and make it both a bitter downfall and a glimmer of hope.