WRECKER versus DAREDEVIL & ELEKTRA

"Rites of Reconciliation" Part Five (Marvel)
Where: Daredevil #24 When: October 2025
Why: Saladin Ahmed How: Jose Luis Soares

The Story So Far...
When The Kingpin of Crime, Wilson Fisk, disappeared from New York City, he left a power vacuum in Hell's Kitchen soon filled by a mysterious European syndicate known as Nouvelle Direction.

They use their considerable resources to marshal local mercenary forces against Daredevil's opposition, but the Taskmaster soon finds himself unsatisfied with his contract when Elektra arrives to fight at Daredevil's side.

As the heroes put aside their latest tensions to investigate the unfolding drama, they find somebody else is hunting Nouvelle Direction's top players. The mutilated corpse of ND's Regional Vice President is accompanied by an ominous quote from Job 5:17 - "Chastening of The Almighty". With little to go on and Taskmaster's trail cold the pair's search for answers leads them to The Bar With No Name...

Tale of the Tape...
Strength: The Wrecker 6 (Invincible)
Intelligence: Daredevil 3 (Straight A)
Speed: Daredevil 4 (Olympian)
Stamina: The Wrecker 6 (Generator)
Agility: Daredevil 4 (Gymnast)
Fighting: Daredevil 5 (Martial Artist)
Energy: The Wrecker 4 (Arsenal)
Total: Draw 26 (Metahuman)

How many Daredevils does it take to screw over a Wrecker? Technically we've got two of 'em today as our most recent entries bring us to a battle that's been on my mind ever since an innocent tweet came across my feed.

Dirk Garthwaite received enchantment from Karnilla the Norn Queen when she mistook the violent burglar for Loki during a home invasion. He's been a super-powered thorn in Thor's side ever since -- sharing his magic with The Wrecking Crew to create a quartet of heavyweight mercenaries menacing Marvel's heroes.

The Wrecker is typically at the peak of his powers when he's running solo - as we saw when he brutally roughed up The Thing -- but even when his magical might is divided, The Wrecking Crew are formidable enough to very nearly beat the gamma-irradiated Sasquatch to death!

This spells trouble for our street-level heroes, but they aren't without their hopes!

"Citizen V" proved agility & skill were enough to stand toe-to-toe with The Wrecker when The Thunderbolts clashed with The Wrecking Crew in their first public fight. Atlas was able to match their muscle, but Mach-1 secured victory when Songbird helped contain concentrated knockout gas deployed from his armor.

The gas gambit came into play again when The Punisher helped Deadpool & Spider-Man turn the tables against The Wrecking Crew with heavy artillery from the Unicorn's Power Horn and Klaw's Sonic Disruptor. Hobgoblin's gas took out most of them, while Deadpool proved Wrecker's enchanted crowbar doesn't share the protections of Thor's hammer, finishing the ringleader with his own weapon.

Finding ways to turn strengths into weaknesses is a great way to equalize a situation against a super heavyweight opponent! We saw Daredevil do just that against another enchanted Thor villain when he wore down the Absorbing Man!

The Man Without Fear is no stranger to defying the odds, fighting above his weight class against the likes of Klaw, Wolverine, and Tombstone. He's even stood his ground against the Hulk -- albeit in a losing effort. Fortunately, Matt Murdock isn't the only Daredevil competing in today's featured fight!

Elektra has been going by the moniker at this time, sharpening her skills as the guardian devil of Hell's Kitchen during & after Murdock's latest stint in prison.

Our Elektra file is as neglected as Wrecker's, but we've seen how DD & Elektra worked well together while defeating Bullseye, in addition to her highly skilled martial battles with DC's Catwoman, and Wolverine. She and Selina Kyle also matched the overwhelming strength of Abomination during the chaos of the crossover -- an inconclusive result that might otherwise bode well.

Elektra's training with Stick and assassination techniques makes her a threat to any opponent. Whether or not they surpass Daredevil is a debate for another day. Today we merely seek to see what happens when these two martial masters pit their skills against the supernatural might of The Wrecker!

The Tape: Daredevil & Elektra Ranking: Daredevil (#8)

What Went Down...

