BIOGRAPHY -- Page 9
The war on Crime-Wave continued to occupy Matt and Foggy’s attention, despite Karen’s growing unease with the danger Matt faced daily. Willie Lincoln returned as a witness who accidentally stumbled into Crime-Wave’s den and lived to tell about it. Daredevil protected him from a shooter named Torpedo, who was hired to eliminate Willie. Out at the docks, Daredevil roughed up two of Crime-Wave’s goons and replaced “Shades” McGraw, making a run out to Crime-Wave’s casino yacht outside U.S. territorial waters. DD attacked the helm to change course, bringing the ship into jurisdiction of the authorities. As the D.A. and the Coast Guard got into position, Daredevil battled Crime-Wave himself to protect Debbie Harris, who was doing her own independent investigation to prove herself to Foggy. Crime-Wave ended up being unmasked as Mason Hollis, Foggy’s own assistant. [Daredevil (1st series) #59-60]
Despite Karen’s concerns, Matt could not bring himself to end his career as Daredevil. He enjoyed the action too much, and even willingly walked into a trap set for him by Mr. Hyde, Cobra and the Jester. When Karen bravely assembled the police to come after Daredevil and capture the villains, 
Matt tried to thank her. Instead, Karen coldly reminded him it was her birthday, which he had completely forgotten in order to go beat up some guys in costumes who weren’t even threatening anybody but him. [Daredevil (1st series) #61] Indeed, when a new crime-fighter named Nighthawk seemed to show up Daredevil, Matt put all his effort into restoring his reputation. True, he uncovered that Nighthawk was a phony who drugged Daredevil to make him look bad and released the crooks he caught rather than turn them over to the authorities. But ultimately, it had been Matt’s own pride that compelled him to investigate Nighthawk in the first place. [Daredevil (1st series) #62]
Once Karen realized Matt would never give up being Daredevil, even for her, she decided to quit the D.A.’s office and leave him forever. Matt let her run off but intended to go bring her back before her plane left, once he and Foggy finished their D.A. business for the day. Unfortunately, that business meant a trip out to Riker’s Island, where the Gladiator was feigning amnesia in an effort to get transferred to a reduced custody wing. When the authorities made the foolish mistake 
of giving him his costume and weapons to jog his memory, Gladiator seized the opportunity and began an active prison break. Matt changed into Daredevil and lured Gladiator into an empty detention block. Luckily, Foggy and his men had at least the foresight to rig Gladiator’s blades to fail irrevocably after a period of time, leaving Gladiator helpless and back in custody. However, Matt had delayed too long and, when he phoned for Karen, she was no longer there. [Daredevil (1st series) #63]
Matt begged some vacation time from Foggy and the D.A.’s office to go after Karen, tracking her down to sunny Los Angeles where she was setting herself up as an aspiring actress. Out west, Daredevil crossed paths with Stunt-Master, who was nearly forced back into crime after trying to go straight. He and Daredevil instead teamed up against the goons who tried to blackmail Stunt-Master, and the sudden notoriety got him a pilot deal as a televised daredevil hero. Karen’s first job was a walk-on role for “Strange Secrets,” where the lead actor 
playing Brother Brimstone went mad and nearly killed her if it hadn’t been for Daredevil’s intervention. Matt tried to be patient with Karen, perhaps thinking she’d give up acting if he waited around in California long enough. However, Karen next got a role on Stunt-Master’s pilot, and even arranged for Daredevil to guest star. Stilt-Man attacked the production for revenge, but ultimately amounted to nothing. Foggy called Matt back to work in New York, but Karen refused to give up her career to return with him. An angry and dejected Matt came home empty-handed. [Daredevil (1st series) #64-67]
Back in New York, Matt tried to put Karen out of his mind. He got involved when a political activist group named Phoenix bought the contract for a young boxer named Kid Gawaine. The kid was being managed by Pop Fenton, Battlin’ Jack Murdock’s old trainer. Therefore, it was already personal when Matt learned Kragg and his Phoenix group intended to fund his movement by betting against his champ and forcing Gawaine to take a dive. Pop and Gawaine refused to fight dishonestly, and Daredevil helped them expose Phoenix for the criminals they truly were. [Daredevil (1st series) #68]
Daredevil and the Black Panther teamed up again while investigating a street gang called the Thunderbolts. The D.A.’s office employed a war hero named Billy Carver as an informant, infiltrating the gang. However, Billy’s teenaged brother Lonnie was crestfallen when he learned his brother joined a gang and got himself injured when he half-heartedly tried to join as well. Lonnie was a student of the Black Panther’s (in his civilian identity as Luke Charles), and T’Challa revealed his secrets to Daredevil to cushion the fact that he had deduced Daredevil and Murdock were the same man after their encounter with Starr Saxon. Daredevil and the Black Panther orchestrated a dragnet arresting the Thunderbolts and reunited the Carver brothers. As it happened, the Thunderbolts were employed by the crime cartel Zodiac, who revealed themselves when they attacked New York and captured the Avengers at the mansion. Daredevil and Black Panther led the resistance, inspiring average New Yorkers to stand up to the terrorists until they released the full Avengers roster and drove off Zodiac. [Daredevil (1st series) #69, Avengers (1st series) #82]
