Posted in: Comics, Marvel Comics | Tagged: daredevil, Devil's Reign, Kingpin, marvel, matt murdock

The Living & The Dead in Today's Devil's Reign From Marvel (Spoilers)

Published Wed, 09 Mar 2022 09:39:11 -0600

It was Daredevil: Woman Without Fear #3 that did it. Spoiling a plotline from Devil's Reign #5. But did it really? Was this a deliberately scheduled piece of misdirection? For all of Chip Zdarksy's newsletters asking people to hold off reading last week's Daredevil until they had read this week's Devil's Reign, was that just social media sleight of hand knowing that a) no one would do that and b) ramping up the tension for this week's Devil's Reign #5? Because anyone who read Daredevil: Woman Without Fear #3… by Chip Zdarsky and Rafael De Latorre…

… as Elektra Natchios, the new Daredevil of Hell's Kitchen, approached Robert Goldman, a lawyer who attended Columbia University alongside Matt Murdock, Foggy Nelson and Elektra Natchios, and was Matt's own lawyer when Daredevil stood trial for murder. And he had some news to share.

Well, today sees the publication of Devil's Reign #5, Devil's Reign: Moon Knight #1 and Devil's Reign: The Superior Four #3. With a very angry Kingpin indeed who has had his memories that Matt Murdock is Daredevil, fully restored.

Say his name three times. But this is a distraction from Wilson Fisk's other aims, criminalising superheroes in New York, as seen in Devil's Reign: Moon Knight #1.

And no longer caring about the Mayoral – or indeed Presidential – election he was preparing for. He doesn't even need Doctor Octopus anymore.

Even as Doctor Octopus is traversing the Multiverse with his super-powered variants, there always seems to be someone more powerful. Whether it's himself as a Doctor Doom Sorceror Supreme with their own power plays to be concerned about.

Family is hard. Talking of which Mike Murdock. Decades ago, Matt Murdock's secret identity as Daredevil was compromised (again) after Spider-Man wrote him a letter revealing that he had figured out that he was Daredevil and it was intercepted by Foggy and Karen. When he was confronted about the letter, Matt had to come up with an excuse on the spot and decided to claim to have a twin brother called Mike who was Daredevil, and to whom the letter was actually addressed. To further consolidate the lie, Matt would sporadically adopt the identity of Mike and pretend to be his own cocky and brash twin.

Later however Daredevil enlisted the help of the Inhuman named Reader to form a group to take down Mayor Wilson Fisk, Reader accidentally used his ability to physically manifest anything he read while researching on Mike Murdock, which resulted in his manifestation as a real person who genuinely believed himself to be Matt Murdock's twin brother, and possessed both the abilities and brash personality he was supposed to have. After doing a successful heist with The Hood, Mike stole a Norn Stone from the Hood's vault and hired Black Cat to steal an English translation of Asgardian spells in order to become a full human. The ritual worked and rewrote history, with Mike becoming Matt's actual twin brother, now with a criminal past.

Though Sorceror Supreme Doctor Doom Octopus has a more permanent way of getting rid of variant versions of himself. Even as the Sorceror Supreme, a well-placed blade is more effective than messing around with Norn Stones.

And Moon Knight demonstrates how he is not trapped with the prisoners, the prisoners are trapped there with him. And this was his play all along. And as the Kingpin's influence extends across the city, creating a Walking Dead army…

Doctor Octopus communes with another version of himself, who is even more of a vegetable as Doc Ock was before his Superior Spider-Man days.

Moon Knight reveals the reasons he wants to be in superhero jail – for now at least.

And Kingpin enacts his revenge upon Murdock.

Just possibly not the Murdock he was looking for. And yes, a witness indeed… solicitations for the final issue tell us " You may think you've heard a tale like this before, but there will be no last-minute bargains struck between Fisk and the heroes, no truce to stop the fighting and no mutual parting of the ways. Just blood, sweat and tears! Trust us, True Believer, you have NO IDEA what's coming – or the effect it will have on the Marvel Universe!"

President Trump famously said he could shoot a man on Fifth Avenue and still get elected. Wildon Fisk certainly has the population under his thrall. Will Devil's Reign end with that theory being tested?

DEVIL'S REIGN #5 (OF 6)
MARVEL COMICS
JAN220910
(W) Chip Zdarsky (A/CA) Marco Checchetto
As smart and ruthless as Wilson Fisk may be, he's chosen to enlist the aid of some of the most reprehensible, dangerous and bloodthirsty criminals the Marvel Universe has to offer! He's been able to keep them on a short leash out of fear for weeks. IN THIS ISSUE – that fear runs out! Fisk's lackeys aren't scared of ANYTHING anymore, even him – and ALL OF NEW YORK is left to pay the price! RATED T+In Shops: Mar 09, 2022 SRP: $4.99

DEVIL'S REIGN MOON KNIGHT #1
MARVEL COMICS
DEC211130
After being arrested by the Thunderbolts as part of WILSON FISK'S crackdown on costumed heroes, MOON KNIGHT is now a prisoner in the high-tech Myrmidon. Surrounded by hostile guards and many of the very criminals he helped put away, MARC SPECTOR must fight for his survival. But Moon Knight's quest for justice doesn't end just because of a little light incarceration…
(W) Jed MacKay (A) Frederico Sabbatini (CA) Rod Reis
In Shops: Mar 09, 2022
SRP: $4.99

DEVIL'S REIGN SUPERIOR FOUR #3 (OF 3)
MARVEL COMICS
DEC211132
THE FANTASTIC FOUR ARE NO MORE… LONG LIVE THE SUPERIOR FOUR! Stranded in the Multiverse, Otto Octavius must swallow his pride and submit to a truly inferior creature in order to be saved. Now only one question remains: Can he regain the trust of the SUPERIOR FOUR and repair the fabric of the Multiverse without erasing himself from existence in the process?
(W) Zac Thompson (A) Davide Tinto (CA) Ivan Shavrin
SRP: $3.99