The Bar With No Name: a travelling hive of scum & villainy. Sometimes necessity requires it change its location, but it's always a font of information connecting directly to the criminal underworld. When answers run dry, or certain ne'er-do-wells need to be located -- this is the place to come.

Daredevil and Elektra stride directly into the establishment as they have done many times before. They state their intention: information about Taskmaster and his client Nouvelle Direction. This time they are over-confident.

From the shadowy periphery steps one of the many questionable patrons, but The Wrecker does not plan to provide information. A side door offers cover until he was ready to emerge to catch Daredevil by surprise with his enchanted crowbar!

DD lets out a pained yell as his back and shoulders take the brunt of an overhead clubbing strike. The kind of direct blow that's given gods pause for thought!

The Man Without Fear hits the ground face down, flat & hard. Elektra is there to come to his aid -- Hell's Kitchen's newest "Daredevil".

She leaps at The Wrecker with a sai in each hand, slashing one of the tempered blades downward against the deadly enchanted weapon.

The Wrecker swats her weapon away like a grand slam slugger, but slides one hand towards the hooked end to hold it steady against a direct strike!

The direct approach would probably skewer any normal man, but the enchanted crowbar effortlessly directs Elektra's lunging stab away from its target.

This isn't any random attack. The Wrecker reveals his status as muscle for hire. An old fashioned super-villain henchman for the gig economy. No danger of the entire Wrecking Crew attending this one. Nouvelle Direction just needed one good man. A two on one barroom brawl, but Elektra plans to settle it herself.

The former mercenary thrusts her tool of trade once again -- but this time it tags the exposed belly of The Wrecker. The price for pulling his crowbar back with both hands behind his head.

The pain sends The Wrecker into a rage!

He wraps both hands around the hilt of his magical bar and once again swings for the fences. A careless technique that's easily avoided by an elite level gymnast.

Elektra drops evasively to the floor, with her left arm bracing herself.

The lean allows her to avoid a wild follow-up, cartwheeling clear with speed and agility. The Wrecker shatters the ground beside her with a winding overhead that actually hits something this time. The floor can take it.

Wrecker, on the other hand, is driven to a mad rage!

Like a bull in a china shop -- he charges forward with another overhead clubbing strike that cuts straight through the serving counter! Elektra has no trouble vaulting gracefully straight over him.

It's another pointless attack, but it isn't without its consequences. Daredevil watches keenly with his radar-like senses tracking every detail.

His muscles tighten as his body intuitively assumes a crouching ready position. He heard a click. A faint one. Coming from The Wrecker's right wrist. An old injury? Wear and tear from years of smashing his weapon against unbreakable foes?

The Guardian Devil sees his opportunity to strike and goes for the weak spot!

This time The Wrecker lets out a throaty yell of agony!

Daredevil swings both his billy clubs upward against the motion of The Wrecker's strikes. The reinforced batons aim to break the bone, but at the very least cause significant pain.

With the ruthlessness of an assassin Elektra sees her opportunity to continue with a team assault. She throws her weight into a side thrust kick to Wrecker' gut!

The super-villain is knocked backwards, but is immediately struck with a billy club thrown straight at his spine!

Elektra keeps the punishment coming -- delivering a roundhouse kick that busts The Wrecker's lips and knocks him flat on his back!

It might not be a kayo, but it's enough to end the fight. The Wrecker stays down.

The Hammer...

At last we're here! It's probably no surprise that a match-up like this would pique my interest and find its way to The Comic Book Fight Club, but Daredevil (Vol. 8) #24 has taken on special significance since a harmless passing remark came across my X (aka; Twitter) feed -- and inspired an exploration into one of my favourite villains!

As we've just seen: Elektra and Daredevil teamed-up to take down The Wrecker, which THOR CORP community poster, Jered McCorkle, felt was a "career low" for "[a] once powerful and threatening Thor foe". I include this person's name for credit, not to harass them. It genuinely intrigued me.

Our Wrecker file had been sadly neglected, so in preparation for taking a look at the offending battle, we broadened the record and cracked into the backlog.

First we took a sample of street-level heroes against The Wrecking Crew with an issue that narrowly missed providing direct precedent. Then we explored how Daredevil fared against another enchanted weapon-wielder who regularly fights Thor. It probably would've made sense to finish with the thunderer himself, but instead, we deviated to look at The Thing versus The Wrecker to get a taste for the kind of heavyweights he frequently faces, and destruction he can wreak.

