Biography of Daredevil, 1964-1965

The following is a biography of Daredevil from 1964 to 1965, in which Matt Murdock found his footing as the vigilante hero while struggling to navigate the love triangle involving himself and coworkers Foggy Nelson and Karen Page.

Biography

Origin and battling the Fixer

The son of boxer Jack Murdock, young Matthew grew up idolizing his father, and dreamt about becoming a great athlete. But Jack followed his late wife's wish for Matt to get an education, and insisted that he study as hard as he could to make something of himself in life. Matt did as his father wished, eschewing all physical activities in school in favor of intense study, despite his desire to play sports. This earned him the snide nickname "Daredevil" from other boys. Tired of being picked on, Matt privately trained his body, devoting all of his time to schoolwork and exercise. At the age of 15, Matt witnessed an old man who was apparently blind and deaf crossing the street as a truck carrying radioactive materials was fast approaching. Matt leapt into action, pushing the man out of harm's way, but taking some of the impact himself. The truck itself stopped before doing any serious damage, but the radioactive material spilled out onto Matt. As he recovered in the hospital, he found that he had gone blind, but the rest of his senses were extraordinarily sharpened. He continued to study hard into college, where he met his roommate Foggy Nelson.

Meanwhile, Matt's father was undergoing a career renaissance as a boxer, though this was in fact due to his manager the Fixer setting up the results without Jack's knowledge. Jack had a major fight coming up, and Matt and Foggy eagerly attended. Jack was informed prior to the fight that he was to take a fall, and he reluctantly agreed, but upon seeing his son in the audience simply couldn't bear the indignity. Jack won the fight, filling his son with pride. After the event however, Jack was found murdered, killed by a single gunshot. Matt worked through his distress at this news and soon graduated from college, immediately starting the Nelson & Murdock law firm with financial help from the former's father. Foggy also hired a secretary, Karen Page; she and Matt were immediately smitten with each other. Matt privately vowed to avenge his father, and reclaimed his childhood nickname to become the crimefighting Daredevil. He sewed together a suit to hide his identity, his extreme tactile abilities allowing him to identify the feels of different-colored fabrics, and modified his walking stick to become a versatile weapon. Suspecting that the infamously crooked Fixer had been involved in his father's death, Daredevil tracked down his hideout and fought through his goons to get to the man himself. He found the Fixer and one of his henchmen who had physically committed the murder, and chased them out of the building and into the subway. Fixer, an overweight smoker, collapsed from exertion and died of a heart attack. The police arrived on the scene, and the henchman frustratedly confessed. Daredevil introduced himself to the police, and told them to remember his name.

Electro and the Fantastic Four

In mid-1964, Daredevil singlehandedly took care of a gang of car thieves, breaking into their warehouse and incapacitating them to be claimed by the police. Returning to his office, Matt was informed of a visit by the Thing of the Fantastic Four. They were looking to renew their lease at the Baxter Building, and wished to have a lawyer look it over before signing. Karen also told Matt of a doctor who believed he could cure his blindness. Secretly, Matt was wary of being cured, as he worried doing so might jeopardize his superpowers. He told her that he simply didn't want to be disappointed. Heading to the Baxter Building, Matt was let inside by Mr. Fantastic's advanced security systems while the Four were in Washington, D.C. accepting an award. But as soon as he entered, he detected danger, and changed into his Daredevil costume. Indeed, he was soon confronted by the villain Electro, who used his dominion over electricity along with the various Fantastic Four equipment surrounding them to defeat Daredevil in combat. Electro took the unconscious Daredevil and placed him on a spaceship elsewhere in the Baxter Building, launching him out into space. But Daredevil came to consciousness and amazingly used his super senses to steer the ship back down to Earth, crash landing in an empty part of Central Park. Daredevil knew he had to return to the Baxter Building to defeat Electro, but also knew that he could never approach him without being seen. He decided that the only way to reach him was from above, and hitched a ride on a sightseeing helicopter to crash through the Baxter Building's skylight and into its uppermost room. Electro was there and had just broken into the Fantastic Four's safe and stolen some of Mr. Fantastic's invaluable papers. Daredevil chased Electro to the ground floor, through the streets, and into a cabaret, where he was able to get the better of him and hand him over to the police. Daredevil returned the papers to Mr. Fantastic's safe, welding it back together from the damage done by Electro. The Four returned just at that moment, forcing him to make a speedy getaway and avoid any complicated questions. Returning to his office, Matt spoke with the Four in person, who were disappointed that he hadn't yet looked over their lease. They decided to look for another lawyer, much to Foggy and Karen's chagrin. The team eventually reconsidered, and indeed took on Murdock as their lawyer.

