matt murdock's life is out of control. (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
guardiandevil) wrote2014-05-08 08:48 pm
guardiandevil) wrote2014-05-08 08:48 pm
Entry tags:
streamlined history
Matt Murdock was abandoned by his mother as an infant and raised by his father, boxer 'Battling' Jack Murdock amongst the crime and grime of Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan. Determined that his son would have a better life than he did, Jack strictly forbade Matt from playing sports or participating in physical activities, instead stressing the pursuit of academia. Matt's reluctance to join his schoolmates and neighbors in their games led to him being given the taunting nickname, "Daredevil", and though he secretly trained in his father's gym, he was constantly bullied.
Matt's life was forever altered when, at age twelve, he witnessed a blind man walking into oncoming traffic. He was able to push the man to safety, but in a strange ironic twist, the vehicle crashed, spilling it's radioactive cargo onto Matt's face, scarring and blinding him. It was from this accident that Matt lost his sight, but also gained his superhuman senses. Initially, he was terrified, unable to cope with the strange new world around him, until he met the blind ninja Stick. Stick became Matt's sensei, training him in martial arts and teaching him how to hone and master his new found radar sense.
He entered Columbia University to study law, meeting his best friend and future law partner Foggy Nelson, as well as the first love of his life, Elektra Natchios. He and Elektra parted ways following the death of her father and a drastic shift in her personality. The end of this relationship devastated Matt for some time to come, though he was able to put aside his depression to graduate and open a law firm with Foggy. Nelson and Murdock's first employee was a young woman named Karen Page, hired to be their secretary. Matt and Karen were drawn to each other, though Karen had reservations about becoming involved with a man with 'disabilities'.
It was also about this time that the darker side of Hell's Kitchen began to rear it's sinister head. Jack Murdock, still an active prizefighter, refused to throw a match, as ordered by a crooked promoter known as The Fixer, and was shot dead by The Fixer's men. Enraged and seeking revenge, Matt fashioned a costume out of his father's yellow and black boxing robes and hunted down the men who murdered his father, delivering brutal beatings, and scaring The Fixer to death. Deciding his work was not yet finished, Matt decided to continue fighting crime in his neighborhood, adopting the alias Daredevil and patrolling Hell's Kitchen at night.
Matt's romance with Karen continued to blossom until he encountered former Russian spy Natasha Romanova, the Black Widow. Matt left Karen in favor of Natasha, moving with her to San Francisco for a time. The two were lovers and partners, fighting crime on the west coast, but their relationship didn't last. Matt ultimately proved too controlling for Natasha, and they parted ways, with Matt returning to New York and rejoining Foggy and the law firm, and once again roaming the streets. Despite the end of their romance years ago, Matt and Natasha remain close friends and allies, and on occasion, lovers.
Elektra re-entered Matt's life at this time, cold and hardened after years of training by the mysterious ninja cult, The Hand. His former love was now a deadly assassin, hired by Daredevil's foe, Kingpin. Though the two were now enemies, they did briefly reconcile, just in time for Elektra to be stabbed by the assassin Bullseye and die tragically in Matt's arms. Though she would later be resurrected by agents of The Hand, Elektra's death continues to haunt Daredevil to this day, and that she would be a recurring opponent in his life also caused him additional strife. Bullseye would establish himself as Daredevil’s arch-rival, and the two would face off many times over the years.
Matt was briefly engaged to a woman named Heather, though their relationship was chaotic and unhealthy. Foggy and Natasha staged an intervention of sorts, and Matt and Heather broke off their relationship. She later committed suicide, causing him a great deal of grief and guilt. Things soon became much worse for him, however, Karen, now an adult film star and drug addict, sold his real name to Wilson Fisk in exchange for heroin money. Fisk, better known as the Kingpin of Crime, was a powerful mafia boss, and he was able to make Matt's life a living hell, destroying his finances, getting him disbarred, and burning down his house. Realizing that Kingpin was ultimately the cause of all the problems in his life, Matt swore to push the Kingpin out of Hell's Kitchen once and for all. He was slowly able to piece his life back together, and even reunited with Karen, helping her to get sober. He was eventually able to rebuild his life and regain his license to practice law. It was also during this tumultuous time that Matt encountered Sister Maggie, a Catholic nun at the local mission. Though she would deny it, Matt quickly realized that Maggie was his mother, and he would come to rely on her assistance from time to time.