All in all it's been a very fun journey. A wonderful excuse to dig in to some old favourites -- and even make the leap to purchasing a new issue!

I don't encourage readers to behave like "goblinized" sports-freaks who regard comics with stats and fight cards -- but I do think this little exercise has been a nice example of what reading comics can be all about.

Sometimes new readers still aren't sure where to start, or how to proceed. From that uncertainty grew a mythic impression that comics can be impenetrable, or that the focus should be on an agreed upon, isolated canon of stagnant collected stories or "graphic novels". Of course, that's not really how most fans got into the medium until relatively recently, and I think it's ultimately very limiting. I've been a lifelong back issue reader and it's brought me a lot of joy.

Back in the day you just started with an issue that caught your eye, or landed in your hands, and then began tugging at threads & leads to explore in all directions and develop a sense of your own tastes. You actually just wanted to read and organically learn more -- if you can imagine such a thing!

New issues are typically a good place to start, but I admit, these days it isn't always a sure thing, with some series doing a poor job at delivering more than an incomplete chapter. While this was clearly Part Five of an on-going story arc, I'm at least pleased to have found some of that old satisfaction in today's featured issue.

At $4.99US, I wouldn't call it an impulse buy at the counter, but the contents kind of remind me of the good old days of dropping in on an adventure with a favourite character, and worrying about the rest later. Yes, there is a larger plot at play, and I could seek it out, but I still got a reasonable taste of Matt Murdock's current predicaments, and a good slice of action. A complete piece.

About the only thing missing here is a bombastic cover hyping the showdown between The Wrecker and the two Daredevils. I got the regular John Romita Jr cover [pictured top of article], which has an almost mid-2000s style of generic pin-up. It's important to acknowledge that this is actually a return to the "real" DD costume after a recent relapse into 90s armor, and all those other needlessly busy (or blackened) designs you may have seen. It might've been nice to have some copy text about that on the cover, but it's not really necessary.

Obviously Elektra is in the midst of a phase of running around in her version of a Daredevil costume. While the design isn't terrible, I personally see it as a bit of a downgrade. Taking on Matt's identity might've worked in a slightly tired redux of filling the void he leaves while in prison (again), but continuing to wear his clothes & moniker is unbecoming of an established icon. It does nothing for Elektra to disappear into somebody else's shadow. It's a weak place to find the character and we all know it won't last. Probably time to get over it and stop doing these prolonged character assassinations?

As for whether or not this was a new low for The Wrecker -- I come away from the issue kind of seeing it both ways...

There's nothing here to describe The Wrecker's powers being diminished. I'm not aware of anything like that being established in recent years. So I'm a little uneasy about Elektra drawing blood so easily, and bones being the weak spot to be exploited by DD. We know Wrecker throws down with the likes of Thor and The Thing! He's double tough - with durability that should match! Not so easily beaten!

I also wonder if Daredevil took that crowbar shot a little too easy, but we should allow some license for a seasoned fighter rolling with the punches, just like we did during his fight with Absorbing Man. Even if those "punches" are actually a sneak attack from a magical crowbar dangerously close to his head & neck.

Of course, this criticism assumes a lot about how thoroughly the good guys win.

The Wrecker clearly took a kicking and went down. That's not in dispute. He is still talking, however...

He might be lying flat on his back, but he doesn't seem too bothered about it. In fact, there's a bit of a demented smile there! He's just a hired hand, after all. In his own words: a 'contractor' not 'an employee'. He doesn't know anything. Can't tell the heroes anything. May not even be all that invested in the fight!

Maybe it borders on "quiet-quitting", but The Wrecker's job is essentially done. So perhaps he could keep fighting but is content to leave it at that. Maybe this isn't the humiliation it might otherwise appear to be.

Zooming in on the details: I find it interesting that, although the conceit of a bum wrist might seem like a bit of an easy out for the obvious mismatch -- it does kind of call back to our featured fight against The Thing.

Ben Grimm can obviously apply significantly more pressure to a wrist lock, but perhaps that prior episode is exactly why there really is a nagging injury.

