BIOGRAPHY -- Page 10
Matt was lucky to catch up with Natasha before she left town, and they both agreed a change of pace was in order. The two of them (and Ivan) moved out west to San Francisco, sharing a palatial estate Natasha bought with her savings. Matt and Natasha hadn’t rushed back into their romance, preparing to remain friends and roommates only for now. Daredevil’s sudden arrival in 
California took several of his old villains by surprise, as both Electro and Purple Man had come out west before him. Daredevil naturally took to crime-fighting in San Francisco, but he had trouble earning the respect of Commissioner “Ironguts” O’Hara, who wasn’t used to New York super-heroes butting in on police business. Daredevil and Black Widow were only grudgingly accepted on the word of one of O’Hara’s best men, Lieutenant Paul Carson. [Daredevil (1st series) #87-89]
As he settled into San Francisco, Matt Murdock received a telephone call for a surprising new case. The Hulk had been finally captured by the military and was set to appear at trial for his crimes. Bruce Banner wanted Murdock to defend him in court, and Matt couldn’t help but jump at the unique opportunity. However, Matt soon found the deck was stacked against his client. Bruce Banner was kept under heavy sedation to prevent him from turning back into the Hulk, but it also kept him from contributing to his defense. Counselor Murdock convinced General “Thunderbolt” Ross to reduce the sedatives on the way to court, and it only resulted in the Hulk transforming and nearly breaking free. He was recaptured thanks to the intervention of Daredevil, Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four. Reed Richards used a nega-gamma device to knock out the Hulk, but it also stopped him from reverting back to Banner, fully hamstringing Murdock’s attempts to portray Banner as anything other than a monster. At trial, the Hulk was bound and gagged throughout the hearing, thoroughly prejudicing the jury against the defendant. Objections were constantly 
sustained against Murdock’s attempts to defend his client and the outcome of the case seemed hopeless. Finally, Reed Richards arrived in court and claimed he had adjusted his nega-gamma to restore the Hulk to Bruce Banner. The judge allowed him to act upon the Hulk, but the device only made the Hulk powerful enough to escape. Afterwards, Matt quietly remarked to Reed that it seemed as if Reed deliberately caused that effect, ensuring a miscarriage of justice did not occur that day. [Incredible Hulk (2nd series) #152-153]
Matt and Natasha struggled to find common ground when a man from her past named Danny French started to stir up trouble. Natasha wanted to handle French alone, but Matt and Ivan were too protective. Meanwhile, Matt’s old classmate from law school, Larry Cranston, got in touch about employment in San Francisco at his firm, Roderick, Sloan & Cranston. Matt found the senior partner Jason Sloan unsettling to his enhanced senses for some reason, but he was willing to be courted by the firm. Daredevil and the Black Widow both started to experience sudden panic attacks out of nowhere, and Natasha feared it was French employing the mysterious Project Four they once worked together to steal as spies. However, Daredevil soon recognized the sensation, and realized Mister Fear’s fear gas was being used. Despite his misgivings about Sloan, Matt deduced that Cranston was the real Mister Fear in disguise, having learned the secrets of Zoltan 
Drago shortly before he died to Starr Saxon’s assault. Cranston had even figured out Daredevil and Murdock were the same man due to the coincidence of their relocation to California at the same time. Cranston’s bitter dreams of revenge against Murdock and Sloan for being more successful than him ended short. He leaped off a building while fighting Daredevil, neglectful of the fact that his jet pack had been dislodged. Mister Fear III seemingly fell to his death, his career as a super-villain remarkably short-lived. [Daredevil (1st series) #90-91]
Mister Fear had been dealt with but Black Widow was still missing, ever since she went to confront Danny French. Matt and Ivan’s search for her came up empty, and they were distracted further by a talking head on the nightly news making the obvious connection between Matt Murdock and Daredevil moving to San Francisco at the same time, opining that the two men were one and the same. Meanwhile, Black Widow and Danny French had been captured by Damon Dran, a munitions dealer who sought the energy globe the two had once liberated from Project Four. Fearing Daredevil’s involvement, Dran sent his agent Yamura the Blue Talon to assassinate 
him at the North Shore mansion. Matt had called in the Black Panther for a favor, and it was T’Challa dressed as Daredevil who fought the Blue Talon while Matt Murdock made a separate appearance on the scene before the gathered reporters in order to secure his secret identity. Falling back on the fiction that his brother Mike Murdock had been the original Daredevil, Matt publicly claimed the new Daredevil had vowed to protect his predecessor’s blind brother and followed him to California. [Daredevil (1st series) #92]
[Note: At this point, it should be noted that Matt and Natasha were VERY casual about his secret identity in how they conducted themselves in public. Daredevil and Black Widow were openly affectionate around the police and in public generally. And, while Natasha was technically Matt Murdock’s landlady, they also dated socially.]