Matt's relationship with Karen was not without it's troubles though, and while he loved her, he was admittedly unfaithful to her, having affairs with multiple women, including one of his greatest foes, the mentally disturbed Typhoid Mary, an agent of the Kingpin's who plagued him constantly. Matt suffered a severe mental breakdown, developing a second personality, known as Michael, which also served as a safeguard to defend his secret identity. He was forced to fake his own death when a tabloid threatened to reveal his name, and this caused him further identity problems.
The death of Karen Page at the hands of Bullseye threatened to shatter Matt's already fragile psyche, made doubly worse that she was impaled by Daredevil's billy club at the altar of a church. Matt feels guilt over this incident to this day, and many of his friends have hypothesized that Karen's death is what sparked his more recent emotional problems. Shortly after Karen's death, Matt reteamed with Natasha, forming a short lived group bent on capturing and defeating the Punisher. This team didn't last for very long, and within months Daredevil was back to being a solo act.
Matt's name was published by a tabloid, essentially ending his life of anonymity in Hell's Kitchen, casting him in the spotlight he'd avoided for years. Matt denied being Daredevil, both publicly and in private, though the citizens of the Kitchen and NYC as a whole seem to believe the papers over him. During the year following his name being published in the newspapers, Daredevil was infrequently seen. Matt adopted a different technique for dealing with the criminals of Hell’s Kitchen. He took it upon himself to drive the Kingpin out of his neighborhood once and for all. He beat the Kingpin severely, declaring to the witnesses and bystanders the he was the new Kingpin of Hell's Kitchen, and for a year the crime rates dropped, and life in the Kitchen drastically improved. Matt used the money he won in the lawsuit settlement to set up charitable organizations aimed at rejuvenating the neighborhood. A library was built, parks were constructed, and his reputation and public image received an enormous boost in popularity. During this time, he also secretly married his most recent girlfriend, a blind woman named Milla Donovan, whom he had only known for a few months. Despite his real feelings for Milla, Matt continued to be haunted by his past, in particular his failure to save Karen. Realizing that Matt was still in love with Karen, and that their marriage was the result of a decision made during an emotional breakdown, Milla left Matt and filed for an annulment.
As if things weren't bad enough, the F.B.I. had been building a case against him, and was able to arrest him on obstruction of justice charges, despite the best efforts of Natasha and others to get him released. He was sent to Ryker's Island to await trial, kept in the same cell block as the Kingpin, Bullseye, and dozens of other criminals he'd previously faced in combat. Despite being housed with the general population, Matt was able to keep a fair reign over the other prisoners, using his reputation (and occasionally violence) to secure a safe stay in the prison. Fate had other plans, however, and Matt was forced to listen in horror as his best friend Foggy was apparently stabbed to death while visiting the prison. Matt's mental state was rapidly deteriorating, and it wasn't until Frank Castle arrived at Ryker's as well that the two were able to escape in the middle of a riot.
Being locked up on Ryker's and caught up in his own cycle of lies and denial, Matt had been relatively spared by the events of the Superhuman Civil War, however while the real Daredevil had been in prison, a new Daredevil has been masquerading in his place, protecting and defending the Kitchen, and working along side the anti-registration heroes. This left Matt free to pursue Foggy's killer across the Atlantic and all over Europe. Having solved the mystery of his imprisonment and uncovered the trail of deception that led to his arrest, the charges against Matt were dropped, and he was free to return to America. His license to practice law was once again restored, he was reunited with his estranged wife, and Foggy was freed from the Witness Protection program. Matt's life is finally back on track. Unfortunately though, the cycle of hell was about to start all over again.
