Secret Wars on Infinite Earths: The Comic Book Fight Club

BLACKHEART versus DAREDEVIL & SPIDER-MAN

Blackheart! (Marvel)
Where: Daredevil #270 When: September 1989
Why: Ann Nocenti How: John Romita Jr

The Story So Far...
It began in 1658, with the brutal murder of a woman named Abigail Housman.

Her body lay undiscovered on a gentle, but lonely hillside, soaking the land with blood for hours, as crows circled knowingly over the site. This was to be the first vile crime committed to the place known as Christ's Crown. 

The hill would host centuries of unspeakable horrors, growing unnatural tangles of thorny rose plants, and a mythic foreboding, as further acts of murder and carnage came to drench it in anguish and agony. Reputation that would arouse the irreverent interest of romantic thrillseekers such as amorous Peter and reluctant Sarah. A final betrayal that prepares the land for harvest and the birth of a son to the devil Mephisto -- a thorny demon called Blackheart!

Tale of the Tape...
Strength: Blackheart 6 (Invincible)
Intelligence: Spider-Man 5 (Professor)
Speed: Spider-Man 4 (Olympian)
Stamina: Blackheart 6 (Generator)
Agility: Spider-Man 5 (Cat-Like)
Fighting: Daredevil 5 (Martial Artist)
Energy: Blackheart 5 (Lasers)
Total: Spider-Man 29 (Metahuman)

Blackheart is the spiny hellspawn of notorious devil Mephisto, born to a crown of thorns atop a gentle hillside. A desolate place, soaked in centuries of blood and tragedy, first growing a wild thicket of roses and grim foreboding, before bearing the newborn demon from deep within its grassy heart.

A final act of evil - of unromantic violence - brought forth the Blackheart, whose immense power appeared to twist and torment him from the moment of his birth.

This is evil as only 1989 could envision it: A gothic horror, blindingly dark in its poetic beauty and sadness, stinking of burnt ink and the sweetest of roses, with weeping eyes like burning red flowers. Blackheart craves sacrifice and recognition, gratefully receiving the death of the good and wicked in equal measure, before lashing out at the father who encourages and callously dominates his existence.

If you only know Blackheart from his unlikely appearance in Capcom's Marvel Super Heroes video game, or its eventual sequel Marvel vs Capcom 2, then you've got as much to learn as the infant demon. Don't worry - it's not complicated.

Daredevil is the kind of tortured soul that a demon loves to play with.

Matt Murdock's heart is stained with tragedy as well, but his resilience makes him the perfect prize for demonic connoisseurs. He's a worthy adversary teetering close to the edge -- the perfect prey for Blackheart to learn a more sophisticated brand of evil than the lowly act of merely killing like man. DD must be corrupted!

We've seen him come close before, like when he tracked down Slade -- one of the men responsible for killing his father, Battlin' Jack Murdock. Or when Mysterio turned his life upside down, and when he decided to stop Bullseye and Kingpin to declare himself the Kingpin of Hell's Kitchen.

No matter how close he got, whether fighting a demonically possessed Jester or super-human foe like Tombstone, Daredevil always managed to stay on the side of angels. Of course, it doesn't hurt that he has friends to back him up in times of need too, like when he faced Klaw & Killmonger, tangled with Jigsaw, and fought the murderous Carnage during the breakout at The Raft.

Spider-Man knows what it's like to be tormented too. Like Daredevil, he's been the subject of Mephisto's infernal interest, sacrificing his marriage to Mary-Jane and enduring a twisted Christmas.

Spidey's demon days have pitted him against the self-righteous Demogoblin, a Dormammu enhanced Hood, and mystically compromised Luke Cage! So you can bet he'll swing to the aid of his buddy DD, just like Daredevil did when Spidey was up against the Sinister Twelve! Will friendship win in the end? Let's find out!

The Tape: Daredevil & Spider-Man Ranking: Spider-Man (#2)

What Went Down...

Reflecting on the turning of his fortunes and return to a lighter mood; Daredevil lands perched on a fairground rollercoaster track.

His senses have never been sharper, but as he detects the blend of foul burning and rose incense, he finds he cannot home in on the ghostly movement that triggers his radar sense. The more he tries to 'see', the more the figure becomes elusive, moving without a detectable heartbeat. Suddenly -- it strikes!

With the grace of a high jumper -- Daredevil leaps across the streaming darkness that blasts against the coaster bracing.

Daredevil asks what the being wants with him, but Blackheart stares in silence and responds with another wave of his shadowy black power. This time the interlaced wooden struts supporting the rollercoaster shatter as DD leaps clear!

He cannot discern what the creature is, whether its power is mutant or mystic, but he can tell that it means to kill him. So amidst the falling debris of splintered amusement park wood - he flings his billy club and 'plays the trickster'.