I'm not entirely sure how I feel about those kinds of injuries creeping in to super-hero stories, but it would at least be an attentive solution, rather than a cheap out. A more functional sense of consequence and verisimilitude than the more severe crippling of Doctor Octopus some years back. An interesting concept that really demanded more commitment than was perhaps every realistic.

All in all, I don't think this loss is irreparable damage to The Wrecker's reputation, but it's a very casual defeat in execution. A far cry from a dramatic overcoming of the odds like Spider-Man besting Juggernaut, or even DD beating Absorbing Man. Which may speak to the fact that these kinds of upsets have happened a lot and might not be as logical any more.

To really gauge where it sits in the pantheon of The Wrecker's defeats we'd have to explore more -- something I honestly wouldn't mind doing. We will probably switch gears for our next updates, but if you'd like to see more from The Wrecker and his Crew be sure to drop a comment, or get involved on Patreon.

Secret Wars on Infinite Earths has been serving superhero smackdown for well over 700 fights and ranked more than 1000 of your favourite characters! If that sounds like a good thing to you -- I'd really appreciate it if you considered supporting the project on Patreon. It's free to follow, and a Tier 1 sub is a great, cheap way to support 100% man-made, farm fresh niche content.

You can find deep dives into all these characters and their exploits in the Secret Archive. That's where we file every featured fight in order of publisher, series, and issue number. Alternatively you can explore your favourite characters and topics by following links throughout every post. Flex that mind muscle and go on a journey! That exploration is the joy of comics!

Get daily recommendations inspired by the topics of the day by subscribing to X (aka; Twitter)! Don't forget to smash that like, fave, and share to help boost the signal -- 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. A sixth sense even more penetrating that DD's radar!

Winner: Elektra & Daredevil
#8 (--) Daredevil
#61 (+34) Elektra
#457 (-4) The Wrecker

DAREDEVIL versus ABSORBING MAN

Alone Against The Absorbing Man! (Marvel)
Where: Daredevil #360 When: January 1997
Why: Karl Kesel How: Cary Nord

The Story So Far...
To the world at large -- the Avengers and Fantastic Four are dead. Seemingly killed in their battle to end Onslaught's conquest of New York City. In truth, they are merely lost in a pocket dimension of a child's creation -- but that hasn't stopped sinister forces seizing upon their absence!

Believing he is unopposed in a world without its mightiest heroes -- The Absorbing Man has come to the Manhattan Diamond Exchange to help himself to a small fortune. The only one standing in his way is a man without fear or a hope in hell of matching him: Daredevil!

Tale of the Tape...
Strength: Absorbing Man 5 (Super-Human)
Intelligence: Daredevil 3 (Straight A)
Speed: Daredevil 4 (Olympian)
Stamina: Absorbing Man 5 (Marathoner)
Agility: Daredevil 4 (Gymnast)
Fighting: Daredevil 5 (Martial Artist)
Energy: Absorbing Man 2 (Projectile)
Total: Daredevil 26 (Metahuman)

It started with a random social media post -- and in our last entry we explored the potential for street-level heroes to overcome the likes of The Wrecker!

Daredevil is no stranger to a mismatch -- and today we're looking at a big one -- which will perfectly help us determine whether or not the Man Without Fear should be able to take down opponents who've gone toe-to-toe with Thor!

Absorbing Man has come to regard the Hulk as an arch-nemesis, while also applying his super-human strength against The Avengers and Spider-Man, but his career in super-villainy started as a foe for Thor.

Just like The Wrecking Crew; Carl "Crusher" Creel owes his strange powers to enchantment from the Norse Gods. In his case, it was Loki, god of mischief, who chose him to receive a formula that enhanced his durability, and allowed him to take on the properties of anything he comes in contact with.

Much like Thunderball; Absorbing Man favours an enchanted wrecking ball & chain as his primary weapon, which gives him a steady supply of steel to absorb for added strength and durability -- but can also take on the same properties as whatever Creel absorbed. He also gains added reach and bludgeoning power.

Our statistical analysis [above] deems Daredevil's diverse skills generally more advantageous -- but it's safe to say Absorbing Man is in a completely different weight class when it comes to pure strength. Not that that'll stop DD trying! The Man Without Fear has made a career of standing up against overwhelming adversaries -- with mixed results.