Like clockwork, one of Daredevil’s past villains returned to seek revenge. Larry Cranston, also known as Mister Fear, began distributing a drug that caused those who took it to become psychotic and lose all fear. Mister Fear was able to inflict his drug on Matt’s wife, Milla, and in a fit of anger she pushed a stranger in front of a subway train, killing the man. Milla was left in a deep state of psychosis, and Matt was left to pick up the pieces once more. Defeating Mister Fear and having him arrested was easy. Accepting the news that there was no antidote for the compound the villain had released on Milla was much more difficult. His wife was insane, and there would be no miracle cure for her.
Matt’s instability seemed to worsen, and he blamed himself for Milla’s permanent state of insanity. Milla was placed in a mental institution, and her parents filed suit against Matt in order to gain custody of their daughter. To complicate matters even worse, he had a one night stand with his friend, private detective Dakota North, an affair which was captured on film and presented to Milla’s parents for use in their suit against Matt. He was eventually forced into signing over custody of Milla to her parents, and despite his faith and belief that marriage is sacred, he allowed the annulment process to proceed. All the while he was being attacked by a new foe, the enigmatic Lady Bullseye, along with a new resurgence of the Hand. Bit by bit his life was being ripped apart all over again, though to what end, he had no idea.
Lady Bullseye was not the only mysterious newcomer into Matt’s life, however. The blind, alcoholic ninja, Master Izo slowly but forcefully weaseled his way into the center of Matt’s world, offering to him the opportunity and means to take out the Hand for good.
It was revealed that the mysterious and evil Lady Bullseye was also the lawyer hired by his in-laws to wrestle away control of his still catatonic, now ex-wife, and that the assassin had been working in tandem with the Hand to target Daredevil and bring him under their control. After successfully ruining the life of Matthew Murdock, she offered him control of the Hand, which his promptly and firmly refused.
Unfortunately the Hand had a back up plan which involved reaching out to (and murdering the loved ones of) the Kingpin. The Kingpin returned to NYC with the intention of taking control of the Hand and defeating Daredevil once and for all, with Lady Bullseye there to aid him. Initially Kingpin appeared to want to work with Daredevil in an attempt to defeat the Hand together, but once Kingpin murdered the man responsible for killing his girlfriend, he decided to seize control of the Hand for himself and take out Daredevil.
With Lady Bullseye's assistance, Kingpin to implicate Daredevil in the murders of several police officers and judges. They also arranged for the people closest to Matt having their lives ruined. Foggy got disbarred in a scandal and Dakota lost her private detective license.
This all took place during the era known as "Dark Reign", when Norman Osborn was in a position of power. Wanting to be seen as the face of the law, Osborn sent Bullseye after Daredevil. The two had another one of their angry face offs, which only ended when Bullseye firebombed a Hell's Kitchen apartment complex (resulting in over one hundred civilians dying.) The event left Matt stunned, guilt ridden, and traumatized.
Meanwhile, Master Izo's own plans were slowly being revealed. He had founded the Chaste (the ninja clan to which Daredevil and his master, Stick, belong) and had trained Lady Bullseye before she left him to join the Hand. He intended to have Daredevil take control of the Hand himself and purge the clan of evil, turning the ninjas into a group that fought for good. Izo had been working at his plan for many years, ultimately tricking the Hand into accepting Daredevil as their rightful leader by faking his own murder. Izo was able to convince Matt that the Hand could become a force for good, an army to be used in the pursuit of justice instead of vengeance. In the end, Matt was able to defeat the Kingpin and Lady Bullseye in battle, thus cementing his claim to leadership of the Hand.
His first order of business was to call upon the generals already in place to assess the state of the clan. Matt traveled to Japan with White Tiger (freshly resurrected from a battle with Lady Bullseye) and Black Tarantula as his lieutenants and was met with fierce opposition and in fighting from the men who rejected him for being white and being a member of the Chaste. Matt didn't care much for that nonsense and beat the crap out of several people while experiencing some very ominous nightmares about his future in the form of Elektra. Basically, Matt was starting to become increasingly paranoid about everything that had already happened and about what was yet to come.
All the while, the Hand had been hard at work in Hell's Kitchen, turning the neighborhood into what appeared to be a Japanese feudal castle. They constructed a new building on the site of the burned out apartment complex, with walls surrounding the entirety of the neighborhood, forcing out anyone who wasn't part of their clan. The castle was to be called Shadowland, and in it's basement would be a prison to hold enemies of justice. Daredevil himself would be the judge, jury, and executioner to all prisoners and he ruled the area within those walls with an iron fist. The doubts and worries he'd had in Japan were rapidly vanishing, replaced by a cold, vengeful tyrant.