Matt and Foggy were left in a difficult position when the D.A.’s office crossed paths with political protesters. The Vice President was staying at the New York Hilton, and a crowd of young activists gathered to be heard. A bomb exploded on the scene, leading to rioting as the police and protesters clashed. Daredevil managed to stop a group from setting off a second bomb on the foundations but was thrown for a loop in the blast. A young man rushed to see if Daredevil was 
okay, but the police arrested him under suspicion of the bombing, despite Daredevil’s protests. Two other argumentative protesters were arrested in front of the building for arguing with the police in charge, despite the explosions going off at the opposite site of the hotel. The D.A.’s office was under political pressure to prosecute the “New York Three” as they became known, despite Matt and Foggy being confident the young men weren’t guilty.
As the day of the trial approached, Matt canvassed for witnesses who could discount the police’s view of events, while Foggy prayed that their lack of evidence would be understood by the jury, and they wouldn’t be swayed by public opinion. To make things more complicated, process servers managed to get a subpoena to Daredevil to appear in court, meaning Matt would have to be two places at once. The courtroom drama turned real when a self-appointed defender of 
American values called Tribune seized control of the trial. He wanted the young men put to death, regardless of guilt simply for protesting their government. Daredevil opposed the Tribune’s kangaroo court and drove off the agitator. Mercifully, Foggy managed to get charges dismissed against the New York Three once evidence came out that the Tribune’s own men had planted the bombs in order to give him a cause célebre. [Daredevil (1st series) #70-71]
Matt continued to fail in his efforts to get over Karen. He had a confrontation with Tagak the Leopard Lord and another encounter with the Zodiac crime cartel alongside Iron Man and Nick Fury. A group of thugs poisoned the city’s water supply to render Manhattan blind and pick it clean in the chaos, but Daredevil was uniquely suited to apprehend the gang. Still, even fighting el Condor and his revolutionaries in Delvadia or a three-way brawl with Spider-Man and Namor couldn’t get Karen out of his mind. [Daredevil (1st series) #72-77, Iron Man (1st series) #35-36]
A mysterious figure named Mister Kline began to intervene on Daredevil’s life. Matt saved a young couple from being kidnapped by goons led by “Bull” Taurens. The Bull was gathering test subjects for a scientist in the employ of Kline and, when he failed, Taurens underwent the experiments himself. The scientist’s serum changed him into a minotaur-like Man-Bull, who wanted revenge on Daredevil and the couple who escaped him. [Daredevil (1st series) #78-79] Man-Bull was beaten, but Mister Kline next orchestrated the return of the Owl, compelling Daredevil’s old foe to force an encounter with the Scarlet Swashbuckler. The Owl chafed at being in Kline’s debt and reorganized his gang with an eye towards making a profit rather than delivering Daredevil to Kline. Daredevil ended up fighting with Owl’s gang and pursued them up into the Owl’s custom helicopter. The Owl rigged his helicopter to crash and personally took to the air, leaving Daredevil in the plummeting chopper as it struck the water below. [Daredevil (1st series) #80]
Perhaps by chance, the former spy turned vigilante called the Black Widow was at the wharf when 
Daredevil and the helicopter crashed. Without heed to her own safety, Madame Natasha jumped into the river and pulled Daredevil to shore. They crossed paths again when both Daredevil and Black Widow responded to the Owl’s next assault on the financial district. Days later, Matt found Natasha’s chauffeur Ivan unconscious in his townhouse. A note, addressing Matt as Daredevil, challenged him to rescue Black Widow from the Scorpion. Daredevil tracked down Black Widow and freed her from her captor, and together they fought the Scorpion atop a skyscraper. In the final moments of the fight, the Widow’s web line missed the Scorpion as the villain threw himself backwards, toppling over the side of the building to his death. A witness misinterpreted the Black Widow’s attack as deliberate murder. [Daredevil (1st series) #81-82]
As the Scorpion’s body was carted away, the police attempted to put Black Widow under arrest. Natasha fled from the authorities, forcing Daredevil to pursue her. He promised that the D.A. was a friend of his and she’d receive a fair hearing, but the Widow didn’t trust her chances and had to be forcibly returned to the cops by Daredevil. To Matt’s utter shock, her suspicions were correct. Foggy was suddenly on a crusade to crack down on lawless vigilantes, and he intended to make an example out of Madame Natasha. Left with no recourse, Matt tendered his resignation to the D.A.’s office, effective immediately, and told Foggy he’d see him in court.