Look no further than his fight against the Hulk, which inevitably ended with defeat. He was also bested by the stone-skinned Tombstone when they fought a mismatch of strength in Portugal. Evidence that DD has no business tangling with the likes of Wrecker or Absorbing Man. Yet! Sometimes Daredevil defies the odds!

He was able to withstand the supernatural horror of Blackheart with a little help from a similarly mismatched Spider-Man. He showed speed & agility are key to survival, while defending his friends from an escaped Carnage. He even turned the tables in a two-on-one rematch with Tombstone and Matador -- relying on physical and tactical prowess to turn his opponent's advantage into weakness!

In addition to evasion, Daredevil has also showed great potential to use the urban environment against a superior adversary, such as when he improvised weapons against Klaw in their first encounter.

Our limited record shows Absorbing Man is susceptible to creatures great and small. He paled into insignificance in the crossfire between Ultron and Galactus, while showing vulnerability in his mortal form during a losing tag team contest against Wasp and Ant-Man -- arguably an even greater mismatch!

The Tape: Daredevil Ranking: Daredevil (#8)

What Went Down...

Absorbing Man is utterly unafraid as he bats Daredevil aside with a fist made of red brick.

Before the hero even has a moment to recover -- Absorbing Man's brick & mortar wrecking ball comes crashing down dangerously close to Daredevil's legs!

The Man Without Fear keeps clear of the crushing impact and takes none too kindly to Creel's name-calling.

While the patter of banter keeps Absorbing Man on his toes - a fistful of pearls takes him off his feet! An improvised projectile sourced from the wreckage of the Diamond Exchange.

Absorbing Man may have slipped on the tiny spheres, but he's fallen within reach of the Diamond Exchange guardsman's loose sidearm.

He clutches the pistol with trigger in finger -- but gunning a man down isn't Crusher Creel's style. Daredevil detects the shift in temperature as Absorbing Man transforms from a man made of warm, earthy brick clay -- to cold, hard gunmetal.

Absorbing Man hurls his hardened ball & chain, but the nimble Daredevil leaps clear and lands on top of a Coca Cola vending machine. It's a temporary respite as the wall behind him gives way and he tumbles off the falling machine.

While Daredevil crawls through busted chunks of wall and ceiling from a nearby bar -- an off-duty cop enters the fray intent on serving & protecting.

With Absorbing Man shedding his metallic skin, he appears vulnerable to Detective Danny Levin's police issue firearm -- but quickly spinning to a nearby newsstand on the street, Absorbing Man solves the problem with a stack of today's headlines.

Three bullets pierce through Absorbing Man's body -- but the paper-thin form is utterly unaffected by their flesh-rending trajectory! They pass harmlessly through his left hand and chest, like something out of a cartoon.

He stretches his arms above his head and prepares to launch his paper body at the bewildered police detective -- but like yesterday's news, his solution to bullets fails to stand up to the latest breaking development in the form of Daredevil

The black & white villain gets red all-over as Daredevil takes full advantage of his flimsy frame -- folding him up by dropping, both feet first, from overhead!

DD stands triumphantly over the flattened felon, but the upper-hand is short-lived as Absorbing Man takes on the properties of the concrete street his flat-body is pinned to!

The return to a more substantial three-dimensional figure pops Daredevil off Absorbing Man's back, toppling him away from the looming villain.

The hero advises his law enforcement ally to fallback to safety, while the grinding of the Absorbing Man's concrete skin and heavy steps betrays his fast movement toward Daredevil's back. The hero senses him and takes evasive action!

A simple shift in weight allows Daredevil to turn Absorbing Man's momentum against him -- flipping him overhead and onto his back.

The Absorbing Man is barely slowed by the maneuver, but Daredevil finds a surprisingly effective alternate method for bruising him -- attacking his ego: "Don't worry, Detective -- Creel isn't much more than a super-powered paper towel! Now if his girlfriend Titania was here --"

The barb riles Absorbing Man up to prove something, but he still falls for the oldest trick in the book when Daredevil makes like Titania has just arrived behind him. A momentary lapse in concentration that leaves the human Creel wide open!

A right cross catches the distracted Crusher by surprise, and Daredevil keeps him from thinking about absorbing anything with a fast follow-up -- a straight shot!