The Owl's criminal empire

Observing the city with his unmatched senses, Daredevil arrived at the place of death of a man named George Grey. Grey was the accountant for a businessman simply known as the Owl, and had recently been indicted for fraud. An officer on the scene reported that he had simply walked in front of a moving car as if he didn't care. Matt returned to his office just in time to interrupt Foggy in the middle of a call with the Owl himself, who had called for representation. Matt grabbed the phone and eagerly accepted to Foggy's protests. The police had apparently found evidence to link Owl to the same crimes for which Grey had been indicted. Matt met the Owl at the courthouse, and instantly detected an aura of villainy surrounding him. Owl was ordered to appear in court the next morning, an appointment Matt could tell he did not intend to keep from the pace of his heartbeat. Indeed, Owl was a no-show for the hearing, and Daredevil set out to find him, but had no luck after scouring the city. Back at the office, just after Karen had left for the day, Matt detected the presence of the Owl in a vacant office next door. He gave Foggy a reason to leave, and donned his Daredevil costume in privacy. He climbed the outside of the building to enter the adjacent office, and indeed found Owl accompanied by the criminals Sad Sam Simms and Ape Horgon. Daredevil tried valiantly to apprehend the villains, until Karen walked in through the door, hearing the commotion. Owl grabbed hold of her and demanded that Daredevil surrender, which he reluctantly did. He and Karen were put into separate cages at the Owl's base on the cliffs overlooking the Hudson River. Daredevil used his agility and cunning to free them both, but Owl confronted them and fought Daredevil head on. Karen was able to take a car and flee to notify the police. Owl briefly escaped by boat, but Daredevil jammed his cane into its rudder, knocking Owl into the water. His senses dampened by the water's surface, Daredevil couldn't detect Owl's presence and couldn't tell if he was alive or dead. Earlier, Owl had sent for several crime bosses across the city to converge on his hideout so that he might deliver Daredevil to them and establish his prestige in the criminal underworld. When they arrived, the police were waiting for them, and arrested them all.

The charismatic Purple Man

Murdock was assigned by the court to defend a man named Mr. Killgrave, otherwise known as the Purple Man. Killgrave had apparently asked a bank teller to give him thousands of dollars, and the teller had readily agreed, before realizing later what he had done. Matt visited Killgrave in his jail cell, and was accompanied by Karen, who secretly just wanted to be close to Matt. Killgrave instructed the guard to free him and told Karen to be his new secretary, and they each eagerly obliged. Killgrave walked off with Page, instructing Murdock to stay behind. But for some reason, Murdock was able to resist, and he pursued Killgrave as Daredevil. Outside, Killgrave ordered a group of passersby to attack, and they occupied Daredevil long enough for him to escape with Page in tow. Daredevil escaped the crowd and regrouped, and later learned of Killgrave's whereabouts over the radio. The Purple Man had convinced a group of bodybuilders to act as his bodyguards and claimed the top floor of an expensive hotel as his own. Daredevil burst in and fought through the bodyguards, chasing Purple Man up to the roof still holding Karen hostage. Killgrave threatened to tell her to jump to her death, and so Daredevil surrendered himself, and Killgrave held him at gunpoint. Daredevil secretly activated an audio recorder in his stick, and asked Purple Man to tell him how he got his powers. He arrogantly agreed, explaining that he had come into contact with a mysterious nerve gas while working as a spy for a "foreign power." With sufficient evidence to convict Killgrave as necessary, Daredevil used his quick reaction time to knock the gun from the villain's hands and safely jump with Karen to a scaffold below. The two met on the street, where a crowd of press, police, and bystanders had gathered. Purple Man attempted to sic them against the hero once more, but Daredevil covered him with a simple plastic sheet and bound him inside it. As Daredevil had gambled, Killgrave's powers were linked in some way to exposure to his skin itself. Purple Man was taken into custody in part thanks to Daredevil's recording, and the hero himself was surrounded by admiring press. Apparently afraid of exposing his identity, Daredevil fled the scene.