Daredevil’s search for Black Widow took an abrupt turn when Natasha attacked him on the city rooftops. Hypnotized as Dran’s puppet, the slow-moving Black Widow was overcome by Daredevil, who also detected the hidden explosive device Dran had fitted to her belt. Mud on her boots gave Matt a clue that led him to Oakland and Damon Dran’s mansion. Daredevil found Danny French inside, but Damon Dran had already used the power of the energy globe to mutate himself into an Indestructible Man. Daredevil got French to safety as Dran’s energy blasts collapsed his mansion around him, but it was no impediment to the growing size and power of the 
Indestructible Man. Natasha recovered and joined them as they opposed Damon Dran’s colossal form making its way across the Oakland Bay Bridge. Although Damon was indestructible, his power source was not. Danny French spotted the original energy globe floating near Dran and struck to destroy it. French died in the explosion, but Damon Dran lost his power and seemingly perished. [Daredevil (1st series) #93-94]
Despite Larry Cranston’s passing, Jason Sloan still wanted Matt onboard as a partner at their firm, and soon convinced him to join the renamed Broderick, Sloan & Murdock, Attorneys at Law. Before he could get too deep into his legal briefs, though, Matt was forced to deal with the Man-Bull, who had come out west to seek revenge on Daredevil. Bull Taurens was duplicitous and underhanded in his attacks on Daredevil. First, he targeted Ivan and the Black Widow, Daredevil’s 
publicly known associates, and seriously injured Ivan. Next, he challenged Daredevil and Black Widow during a jewelry heist, only for his henchman Itch to shoot DD from the crowd. The Widow held off Man-Bull long enough to get Daredevil to the hospital for surgery. Black Widow was injured as well fighting Taurens, and Daredevil crawled from his surgery bed to investigate Man-Bull with Paul Carson. He barely managed to stop Man-Bull’s scheme to poison the city’s water supply with the same chemicals that caused his transformation. [Daredevil (1st series) #95-96]
Natasha was noticeably irritable as she took longer to recover from her wounds than Matt. In the meantime, Daredevil stopped an odd group of four teenagers from breaking into the University Research Center. Back at BS&M, Matt Murdock soon learned that Kerwin J. Broderick, their semi-retired founding partner, had taken the case and assigned Matt to defend the four criminals. On his way to the jail to interview his clients, Matt encountered Mordecai Jones, the Dark Messiah, a mysterious super-being convinced he had been empowered by a holy figure. Whatever his origins, the Dark Messiah blasted open the jail and let an army of criminals loose into the city. Daredevil found himself quickly overpowered by Mordecai’s searing eye-beams.
