Daredevil Message Board

[The Overlord]

Who do you think is behind Daredevil's current problems, this scheme to drive DD insane?

The preview for DD issue 25 shows the villain in question, seeming to wear DD's old yellow costume and Jack Murdock's boxing robe, so he clearly knows how to make things personal for Matt.

[Francesco]

DD #21 shows the silhouettes of a man and a woman giving orders to Coyote... he says they recreated the accident that turned spot into a superpowered guy and used him as a battery. Therefore they must be expert scientists or people with the money to hire scientists to do their work.
Also, they told Coyote where to poke to mess with DD's life. They know about Jack Murdock and Milla and her hospitalization.

[theunrealstudios]

Just fan speculation here but the man on the front cover of #25 is NOT the villain but the ace: Now my conclusion (although quite daft and far fetched given little info even i think so keep in mind) is based on the size of the guy in the costume photo, a train of thought and this:

"What is his connection to the accident that created Daredevil?" - preview #25 *there are so few notable people in his childhood*
"Face to face with his opposite number--a foe Daredevil cannot beat!" - preview #26


It's Jack Murdock.


A DNA sample taken from his casket (tissue or blood on the leather boxing gloves etc). Cloned and genetically modified to grow quickly, larger and prob to be rabid with rage due to insanity. One final act lured in Fogwells gym to screw with Matt beyond all screwing in an ultimate trump move to drive him madhouse insane or dead because he won't fight back. After Milla returning, I can't think of anything more painful short of seeing Karen come back to life (which they won't do). This mystery guy makes Jack wear that costume for shock appeal like Matt's fighting himself but to Matt it's not his equal but his superior in the ring resulting in him pulling his punches. The clone eventually dies a few issues later and Matt has to witness his dad die all over again.

Okaaaaay that was fun to write lol, It's more of a spiderman clone thing sure i'll give skeptics that but this is no Uncle Ben deal. There's a fair share of you that hate clones (cheapness, i get it, i have my moments of nerd rage too on cop outs) but Waid loves his Sci-Fi and he's quite good at presenting it well. We're getting a renaissance arc for Daredevil of revisiting the past.

Can they do it? Well we just saw these people give super powers to prison inmates (They bought the info on his brain from Latveria and pieced that with the toxicity and witness reports 20 years ago), bend teleporting powers into a battery, replace Foggy's heart while he's stable with one containing heart disease, (Coyote teleported it out and they made a surgical switch around issue issue #3 when Foggy was at the bar), etc etc. yes....yes they are crazy enough to bring jack back.

they know Jack, Milla, the accident, the fight, they prob could write the book on his life.

they have money and a science team so these people have power.

They have international connections but are not Hydra, AIM or Latveria.

This one is going to come out of left field.

beyond public and private record, the accident strikes me the most, this was someone who knew the kind of details only matt talks about in confidence.

Who has an axe to grind? Well many are possibles but Waid either subtly left clues or it's someone who's been out of circulation for a while.....

Purple man, Mr. Fear, Mr. Hyde all make sense if they simply are behind the scenes. Financially and Scientifically they all have resources. Fear was in prison last time we saw him so there's your inmate explanation (or they were simply death row guinea pigs discretely "borrowed" from the state).

Kristen could be the mystery woman as she courted Matt first (friends close, enemies closer), she is after all Marks creation but it just makes it difficult to explain her mega evil back story if she's a prosecutor so... meh.

Whatever, it's late and i'm rambling apophenia, conspiracy theories lol Whoever it is it'll be good. It's just someone who is going to ridiculous lengths of obsession and even Kingpin didn't try this hard.