Spider-Man and the Ringmaster

Matt was invited to the circus with Foggy and Karen, and though he initially wasn't interested, he decided to go when he heard that the hero Spider-Man would be appearing. The circus was in fact being run by the villain known as the Ringmaster, known for his hypnotic powers using a swirling symbol on his top hat. At the performance, Spider-Man appeared as promised and demonstrated his agility. But soon Ringmaster appeared and used his hypnosis to put nearly the entire audience into a trance, as well as Spider-Man himself, and his underlings began robbing the stunned spectators. The blind Murdock was unaffected however, and slipped away to become Daredevil and challenge Ringmaster. The hypnotized Spider-Man fought him on Ringmaster's orders, but the usually bright and reflexive hero was hindered due to being limited to Ringmaster's own reaction time. Daredevil was thus able to overcome him and grab Ringmaster's hat from his possession, using it to break Spider-Man's trance. The two fought together against Ringmaster's minions for a time, until Spider-Man told his new ally that he could handle the rest, and Murdock quietly reclaimed his place among the still-entranced audience. Spider-Man handily defeated Ringmaster and his crew, tying them up for the authorities and using his hat to snap the audience out of their hypnosis.

The crimes of the boastful Matador

Daredevil soon learned of a bizarre criminal known as the Matador, a villain who dressed as his moniker suggested and would use his red cape to blind oncoming drivers while standing in the street, causing them to crash. Daredevil happened upon him and the two fought, but the battle ended prematurely after Daredevil heard a citizen in danger nearby. That night, Matt Murdock took Karen Page to a costume party after Foggy had to pull out, and there he heard the distinctive rustling of the Matador's outfit. He further heard Matador unlocking a wall safe away from the center of the party. Knowing he couldn't get into costume right then, he spoke loudly so that everyone would know what was happening. The other partygoers saw Matador taking the valuables from the safe and tried to stop him, but the slippery Matador repeatedly escaped their grasp. Slipping into a back room, Daredevil got into costume and fought the Matador himself, but the sound of shouting bystanders and the confusion of the Matador's waving, whipping cape distorted Daredevil's radar, allowing the Matador to humiliate him and escape. The next day, Daredevil received news of the Matador boldly robbing a burglar-alarm company specifically to demonstrate his skill and confidence. Meanwhile, as Matt's feelings for Karen grew in intensity, Foggy told him of his intentions to propose to Karen, leaving Matt certain that his life as Daredevil must preclude him from any life of romance.

Determined to defeat his new rival, Daredevil did some investigation into him at the library. The Matador was indeed a very successful but widely hated bullfighter in his native Spain named Manuel Eloganto, known for his cruelty towards the bulls. In his last fight, Eloganto got distracted by the jeering fans and was gored by the bull. Swift medical attention saved his life, but Eloganto blamed the event on "his fellow man," and vowed "revenge upon all mankind." In April 1964, Eloganto suddenly disappeared from Spain. Hatching a plan, Murdock called a press conference the following day to announce Matador's true identity: he revealed it to be Daredevil, proposing that he had staged the fight with a fake Daredevil to establish his new identity. Foggy took issue with Matt making such a bizarre announcement, keeping in mind the public image of their young law firm, but Matt asked him to trust him, and he begrudgingly gave him the benefit of the doubt. That night, the prideful Matador arrived at Murdock's office, taking issue as expected with not being given proper credit for his crimes. Murdock met him in full Daredevil garb, prepared to defeat him one-on-one in his silent office. The fight spilled outside, alerting several citizens in their apartments. The police soon arrived in time for Daredevil to thoroughly trounce the Matador, removing all belief that they were the same person. Later, Matt pretended to sheepishly admit to Foggy and Karen that he was wrong about the Matador. Unable to gather the courage, Foggy put off proposing to Karen.