Crusher cuts off the comeback. He grabs a tight grip on Daredevil's left wrist, while an unfortunately placed food cart provides a deadly new source of power from the street -- hot barbecue coals, still burning!

The searing agony of the smoldering hold rips pain through DD's arm!

A stray brick from the rubble of the battlefield gives Daredevil the means to rapidly free his hand. He smashes it over Absorbing Man's wrist -- snapping the hot coal hand from its glowing appendage!

Absorbing Man's none too pleased to lose his hand, but years of fighting the most powerful heroes in the world have taught him how to reassemble himself when a substance causes him to break apart.

Unsatisfied with the vulnerability of burning coal -- Absorbing Man grabs hold of a diamond bag and burns through to the loot. The contact with his skin is all he needs to transform his entire being into nigh unbreakable, living diamond!

It's Daredevil's turn to do the absorbing -- taking the impact of a vicious double-fisted diamond punch!

DD does his best to roll with the punch, but is left vulnerable to a vicious double-slap as the Absorbing Man snaps his hands backwards on arms outstretched!

The man of diamond swings his mighty wrecking ball, but his hulking figure towers over an evasive Daredevil.

DD survives his near-miss and decides to call it quits: "Sorry, Creel -- that doesn't sound like my kind of fun! I'm out of here!"

Scoffing at the hero's cowardice, Absorbing Man reels back with his ball & chain and hurls it like a deadly missile at the fleeing figure!

Demonstrating a change of heart that betrays his true intentions; Daredevil somersaults backwards with the straight-bodied grace of a gymnast -- and perfectly times his landing to catch the chain in mid-air!

With the Absorbing Man rapidly charging towards him, Daredevil doesn't have the time to reach out with his radar senses to find the exact flaws in Creel's diamond body -- but he knows they're there, so he swings blind and hopes for the best!

The reverberating collision rings DD's hyper-sensitive ears as he swings the ball & chain into Absorbing Man's body - a wide open target as Creel brings his diamond fists down over Daredevil like two hammers! The ball shatters!

Daredevil's legs go numb, but at least he's in one piece. Absorbing Man finds his diamond arm has been cracked clean off by the impact!

A diamond hand begins dragging its dismembered arm around the battlefield -- and Daredevil is to warn out to contend with twice the threat.

He desperately asks Detective Levin for his gun and finally starts applying his radar sense. With no other hope, DD begins slamming the butt of the gun handle into Absorbing Man's furious diamond body. Again and again, darting in and out to avoid a knock out, and chip away in search of the fatal flaw in the diamond!

The gun chips away pieces from Absorbing Man's remaining bicep, his hand, his jaw, his cheek, his back, his chin. All as DD struggles to remain conscious through a haze of exhaustion and tasting blood & sweat. It's exhausting - but worth it!

Daredevil can barely stand, but it's the Absorbing Man who won't survive another step. He looks down to discover his left hand has joined his right arm somewhere on the ground, with a massive cavity leaving his severely damaged diamond mid-section on the brink of cracking his body in half!

The Hammer...

He may have "taken out Earth's Mightiest Heroes" in the past, and be able to reassemble his broken body from fractured pieces, but on this day Absorbing Man was worn down and defeated by the Man Without Fear - Daredevil!

Creel is carted away in power-dampening restraints thanks to an emergency call by Detective Danny Levin, who lent the assist, and called in back-up while the fight was still raging. He's not as bad as he dresses, folks.

To the best of my knowledge; Daredevil #360 has never been held in special regard, but when you get right down to it, the disparity in weight class, and underdog success story, is comparable to a legendary example like Spider-Man versus the Unstoppable Juggernaut. A major upset victory for a street-level hero.

I suppose the novelty of that sort of thing had worn off around a decade and a half after Spidey's memorable win, but I think there are probably some other factors too, such as this brief era of Daredevil being lost between the quickly-regretted early nineties armor period, and the reboot with Kevin Smith and Joe Quesada. There were only twenty more issues of the original run after this one.

There's also the shadow of Frank Miller to consider. Daredevil #360 itself includes internal monologue references to two better remembered mismatches: the Miller-drawn fight against the Hulk, and his much earlier stand against Sub-Mariner. Two famous battles DD ultimately lost, as a matter of fact.