The rope wraps around Blackheart's spiny shins and calves, pulling away the sure footing of idle feet still new to walking the Earth. Blackheart falls -- sending his next blast of dark energy errant.

The mere presence of Blackheart's energy begins to make Daredevil sick.

He knows this feeling, though rare, to signal the presence of pure evil. He maintains his focus, finding the precarious wreckage of the rollercoaster vulnerable to tipping. With a toss of his billy club -- he brings it down!

For a moment Blackheart is buried in the wreckage, but an ominous "ka-thoom" is harbinger for an explosion that sprays the debris across the park!

Sensing that Blackheart is stunned and moving slower now -- Daredevil takes his shot and rushes his silent opponent!

A high kick to the face. A right hook. A straight left. The demon is unfazed.

Blackheart regards the agony with curious amusement, but the novelty of these sensations can only last so long.

The demon's left hand becomes jagged and thorny, surrounded by the dark anti-glow of his black energy. Daredevil senses it, but knows he cannot get clear. It's over. The one shot that could finish him off. He can't avoid it. He doesn't have to...

Suddenly, out of nowhere, the spectacular Spider-Man swings across the amusement park and delivers a kick to the side of Blackheart's head!

The web-slinger had witnessed the smoldering smoke of the battle from a passing bus, and excused himself to take a closer look. It's a good thing he did!

As the pair exchange pleasantries, Spider-Man keeps himself in the line of fire, distracting Blackheart to give Daredevil a clearer leap, as he uses his own proportionate agility of a spider to jump over the streaming dark energy.

While leaping, Spider-Man sprays webbing into the featureless face of Blackheart -- covering his dark eyes to the mortal world around him.

As the demon desperately pulls at the webbing -- Spider-Man grabs hold of a nearby ticket booth and lifts it overhead. He doesn't know that 'bringing down the house' over Blackheart will have no effect. He tries his luck. It comes up short.

Once again the demon blasts the wreckage from his body and Daredevil scoops up a sheet of corrugated iron to shield the heroes from the blast!

The feat saves Spider-Man from a point-blank deluge of splintered wood and nails, but the impact of the blast has taken its toll on Daredevil.

Concerned for the reckless abandon shown by his friend, he tells DD to rest, and summons his superior spider-strength to take the fight to Blackheart head-on with an all mighty uppercut!

Spider-Man's fist 'kraks' against Blackheart's jaw, but Daredevil can sense that its having no effect. The only thing keeping them alive is Blackheart's animalistic, child-like confusion.

Ancient knowledge fills Blackheart's infantile mind as he gazes repeatedly out to the crowd forming at the edge of the amusement park.

He sees visions of a holy savior, a son like himself, making a supreme sacrifice for crowds just like those. The creature is compelled to make mockery of the noble sacrifice, but to what end?

The crowd speculates whether Blackheart gazes upon them with hatred or fear. Daredevil and Spider-Man aren't any more certain, but the pause allows Daredevil time to sense the crackling of a downed powerline, and the thatched network of metal extending beneath Blackheart's feet.

Daredevil calls the situation to his partner's attention, but Spider-Man is reluctant to resort to lethal force. His spider-senses warn him of danger and he wonders if Daredevil is acting like himself. Something seems off. Before DD can put electric wire to twisted steel -- Spidey dives on him!

Blackheart wants them to kill him. Wants them to choose the easy, wicked way out. To corrupt their spirit and souls. Just as his father suggested of the innocent woman he'd murdered upon his birth. Only - the heroes aren't falling for it!

They don't need to kill him. They just need to knock him out!

Daredevil and Spider-Man are united in seeing the sense of things and together they reel back and deliver and almighty double-team blow!

The punches rock Blackheart, but he doesn't fall. Instead, he reaches an epiphany.

Gazing back upon the amassed crowd, Blackheart remembers another thing told to him by his father: "Avoid the eyes of man".

He may have been right in believing Daredevil was a worthy foe to expose his true self too, but in bearing witness to his evil, the surrounding crowd may have taken his power. So instead of enduring further indignity, the demon chooses to leave -- an explosion taking him from the place of battle.

Daredevil grapples with the strange familiarity of the evil, and the lingering presence of one of the onlookers, as Spider-Man greets a grateful crowd, and DD finally realises the entity that must have been behind it all...

The Hammer...

Although not really defeated, Blackheart slinks back to the bristles of his cradle on the hillside of Christ's Crown, cursing his father's absence, and unwanted birth. He crawls and melts into the earth that first expelled him, wanting only to suffer and die, to wither from a dark and cruel world, hoping Mephisto will forget he even exists.

Break out the eyeliner and jangly guitars. I told you in The Tape that this was evil as only 1989 could envision it! The same year that unleashed Hot Topic and Jason Takes Manhattan upon an unsuspecting world.