The Fellowship of Fear

One night, while overlooking the city, Daredevil caught the criminals Ox and Eel in the act of robbing a store vault. He fought them, but a third man in a purple costume calling himself Mister Fear arrived and fired a pellet gun at Daredevil. The pellet burst and released a gas, and Daredevil suddenly felt compelled to flee as the three villains closed in on him. The next day, Matt learned of a wax-museum display of a new sculpture of Daredevil, and he, Foggy, and Karen went to attend the opening. There, he smelled the faint presence of the Ox and of Mister Fear's gas. Foggy also recognized the Ox by sight, spotting him through a cracked door to a back room. Murdock returned later that night as Daredevil and confronted the three criminals, but was again held back by an intense feeling of trepidation. Foggy also showed up after growing suspicious of the museum that day, and tried to help Daredevil in the fight, but wound up knocked down by the Ox. Mister Fear mistakenly suspected that Nelson was a detective, and fled with the others in case more police were coming.

Daredevil brought Foggy to the hospital, where he was diagnosed with a concussion. Matt had the hospital call Karen, and left long enough to return to the hospital in civilian clothes. He left, much to Karin's chagrin, but returned as Daredevil to oversee Foggy's hospital room from the window ledge outside while Karen sat by his bedside. Soon, the Fellowship of Fear disguised as orderlies arrived to silence Nelson for good, and Daredevil was there to intercept them. He overheard Mister Fear complain that he had left his "fear gun" behind, revealing the nature of the sudden fear Daredevil had suffered. Daredevil hit the lights, giving him a significant upper hand even against three foes. They fled once more, but Daredevil managed to beat them back to the wax museum and get the jump on them again. He turned their gas against them and defeated them handily—Mister Fear proved to be utterly defenseless on his own, and quickly conceded defeat when confronted with violence. Daredevil tied up the trio and left them for the police. Returning to Foggy's hospital room, Matt found that Foggy had recovered and awoken, but Karen chastised him for being so apparently uncaring for his injured friend.

Defense from Namor

One day, the offices of Nelson & Murdock were shockingly set upon by Namor the Sub-Mariner, the Prince of Atlantis. Namor, strangely enough, was seeking a lawyer. He told them of his wish to sue the human race for possession of the surface, which he called his race's birthright. The attorneys told him that there simply was no precedent for such a case, and that it would be impossible. Frustrated, Namor instead declared that he would "force" humanity to take his case, and stormed out. Over the rest of the day, Namor ran roughshod across the city, causing wanton damage in an attempt to get humanity to take him to court. Daredevil, in a newly designed, red, more "devilish" costume, took to the rooftops to stop Namor's rampage. He tracked Namor to a nearby pier, and the two fought. They fell into the bay, and with the underwater advantage, Namor knocked Daredevil unconscious. Respecting Daredevil's valor, Namor returned him to the surface. By now, Namor had drawn a great deal of military attention, and he submitted to capture.

The next morning, Nelson & Murdock received a call from Namor asking to represent him in court, and they accepted. The hearing proved to be a complicated matter, made all the moreso by the arrival of Dorma, Namor's lover of sorts. She told him that Warlord Krang was trying to usurp the throne of Atlantis in his absence. Murdock talked Namor out of forcing his way back, insisting that he mustn't throw away his opportunity to be heard by humanity. Namor agreed to wait for a day, but when the trial was postponed until the following week, Namor effortlessly broke free from his cell. Murdock suited up and convinced representatives from the military to let him fight Namor alone, lest the Sub-Mariner cause undue bloodshed. The two fought once more, but Namor still proved to be the superior combatant, even on land. Yet, though thoroughly defeated and beaten down, Daredevil never stopped coming. Namor was taken aback by Daredevil's singular courage, and he was so impressed that he called off his attempt at the surface for the time being, returning to Atlantis peacefully.