The other "street level" heroes of the city weren't so sure about Matt's plan at all-- in fact most of them thought he'd maybe lost it a bit. Spider-Man, Power Man and Iron Fist and even the Punisher came to the conclusion that what Matt was doing was kinda sorta insane. As all of that was happening, Bullseye was able to escape from prison (yet again.) Hellbent on confronting his rival, Bullseye arrived in Hell's Kitchen where he and Daredevil (now clad in a black version of his costume) battled it out on the rooftops one last time. Then, in epic fashion, Daredevil stabbed Bullseye to death with Elektra's sais, an image which was captured by news cameras and broadcast live for the world to see.
In the wake of his victory over Bullseye, Daredevil was able to recruit several superheroes to work with the Hand, as well as continue his battles against other "street level" heroes. He was confronted by several of his friends, and this attempted intervention goes rather poorly, in an all out brawl with Hand ninjas facing down against the likes of Spider-Man, Ghost Rider, Iron Fist, Power Man, and others. Chaos ensued, and the heroes were only able to escape Daredevil's fortress when the Punisher busted in and saved them. All the while, Daredevil was ordering his ninjas and the heroes loyal to him (White Tiger, Colleen Wing, Black Tarantula, and others) to take out both members of the mafia and corrupt members of law enforcement. He also joined with Typhoid Mary to dig up Bullseye's corpse in order to attempt a resurrection, to use his former enemy as a slave.
All the while, Kingpin and Lady Bullseye were conspiring to dethrone Daredevil by summoning a supernatural solution, and shortly after Ghost Rider encounters members of the Snakeroot Clan, former enemies of the Hand who were now allied with Daredevil, and it soon became clear that their presence had been the deciding factor in Matt's sudden loss of touch with reality. It turned out the Snakeroot had been able to infect him with a demon called the Beast of the Hand, a horrific monster that sought to completely devour humanity. Master Izo revealed that in order to defeat the Beast, Daredevil had to be killed. The heroes all balked at that, except for Punisher, who thought it was a great idea.
At last it was time to bring this ridiculous saga to a conclusion. Daredevil was confronted mid-Bulleye-resurrection by his enemy heroes, an overly gory battle ensued, Elektra showed up, more fighting happened, and then Daredevil declared that Murdock was dead, now he was only The Beast. The whole situation came to a head when Foggy arrived at yell some sense into Matt. Naturally, this didn't work and Matt decided to execute Foggy, only to be healed by Iron Fist's chi. Elektra then entered Matt's psyche and talked to him, urging him to defeat the Beast from within. While he was weak and tempted to just give up, he ultimately overcame the monster by committing seppuku.
After the Beast was defeated and expelled from Matt's mind and body, the spell of Shadowland was lifted and Elektra whisked his body away. He later awoke in a Catholic church, lost and confused, but still alive and riddled with guilt. Unable to cope with what he had done, Matt boarded a bus bound for the Southwest with the intent of atoning for his sins and rambling around. His adventures in the Southwest caused him to remember his original mission, get right with God, and have a renewed sense of justice. He decided to return to Hell's Kitchen (which was being tended to by Black Panther in the wake of Shadowland) where he reunited and made up with Foggy. His optimistic outlook on life was restored and most of his friendships were at last being renewed.
Matt's life was forever altered when, at age twelve, he witnessed a blind man walking into oncoming traffic. He was able to push the man to safety, but in a strange ironic twist, the vehicle crashed, spilling it's radioactive cargo onto Matt's face, scarring and blinding him. It was from this accident that Matt lost his sight, but also gained his superhuman senses. Initially, he was terrified, unable to cope with the strange new world around him, until he met the blind ninja Stick. Stick became Matt's sensei, training him in martial arts and teaching him how to hone and master his new found radar sense.