The Dark Messiah next assumed control of Golden Gate Park, raising a mighty force field to protect his territory. He even temporarily empowered his own Disciples of Doom to grapple with Daredevil before departing as quickly as he came. Curiously, Matt returned to the office long enough to learn from Sloan that Kerwin Broderick had ordered him to plead his clients guilty to 
their charges. Matt couldn’t focus on this strange request, for he and Natasha were called out a final time to face the Dark Messiah. The Disciples of Doom lost their powers after Daredevil and the Black Widow knocked them out, but Mordecai still seemed as powerful as ever. Daredevil finally realized Mordecai Jones had been a street performer he saw taken to the hospital earlier, which somehow led to his transformation into the Dark Messiah. Being confronted with his true identity shook Mordecai’s new persona, and he fled as his two personalities conflicted with one another. [Daredevil (1st series) #97-98]
Battered and bruised, Daredevil and Black Widow limped back to the North Shore mansion, only to find Hawkeye the Marksman waiting for them. Hawkeye had recently been rejected by the Scarlet Witch for Vision in the Avengers, and impulsively came out west to reclaim his former girlfriend Natasha to satisfy his ego. Tasha likely would have dealt with Hawkeye on her own, but Daredevil’s own ego led him to speak for her, making the Black Widow bristle with his show of possessiveness. Tempers flared among the trio, and Hawkeye and Daredevil quickly came to 
blows. Insult followed injury as the Avengers soon arrived, looking to bolster their reduced numbers after Hawkeye left them, by recruiting Daredevil and the Widow. Feeling slighted again, Hawkeye stalked off. Daredevil had always been reluctant to work in larger groups, as crowds tended to confuse his radar sense, but Black Panther was present and reminded his friend of the recent favor he owed T’Challa. Matt agreed to assist the Avengers until they recovered their kidnapped members. [Daredevil (1st series) #99]
The Avengers were short-handed because Magneto had kidnapped half their number, along with the X-Men, using a new technique to control his foes and force them to carry out his bidding. Daredevil and the Avengers determined Magneto would strike at the Atomic Energy Commission, but Magneto had already captured several commissioners and was preparing his airship to depart when they arrived. Matt attempted to board the airship but was cast off and fell back to earth from a great height. Natasha saved him with her Widow’s line, although Matt was deeply 
condescending and claimed he would have saved himself, regardless. Daredevil’s senses helped the Avengers locate Magneto’s hidden base, and all his captives were eventually freed. Captain America offered Daredevil and the Black Widow full membership afterwards, but DD declined for the both of them. Natasha was tired of Matt’s attitude towards her, though, and she chose to remain with the Avengers, leaving him to return to San Francisco alone. [Avengers (1st series) #111]
Hurt and abandoned, Daredevil returned to California to think about what Natasha wanted from him. He stopped another robbery by young thugs, curiously similar to the University Research Center incident he was defending. The criminals were stealing from the offices of Rolling Stone, and DD wound up agreeing to an interview with the editor after returning his papers. Unfortunately, Matt had to be cagey about his past, and slipped up several times in front of the astute reporter, due to the various cover stories he had used in the past. For instance, DD mentioned “Daredevil” had been his nickname as a kid, yet the reporter pointed out he was supposed to be the second Daredevil, after Mike Murdock’s death. Before things could get more confusing, the offices were subjected to the power of the mind-storm, a psychedelic effect triggered by Angar the Screamer.
As the disorienting hallucinations subsided, Daredevil learned that mass “freak outs” like this had been reported for several days in San Francisco. Angar’s wailing had an added side effect of creating amnesia in people, forgetting their hallucinatory episodes or even his presence as they recovered. Daredevil’s mind suffered the hallucinations despite his blindness, but he retained memory of Angar, which was rather confusing for those who didn’t. While searching for Angar and holding off Sloan’s insistence that he plead their clients guilty, Matt was taken aback when Natasha suddenly returned home. She had only spent a few days with the Avengers before 
realizing she preferred to make things right with Matthew. They had another encounter with Angar after the Screamer’s mysterious employer ordered Matt Murdock kidnapped. Matt escaped in order to confront Angar as Daredevil, but a furious Black Widow nearly killed Angar with her sting after another mind-storm caused their police friends to shoot and wound each other. Daredevil was left to ponder Natasha’s temper and the growing conspiracy that they were dancing around the edges of. [Daredevil (1st series) #100-101]