Helping the Fantastic Four

One morning, Murdock was summoned by his clients, the Fantastic Four, to an abandoned warehouse. There, he could tell that they had lost their powers, and Mr. Fantastic had constructed remarkable but unsatisfactory machines to imitate them. Reed Richards wished to discuss what should happen to the team's research in the event that something should happen to them. The meeting was cut short by an attack from an unknown source, for which the Four were largely unprepared. Murdock secretly changed into his Daredevil costume and led the Four outside, where they saw the culprit: a flying ship atop the Baxter Building in the distance. Reed knew that the ship could only belong to aliens or Doctor Doom. A visual, threatening message from the ship confirmed that the attacker was Doom. As the Four and Daredevil hurriedly wondered what to do, the Fantasti-car, on Doom's remote operation, came flying at the team, and they narrowly got out of the way. The five of them made their way to Doom's new stronghold, evading a near-constant onslaught of their own weapons that Doom had commandeered. With their powers stripped away, the Fantastic Four had to rely on their wits, courage, and their new ally to continue on. Unfortunately for the heroes, Doom soon figured out that the Four had lost their powers, and this knowledge emboldened his attacks. Daredevil split from the group to draw his attacks, and the Four regrouped at the entrance to the Baxter Building, where police were awaiting their intervention by orders of the Pentagon. Meanwhile, Daredevil acrobatically made his way to the top of the building and confronted Doom head-on. Doom held back the capable hero, but Daredevil managed to distract him well enough to allow the Four safe passage to the 35th floor. Reed managed to restore the team's powers using a special ray (which had only just finished its months-long recharging process), and Thing singlehandedly defeated Doom, leaving him to retreat in shame while the rest of the team treated Daredevil's wounds and sent him on his way.

The stunning Stilt-Man

One day, Daredevil witnessed a driverless car speeding down the street. After saving a woman from its path, he jumped into the driver's seat and found that the brakes had been cut and its gas pedal was nailed down. He further noticed that there was a bomb ticking under the hood, likely to explode at any moment. Daredevil guided the car to the nearest pier and let it crash into the river, where it exploded harmlessly. He deduced that the culprit of this crime had likely intended it as a distraction from something else. Searching the city, Daredevil found what looked to be an extremely tall man towering over a building wearing some sort of armor, but as he approached, he found that the man had seemingly disappeared. Later, back at the office, Karen told Matt about the new criminal called Stilt-Man. She also continued to suggest one Dr. Van Eyck, who might be able to cure Matt's blindness, but Matt continued to gently decline. The two got physically close just as Foggy walked in, clearly annoyed but trying to seem unbothered. He brought in a potential client, a man named Wilbur Day. Day, a scientist, accused his boss Carl Kaxton at Kaxton Laboratories of stealing the patent for his hydraulic-lift invention. Murdock agreed to take the case, and called Kaxton to offer to settle out-of-court. Kaxton brashly refused, literally daring Murdock and Day (whom he called a "sniveling worm") to sue him.

Later, Daredevil picked up a radio alert that Stilt-Man was on the move once more. This time Daredevil got to the criminal in the middle of robbing some wealthy partygoers in a high-rise apartment while he stood in the street on his massive metal legs. Lacking much of a plan of action, Daredevil grabbed onto one of Stilt-Man's legs, but was quickly and powerfully dashed against a wall and forced to retreat. The next day, while Matt was meeting with Wilbur Day, he detected someone eavesdropping just outside the office. He opened the door to find Carl Kaxton, who claimed that he had in fact made the inventions and that Day was the thief. Murdock tried to figure out who was lying as they argued, but they were standing too close together for either pulse to be isolated. However, Matt did make the revelation that hydraulic lifts could be used for something like Stilt-Man's giant stilts. As Kaxton angrily left, Murdock hastily wrapped up his meeting with Day, got into his Daredevil costume, and trailed Kaxton's car. A surprise electric barrier on the car knocked him back, causing him to lose the tail. Moments later, he picked up a radio signal on another Stilt-Man appearance. Daredevil took a more measured approach this time, and over a series of careful attacks found that Stilt-Man could indeed hydraulically raise and lower his legs at a moment's notice. He still couldn't make any headway, and Stilt-Man again escaped unscathed.