Matt visited Natasha in jail, introducing himself as a friend of Daredevil’s, and offered to take her case. As the trial commenced, Murdock saw Natasha’s history as a spy used against her to 
tarnish her reputation with the jury. When the coroner’s report was not produced, Daredevil chose to check on the Scorpion’s body himself. He was surprised to find Mister Hyde at the coroner’s office, under orders from Mr. Kline, and Hyde ended up killing himself on Kline’s orders to destroy the Scorpion’s body and all record of the coroner’s investigation. Left without this critical piece of evidence, Foggy Nelson was forced to agree to a Motion to Dismiss in the charges against Natasha. [Daredevil (1st series) #83]
The Black Widow was chilled towards America after her mistreatment, and she left both Matt and Daredevil behind to travel in Europe. Only after she was gone did Foggy Nelson have the courage to approach Daredevil about his actions. Mr. Kline had gotten to Foggy, blackmailing him over a legal mistake he had made in a previous case. Kline forced Foggy to go after Natasha, yet also ordered him to drop all charges when the time came. In the end, the man disappeared without a trace, leaving Foggy guilt-ridden and demoralized. As Matt tried to make sense of Kline’s motives, 
Natasha called him away to Switzerland because she’d met a doctor named Emil Borgdsky who discovered a cure for blindness. Natasha wanted to repay Matt for his support during her persecution, and they gave voice to their passion for each other once he arrived. Matt was suspicious about Borgdsky, though. Foggy had pointed out the mansion that was Kline’s base of operations before he abandoned it, and Matt tracked shipments from that mansion to, coincidentally enough, Switzerland.
As Daredevil, he infiltrated Kline’s hideout and discovered the man was both an android and the true form of Emil Borgdsky. Kline, better known as the Assassin, was an agent of the super-computer Baal from 12,000 years in the future. When a catastrophe decimated future civilization, Baal and his Assassin directed their attention to the past, micro-managing events to create a new, better future for them. Through android copies of Scorpion and Mister Hyde and other means, they drove Daredevil and Black Widow together by circumstance while also breaking the spirits of D.A. Foggy Nelson before his upcoming decision to run for governor. Finally, returning the sight of Matt Murdock would have ended the career of Daredevil. The Assassin tried to kill Daredevil (and the equally suspicious Black Widow, who also arrived to investigate Borgdsky), before the Final Sons of Man from 30,000 years in the future materialized to stop Baal from stopping the events that led to the death of Baal and the rise of the Sons. Their work done, the Final Sons departed as Baal and the Assassin were utterly destroyed, leaving Daredevil and the Black Widow to escape the exploding hideout. [Daredevil (1st series) #84]
By this point, Natasha had reasoned out that Matt Murdock and Daredevil were the same man. They flew back to America together, considering a new affair as lovers and a new partnership as crime-fighters. These plans were quickly challenged. When Gladiator tried to hijack their airplane, Daredevil and the Black Widow were tied up by his men when threatened with a bomb. Daredevil got free but refused to free Natasha as well, “protecting” her rather than treating her as an equal partner. Daredevil beat Gladiator solo and, once they made it to the airport, was greeted by the 
sudden return of Karen Page. Matt and Karen embraced as old lovers, and Natasha was left alone. [Daredevil (1st series) #85] Absence made the heart grow fonder, and Matt and Karen at first announced their long-delayed engagement. Matt and Foggy had a heart-to-heart about Kline’s blackmail, and Nelson decided to resign as D.A. out of disgrace. The original Ox returned, back in his old body and fixated on his past encounters with Nelson and Murdock. Daredevil was injured in battle with Ox, and Karen confronted the fact that she still couldn’t be a part of Matt’s life like this. They both agreed they had been trying to recapture something from the past and ended their engagement as Karen returned to Los Angeles. [Daredevil (1st series) #86]