He entered Columbia University to study law, meeting his best friend and future law partner Foggy Nelson, as well as the first love of his life, Elektra Natchios. He and Elektra parted ways following the death of her father and a drastic shift in her personality. The end of this relationship devastated Matt for some time to come, though he was able to put aside his depression to graduate and open a law firm with Foggy. Nelson and Murdock's first employee was a young woman named Karen Page, hired to be their secretary. Matt and Karen were drawn to each other, though Karen had reservations about becoming involved with a man with 'disabilities'.
It was also about this time that the darker side of Hell's Kitchen began to rear it's sinister head. Jack Murdock, still an active prizefighter, refused to throw a match, as ordered by a crooked promoter known as The Fixer, and was shot dead by The Fixer's men. Enraged and seeking revenge, Matt fashioned a costume out of his father's yellow and black boxing robes and hunted down the men who murdered his father, delivering brutal beatings, and scaring The Fixer to death. Deciding his work was not yet finished, Matt decided to continue fighting crime in his neighborhood, adopting the alias Daredevil and patrolling Hell's Kitchen at night.
Matt's romance with Karen continued to blossom until he encountered former Russian spy Natasha Romanova, the Black Widow. Matt left Karen in favor of Natasha, moving with her to San Francisco for a time. The two were lovers and partners, fighting crime on the west coast, but their relationship didn't last. Matt ultimately proved too controlling for Natasha, and they parted ways, with Matt returning to New York and rejoining Foggy and the law firm, and once again roaming the streets. Despite the end of their romance years ago, Matt and Natasha remain close friends and allies, and on occasion, lovers.
Elektra re-entered Matt's life at this time, cold and hardened after years of training by the mysterious ninja cult, The Hand. His former love was now a deadly assassin, hired by Daredevil's foe, Kingpin. Though the two were now enemies, they did briefly reconcile, just in time for Elektra to be stabbed by the assassin Bullseye and die tragically in Matt's arms. Though she would later be resurrected by agents of The Hand, Elektra's death continues to haunt Daredevil to this day, and that she would be a recurring opponent in his life also caused him additional strife. Bullseye would establish himself as Daredevil’s arch-rival, and the two would face off many times over the years.
Matt was briefly engaged to a woman named Heather, though their relationship was chaotic and unhealthy. Foggy and Natasha staged an intervention of sorts, and Matt and Heather broke off their relationship. She later committed suicide, causing him a great deal of grief and guilt. Things soon became much worse for him, however, Karen, now an adult film star and drug addict, sold his real name to Wilson Fisk in exchange for heroin money. Fisk, better known as the Kingpin of Crime, was a powerful mafia boss, and he was able to make Matt's life a living hell, destroying his finances, getting him disbarred, and burning down his house. Realizing that Kingpin was ultimately the cause of all the problems in his life, Matt swore to push the Kingpin out of Hell's Kitchen once and for all. He was slowly able to piece his life back together, and even reunited with Karen, helping her to get sober. He was eventually able to rebuild his life and regain his license to practice law. It was also during this tumultuous time that Matt encountered Sister Maggie, a Catholic nun at the local mission. Though she would deny it, Matt quickly realized that Maggie was his mother, and he would come to rely on her assistance from time to time.
Matt's relationship with Karen was not without it's troubles though, and while he loved her, he was admittedly unfaithful to her, having affairs with multiple women, including one of his greatest foes, the mentally disturbed Typhoid Mary, an agent of the Kingpin's who plagued him constantly. Matt suffered a severe mental breakdown, developing a second personality, known as Michael, which also served as a safeguard to defend his secret identity. He was forced to fake his own death when a tabloid threatened to reveal his name, and this caused him further identity problems.
The death of Karen Page at the hands of Bullseye threatened to shatter Matt's already fragile psyche, made doubly worse that she was impaled by Daredevil's billy club at the altar of a church. Matt feels guilt over this incident to this day, and many of his friends have hypothesized that Karen's death is what sparked his more recent emotional problems. Shortly after Karen's death, Matt reteamed with Natasha, forming a short lived group bent on capturing and defeating the Punisher. This team didn't last for very long, and within months Daredevil was back to being a solo act.