Later, Murdock returned back to the office to find Day sleeping there. The two went to Kaxton's mansion to investigate Matt's suspicions. They found a pair of Stilt-Man's legs in the backyard, and Kaxton suddenly appeared and confronted them with a gun. Day attacked and knocked out Kaxton before he could react. Murdock asked why he had done that, and Day said it was out of self-defense, and that Kaxton was clearly Stilt-Man. This time, Murdock was able to tell it was a lie: Day was the real Stilt-Man. Day reeled back to hit Murdock, and Matt rolled with the shot to pretend that he had been knocked out. Day went inside as Murdock changed into his Daredevil costume. Running inside, he found that Day had stolen Kaxton's molecular condenser, a sort of ray that could shrink anything into apparent nothingness. Day escaped thanks to the awkward terrain of the laboratory and equipped the stilts outside. Daredevil trailed him and the two fought. Eventually, Daredevil swung the cable from his billy club up toward Day's body, but accidentally grabbed onto the condenser, causing it to spin around just as Day fired it. Day inadvertently hit himself with the blast, causing him to shrink into apparent nothingness before the remorseful Daredevil could do anything to stop it. Returning to the office, Matt was confronted by Kaxton and his lawyers, but defused the situation by telling him that Day was dropping all charges. Later, Karen was angry at Matt for refusing to consider the surgery, accusing him of being a coward.

The fascist rule of Klaus Kruger

While attempting to catch a group of boatjackers in the river, Daredevil was careless and got shot in the arm, forcing him to retreat. The Coast Guard soon arrived to apprehend the criminals, but Daredevil was upset at his failure nonetheless. The next day, Karen spoke with Matt and continued to bring up the subject of Dr. Van Eyck, and mentioned that he had moved from America to the small European principality of Lichtenbad. Furthermore, the ruler of Lichtenbad, Klaus Kruger, was in town making a diplomatic visit. Kruger had attended law school with Matt and Foggy, and Karen had invited him over to the office to talk. Kruger arrived shortly afterward, friendly and cordial. Matt was taken aback by Kruger's behavior, as they had never actually been close in school. Kruger told them that Van Eyck had moved to Lichtenbad after being taken by its scenery on a vacation there, and he offered to host Murdock in his castle while he came to Lichtenbad to have his sight restored. Murdock could tell without a doubt that Kruger was lying heavily, but he decided to play along to find out why. He agreed to go to Lichtenbad, urging Karen not to get her hopes up.

Murdock and Kruger traveled to Lichtenbad, and when they deplaned, Kruger was shot at by a would-be assassin shouting "death to tyrants." He was protected by a bulletproof vest, and the man was taken away by state police. More generally, Murdock could tell that the local populace nearby hated and feared Kruger. Kruger's men took them to his castle, where he led Murdock to Van Eyck's chambers. The doctor stayed in a guarded room, and Murdock could tell that he was afraid too. He asked what was going on in Lichtenbad, but Van Eyck refused to say. Van Eyck did a simple examination and X-ray of Murdock's eyes while Matt overheard conversations throughout the castle bemoaning Kruger's tyranny. Later, Matt suited up as Daredevil, but had to be careful, as his right arm was still wounded from the gunshot. Tracing the exterior of the castle, he happened upon a group of men plotting an insurrection in one of the rooms. They were quickly set upon by large, robotic guards, who beat up and herded the men outside and across a drawbridge to an interior portion of the castle grounds. Daredevil quietly followed them, but upon entering another tower of the castle, he was accosted by Kruger in his throne. Kruger guessed by Daredevil's extravagant costume that he was the leader of the revolution movement against him. He sent his robot guards after the hero, and Daredevil's injured arm proved enough of a handicap to lose him the fight.