Beating Absorbing Man should therefore perhaps distinguish this battle, but truth be told, it also isn't the first time he's overcome significant odds against a super-villain, and the Miller influence may have cemented Daredevil in many minds as a down-trodden hero, notable for his noir-tinged street struggles more than his over-the-top super-hero triumphs.

That would certainly explain the reaction I saw to a recent issue where Daredevil and Elektra defeated The Wrecker. A social media post that described it as a "career low" for the villain -- capturing my imagination in the process, and setting us on a path to study the case further.

In our previous feature we looked at The Wrecker against some of Daredevil's friends, and now we can observe a similar scenario from the other side, showing Daredevil is certainly capable of enduring and cutting down an opponent of Thor.

There is the qualitative measure to make. There are a few blows here you might not expect Daredevil to survive, as illustrated, but I think we should allow for a little artistic license in these matters. Which is to say, I don't have any real qualms with Daredevil staggering wobbly legged away from a well-earned, inventive win.

Actually, to be honest, my bigger problem has always been depictions of Absorbing Man sustaining critical injuries. At this point, it's just a fact of the character, but I've never been completely at easy with the concept of losing half his head, or massive section of internal organs, just because he happens to have transmuted his body into another substance.

Absorbing Man's powers are magical and it's kind of absurd that I would have this hang-up, but isn't turning himself into a man of living steel super-power enough without adding molecular re-integration of broken off pieces? Isn't it dramatically more interesting if he needs to assess the risks of taking on the properties of fragile materials -- or suffer their consequences?

Granted, there is always going to be the issue of creative restraint, and the pitfalls of some bright spark inevitably deciding they're the one who should break the toys Kirby built. Maybe we just can't have nice things and I should accept that part of Absorbing Man's repertoire is piecing himself back together again.

On a positive note - I really enjoyed the inventive use of his powers in this issue. I can't think of many other times he's taken on the form of paper, and it was a somewhat elegant way for Creel to quickly avoid dealing with gunshot wounds. I'm not sure that it makes sense his body would flatten out like a Freddy Krueger gag from A Nightmare on Elm Street 5, but again - a little artistic license.

The issue takes place in the wake of Onslaught, and while it's a fairly basic big superhero fight issue, I do appreciate the way it leverages the apparent deaths of The Avengers and Fantastic Four, to give Daredevil his big moment, while showing the threat of villains emboldened by a perceived lack of opposition.

That's one of the unique pleasures of shared-universe superhero comics and I probably would've enjoyed seeing even more of it, at that time. There was a bit of it going around, but beyond The Thunderbolts, it didn't seem to be a primary focus. They weren't spinning another Acts of Vengeance style crossover out of it.

Of course, I wasn't paying attention to every series at that time. In fact, this era of Daredevil was something that largely passed me by, which has made it a real pleasure to go back to and re-discover all these years later. It might be my preferred vein of DD, swinging the pendulum back in the bombastic superhero direction, much like Ann Nocenti's work after Miller.

As luck would have it, there's actually another Daredevil mismatch from around this period that I'd like to explore, but in our next entries I think we'll continue expanding The Wrecker file, and perhaps dive into some other topics that have been tickling my fancy lately. I'm trying to be a little less scattershot, while maintaining the human touch. Absolutely no "AI" generated content here, buddy!

You'll be able to find out if I stuck to my plans, and flex your mind muscle, by following links throughout this post to discover topics you're interested in -- or by diving in to the Secret Archive for a complete index of featured fights in order of publisher, series, and issue number. Crossovers are right down the bottom.

Secret Wars on Infinite Earths has been serving superhero smackdown for well over 700 fights and ranked more than 1000 of your favourite characters! If that sounds like a good thing to you -- I'd really appreciate it if you considered getting involved on Patreon. It's free to follow and a Tier 1 sub is a great, cheap way to support 100% man-made, farm fresh niche content.

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, so give it some thought won't ya?! You wouldn't want me to have to rob the Diamond Exchange. Wouldja?!

Winner: Daredevil (w/ Detective Danny Levin)
#8 (--) Daredevil
#669 (new) Det. Danny Levin [+1 assist]
#1039 (-340) Absorbing Man

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