Sure, How Soon Is Now? came out in 1984, and Blackheart literally 'goes home, cries, and wants to die', but I'd say the synthesis of flavours that make up his first appearance skews late eighties, if not '89 specifically. At the end of the day, this isn't about The Smiths. Maybe The Sisters of Mercy or Fields of the Nephilim...?

There's no punctured bicycle on this desolate New York hillside, but the pages of Daredevil #270 feel sticky with the lifeblood of music-infused counterculture of the time. The vitality of goth and post-punk is the real spillage that birthed Blackheart onto the page -- a walking shadow of rose thorns and loathing, rising in angst like a personification of every goth teen's poem-filled notebook.

There are other flavours in there, too. The violent lore behind Blackheart's origin has a vaguely literary quality, with its centuries of American gothic murder and injustice. While the setting of a New York hillside reminds me of urban legends about kids finding dead bodies in the grass or forests of New Jersey. It feels of a piece with the eighties slasher flicks that dominated the decade and had reached a point of being slick, colourful, sugary blockbuster versions of themselves.

Like a lot of those movies, there's a tremendous spirit of fun in this issue, despite its dark matter, as there is in all of Ann Nocenti and John Romita Jr's collaborative run. A favourite series we've touched upon in previous entries.

It's the kind of issue I would've delighted at picking up on a whim at the newsstand. It serves as a simple introduction of a new super-villain, while also furthering the on-going struggle between Mephisto & Daredevil, and giving us a good old fashioned team-up between DD and Spider-Man!

I wish comics were still reliably enjoyable like this. Nostalgically noting that spare change would've got me this satisfying chapter off the newsagent rack.

I think this still might be the definitive Blackheart comic, but I probably need to do a little more reading before I confidently make those kinds of proclamations. At the very least, DD #280 provides a convenient tonal key to understanding the core concept beyond its striking appearance -- providing you have some sense of the magical concoction of the times.

For reasons I'm still not clear on: Blackheart may be best remembered for his unlikely inclusion in the Capcom fighting game, Marvel Super Heroes, where he inexplicably replaced Mephisto in the loose adaptation of The Infinity Gauntlet, and subsequent series sequel, Marvel vs Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes.

The games do a good job of selling the visual, but the stylistic texture of the comic is missing, and gamers have almost certainly come away with a skewed perspective of the character. Not that comics of the time were much help, either.

If you left the arcade in 1995 in search of answers your only options were the original few appearances in Daredevil, a handful of uninspired cameos in '93 issues of Wonder Man, or a couple of splashy prestige specials starring the oh-so early nineties attention-seeking trio of Ghost Rider, Wolverine, and Punisher.

Those characters, especially in gratuitous appearances, always have a whiff of pubescence about them, but at least the stories followed up on some of the rich material left behind by Nocenti, leveraging the reference to cult activity at Christ's Crown for some devilish, nineties adventures.

Of course, if you ask me, I think Blackheart is better served by staying tethered to the angsty, soggy, rose-scented dark wave emocore of the late eighties. A slightly contemptible brand of darkness, as opposed to the samey edginess of 'bad boys' and hellspawn of the nineties.

Blackheart is more than just that beguiling visual. Beneath the design beats the heart of a mood, a vibe, a moment in time that was powerful and real. Every writer & artist tackling the character should be issued with a copy of DD #280 in its original pulpy printed format, and a playlist of period appropriate music, preferably curated by the great Ann Nocenti herself.

I think it would go a long way to making sure the character is more than just another bad guy covered in spikes and thorns and ordinary cliches.

I'm still looking forward to getting my disc copy of Marvel vs Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics on November 22nd, but it was nice to get ahead of the retro gaming fun by digging back into a favourite comic reference.

As ever, I enjoy coming back to 1989, and wonder what type of significance Marvel's output at that time had to Japan, and the Capcom game developers. A reference that made even less sense in Marvel Super Heroes than it did three years earlier for The Punisher.

If you enjoyed it as well, consider becoming a supporter on Patreon. That's where you can get in my ear and influence future topics, such as speeding up a return to some of the subjects raised here, or just generally help make it possible to keep on keeping on and maybe make some other cool stuff as well.

Secret Wars on Infinite Earths has featured well over 700 fights and ranked more than 1,000 of your favourite characters! You can find 'em all by diving in to the Secret Archive for a complete index in order of publisher, series, and issue number -- or by following links throughout each post to discover more from your favourite characters, creators, series, and categories!

Get daily links to fights inspired by the topics of the day by subscribing to X (aka; Twitter)! Don't forget to smash that like, fave, and share -- and keep your eyes peeled for the week's top trending battles every Sunday on X & Discord! The lively Discord chat is one of the bonuses of becoming a Patreon subscriber!

Winner: Inconclusive (Draw)
#514 (new) Blackheart
#2 (--) Spider-Man
#8 (--) Daredevil