Kruger stored Daredevil in the dungeon and boasted about "using" Van Eyck and Murdock. His plan was to force bright minds from around the world in various fields to serve him and eventually conquer the world. Once he left, Daredevil and the other prisoners lured a guard inside, allowing Daredevil to knock it out and grant them escape. He short circuited the drawbridge leading out, and fought his way through the guards to help the prisoners leave the castle. Later, Van Eyck was taken away by Kruger's guards for treasonous speech, and Daredevil set out for Kruger's central hold to save him. There, Daredevil deactivated the central controls for Kruger's robot guards, and the two fought. As the Lichtenbad citizens destroyed Kruger's guards around town, he activated a desperation "cobalt cloud" that would ensure global nuclear annihilation. Dr. Van Eyck was nearby, and managed to interfere with the nuclear launching device so as to halt the detonation, but was so badly irradiated that he died on the spot. Daredevil tried to talk Kruger down, but the mad dictator fought him to the top of a battlement, where he recklessly charged and fell to his death.

Wedding of Reed Richards and Sue Storm

Full article: Wedding of Reed Richards and Sue Storm

Matt, Foggy, and Karen all attended the wedding of Mr. Fantastic and Invisible Girl of the Fantastic Four, as did a number of renowned heroes. Doctor Doom attempted to sabotage the wedding by using his "emotion machine" to encourage (or coerce) a veritable army of other villains to attack the Baxter Building. Matt suited up as Daredevil while Foggy and Karen managed the wedding guests. Daredevil intercepted a truck carrying a vortex bomb driven by agents from Hydra and sent the truck into the bay. By pure chance, the bomb's explosion caught an invading force of Atlanteans led by Attuma and sent them back down into the sea with its vortex. In the end, Reed Richards used a device provided by Uatu to transport all of the villains back slightly in time and wipe their memories of these events. Reed and Sue Storm were thus successfully and peacefully married.

The plot of the Organizer

One day, a series of drastic crimes suddenly hit the city. The city's treasury was robbed, a millionaire had a priceless gem stolen from him, and all records of past elections had been stolen from the city archives. The city had also lost all power and communication, leaving the police with no leads whatsoever as to the culprits. Meanwhile, Foggy was nominated for district attorney by the Reform Party. Matt warned him to be wary of the conspicuously new party, but Foggy mistook his concern for jealousy and brushed him off. Later, Matt and Karen attended a yacht gala held by the Reform Party, where a number of wealthy politicians were enjoying themselves. As the shindig went on, Matt overheard a radio message being transmitted from the yacht: a man calling himself the Organizer was telling one "Frog-Man" to "fire away" once in range of the yacht. Matt quickly changed into his Daredevil suit and dove into the bay to find this Frog-Man. Daredevil caught up to him, but the man in a strange frog suit proved appropriately slippery to hold on to. Frog-Man dropped a concussive grenade, and Daredevil was caught in the blast, allowing the odd figure to escape. Daredevil returned to the boat, where unrest following the grenade attack allowed him to remain unnoticed. The party's mayoral candidate, Abner Jonas, speculated that the attack was in protest of his campaign.

The next day, Daredevil decided to stake out the Reform Party HQ, suspecting that a similar attack might take place. He was right, as a similarly costumed villain called Bird-Man flew out of the headquarters with a briefcase of money. Daredevil made a go of capturing him by using his billy club and its interior cable, and managed to retrieve the cash, but Bird-Man himself escaped unscathed. The next day, Daredevil rescued someone who was trapped in a bank vault, but found that it was another criminal, Cat-Man, who used a gas gun to knock him out. When he came to, Cat-Man and Frog-Man had made off with a great deal of cash, and the police naturally sought Daredevil for apparently aiding them. He escaped their pursuit, but remained a wanted man. The next night, Daredevil watched over a Reform penthouse party, and as anticipated, the Organizer's men attacked. As the power went out, Cat-Man grabbed Foggy's new girlfriend, an old flame named Deborah Harris, and handed her off to Bird-Man, who flew away with her before Daredevil could react. Matt engaged Cat-Man, and managed to knock him out relatively easily. Cat-Man was taken in by the police as Daredevil slipped away. The next day, Daredevil intercepted the final member of this team, Ape-Man, as he climbed the police building where Cat-Man was being held. He attacked, but Ape-Man fought him off with his remarkable strength. Nonetheless, Daredevil managed to tail him to the criminals' apparent hideout, a nondescript office building. On a ledge outside an open window, he overheard Deborah inside and learned that she was in on her supposed abduction, meaning her new relationship with Foggy was a ruse.