[Solid_Payne]

Wow, i didn't think of Kristen as being evil, but you know that would be really sneaky and kind of awesome, especially because she is in a similar profession as Matt, seems to share the same morals and work ethic, and has been trying to get close and uncover who he is. it would be scary if she already knew exactly who he was and this whole time she has been pretending. I would love to see that happen actually. And maybe Matt knew she was playing the whole time, and nothing is what it seems! it could have all been misdirection, everything up til now. if this is the case, I will admire Waid a lot more. the cloned Dad angle is cool too, but I honestly think it might have something to do with Bullseye as well, looking at the previews for (i think) issue 27 (the one with the silhouette around foggy and the bullseye shape)

[Darkdevil]

In his recent interview with CBR, Waid makes two important comments on this mystery villain:

"It would be a horrible cheat if it were a brand new character that nobody has ever heard of before. So yes, we can definitely say that it's someone who is part of the cast of Daredevil characters."

"You should be able to make an educated guess as to who this person is by the end of issue #25, and if you haven't picked up on it by the middle of issue #26 you're not a Daredevil fan."

This implies to me that this person is a long-time member of the cast and not a new character Waid has introduced himself.

The more I think about the clone dad idea, the more I like it. It would be a viscious, cruel blow to Matt plus we've already seen that Jack's remains have been tampered with.

But is this mastermind a revamp of a classic DD villain? Other than Kingpin, who has the intellect, the hatred, and the resources to pull this of?

[Francesco]

I'm thinking, the one that could be doing this is Philip Wallace Sterling. He was a scientist, he seemed to have a lot of money, coming from a wealthy family, and he held quite a grudge against Matt Murdock/Daredevil.

[abcdavid01]

Lot of people guessing Bullseye, myself included.

Although yeah, Death-Stalker would be pretty cool too.

[yudansha]

My money is on Mister Fear. Hes a scienctist with the know how and the last time he was shown to easily be able to mess with people to make them work for him. So he has the resources and the man power and the connections. He also has an ax to grind against Matt and knows a lot about him. He was the one to drive Milla nuts so her recent apprearences to knock Matt off his game would make sense. His recent history would also give his re-appearence a lot of emotion and weight. So as of now thats my guess. But will see as more clues are revealed.
_________________
"This ones for you Matt" - Jack Murdock

[yudansha]

Don't forget that there has been a female companion that has usually been with this mystory bad guy. Who doo you think she is?
_________________
"This ones for you Matt" - Jack Murdock

[Francesco]

Also, look at the shape of the "nooze" tightening on Daredevil in the second page. It looks like a celtic cross, very much like the one of the grave Death Stalker died on. The shape of the container he's in also suggests the form of Death-Stalker's distinctive hat and cape.

[yudansha]

Yeah Death Stalker makes sense. But man we havent seen him in 30+ years! Dont think he would have the same weight as Mr. Fear though.
_________________
"This ones for you Matt" - Jack Murdock

[Francesco]

well, Mr Fear would have used a totally different modus operandi. he would've used fear rather than technology. Also, the villain has a sort of robotic voice, which may be due to the fact DS has been displaced in time/space and his powers were technology based. Mr Fear is alive, well and healthy.

[the gael]

Who, in the DD rogue gallery, has the money to do that kind of thing ?

The Kingpin
Mister Fear / Cranston
The Owl
of Course the Deathstalker (knowing that his mother was able to create an army of bomb robotic little girls, it's possible)

Purple Man may be the kind of man who could do this, but I don't think he has the money for... So I count him out.

And who can make all of the attacks personnal like this ?

The Kingpin
Mister Fear / Cranston (I think it's him but may be wrong)
DeathStalker (He is really mad and can observe anything from his dimension)

You can count out the Owl, don't think he has such a personnal knowledge of Matt.

who would have a robotic voice ? This time, Kingpin is out, I can't see him wear a mask or something like that.

So I can only see Mister Fear / Cranston (for the gaz mask which may give him a robotic voice) or DeathStalker (for the reason sited above) as logical choices.

For me, Mister Fear is my first suspect, but Deathstalker is the one I would prefer, mostly because we haven't see him for such a long time and he has so much potential.

[Dimetre]

I would love it if it was the Deathstalker, because I've been hoping for his comeback for such a long time, but maybe Mark Waid has someone new in mind.

[Gianni]