As Daredevil focused on listening in to Deborah, he was attacked from the skies by Bird-Man, but managed to escape his grasp and get inside the building. He came up to Deborah's room, where she was deceptively tied to a chair. He feigned ignorance, freed her, then covertly tailed her as she left the building. She eventually returned to Foggy, and continued feigning an attraction to him. Matt returned to Cat-Man's interrogation room: the unmasked criminal felt no loyalty to the Organization, but knew nothing of the Organizer's true identity. Murdock knew that the Organizer must be someone in the upper echelon of the Reform Party, but needed to nail down who. He went to Foggy and urged him to leave the Reform Party, vaguely suggesting that something was wrong. Foggy naturally brushed off the accusation, but Matt convinced him to let him prove it. He and Foggy arranged a meeting with three top Reform Party candidates the next day, and Foggy mentioned to them that they had evidence as to the Organizer's identity locked away in their office. When they returned to the office that evening, it was in a shambles, proving that someone had come seeking that evidence and that one of the three candidates was the Organizer.

Matt, Foggy, and Karen decided to split up and each surveil a different candidate, but this plan quickly proved fruitless. Daredevil instead decided to spy on Deborah Harris. He went to her apartment and saw her speaking with the Organizer over a video screen. The Organizer wanted to assassinate the mayor and thereby facilitate the Reform candidate's victory in that race. This plan was beyond the pale for Harris, and she refused. Organizer threatened her and ended the call. Daredevil entered through the skylight and told Harris that he would protect her if she helped him take down the Organizer, and she reluctantly accepted. She cooperated in helping him arrange a trap to defeat the Organizer's men. Harris sent a message to Frog Man telling him to go to the mayor's mansion, and Daredevil intercepted Frog Man there. Daredevil caught his foe off guard, knocked him out, and switched costumes with him. He left the criminal in his Daredevil costume tied up and unconscious outside the police station with a note attached to him telling the police to listen to a particular radio wavelength to learn the truth of the Organizer. He went to the Organizer's HQ and spoke to him in person, transmitting all relevant information to the police, who in turn transmitted it to public airwaves. Organizer soon realized what was going on and dropped Matt through a trap door, but he and his remaining cohorts thought that Frog-Man had simply turned on them. The fall was apparently designed to kill him, but Daredevil was able to relax his muscles in just such a way to escape with only a few bruises. Daredevil's keen radar sense allowed him to notice that the Organizer wore a ring identical to that of Abner Jonas.

The Organizer's broadcast effectively facilitated the dissolution of the Reform Party. Various Reform candidates began pointing fingers at each other during a public rally, accusing one another of being the Organizer. Daredevil arrived at the rally as Ape-Man and Bird-Man attempted to haul Jonas away in a staged kidnapping, but Daredevil took them down and exposed Jonas as the Organizer. All members of the Organization were taken away by the police. Later, Matt returned to the office to find Karen comforting Foggy with a kiss after he'd had his hopes of becoming D.A. dashed. Karen received a phone call from their landlord reminding them of their overdue rent. Matt decided he needed to leave in order for Foggy and Karen to move into a smaller, more affordable office—and to allow his dual life more breathing room. He regretted giving up the chance at love with Karen, but figured that she was more interested in Foggy anyway. Foggy and Karen were upset at Matt's departure, but he parted with them amicably nevertheless.

See also

• Biography of Daredevil, 1966