Matt's name was published by a tabloid, essentially ending his life of anonymity in Hell's Kitchen, casting him in the spotlight he'd avoided for years. Matt denied being Daredevil, both publicly and in private, though the citizens of the Kitchen and NYC as a whole seem to believe the papers over him. During the year following his name being published in the newspapers, Daredevil was infrequently seen. Matt adopted a different technique for dealing with the criminals of Hell’s Kitchen. He took it upon himself to drive the Kingpin out of his neighborhood once and for all. He beat the Kingpin severely, declaring to the witnesses and bystanders the he was the new Kingpin of Hell's Kitchen, and for a year the crime rates dropped, and life in the Kitchen drastically improved. Matt used the money he won in the lawsuit settlement to set up charitable organizations aimed at rejuvenating the neighborhood. A library was built, parks were constructed, and his reputation and public image received an enormous boost in popularity. During this time, he also secretly married his most recent girlfriend, a blind woman named Milla Donovan, whom he had only known for a few months. Despite his real feelings for Milla, Matt continued to be haunted by his past, in particular his failure to save Karen. Realizing that Matt was still in love with Karen, and that their marriage was the result of a decision made during an emotional breakdown, Milla left Matt and filed for an annulment.
As if things weren't bad enough, the F.B.I. had been building a case against him, and was able to arrest him on obstruction of justice charges, despite the best efforts of Natasha and others to get him released. He was sent to Ryker's Island to await trial, kept in the same cell block as the Kingpin, Bullseye, and dozens of other criminals he'd previously faced in combat. Despite being housed with the general population, Matt was able to keep a fair reign over the other prisoners, using his reputation (and occasionally violence) to secure a safe stay in the prison. Fate had other plans, however, and Matt was forced to listen in horror as his best friend Foggy was apparently stabbed to death while visiting the prison. Matt's mental state was rapidly deteriorating, and it wasn't until Frank Castle arrived at Ryker's as well that the two were able to escape in the middle of a riot.
Being locked up on Ryker's and caught up in his own cycle of lies and denial, Matt had been relatively spared by the events of the Superhuman Civil War, however while the real Daredevil had been in prison, a new Daredevil has been masquerading in his place, protecting and defending the Kitchen, and working along side the anti-registration heroes. This left Matt free to pursue Foggy's killer across the Atlantic and all over Europe. Having solved the mystery of his imprisonment and uncovered the trail of deception that led to his arrest, the charges against Matt were dropped, and he was free to return to America. His license to practice law was once again restored, he was reunited with his estranged wife, and Foggy was freed from the Witness Protection program. Matt's life is finally back on track. Unfortunately though, the cycle of hell was about to start all over again.
Like clockwork, one of Daredevil’s past villains returned to seek revenge. Larry Cranston, also known as Mister Fear, began distributing a drug that caused those who took it to become psychotic and lose all fear. Mister Fear was able to inflict his drug on Matt’s wife, Milla, and in a fit of anger she pushed a stranger in front of a subway train, killing the man. Milla was left in a deep state of psychosis, and Matt was left to pick up the pieces once more. Defeating Mister Fear and having him arrested was easy. Accepting the news that there was no antidote for the compound the villain had released on Milla was much more difficult. His wife was insane, and there would be no miracle cure for her.
Matt’s instability seemed to worsen, and he blamed himself for Milla’s permanent state of insanity. Milla was placed in a mental institution, and her parents filed suit against Matt in order to gain custody of their daughter. To complicate matters even worse, he had a one night stand with his friend, private detective Dakota North, an affair which was captured on film and presented to Milla’s parents for use in their suit against Matt. He was eventually forced into signing over custody of Milla to her parents, and despite his faith and belief that marriage is sacred, he allowed the annulment process to proceed. All the while he was being attacked by a new foe, the enigmatic Lady Bullseye, along with a new resurgence of the Hand. Bit by bit his life was being ripped apart all over again, though to what end, he had no idea.
Lady Bullseye was not the only mysterious newcomer into Matt’s life, however. The blind, alcoholic ninja, Master Izo slowly but forcefully weaseled his way into the center of Matt’s world, offering to him the opportunity and means to take out the Hand for good.
It was revealed that the mysterious and evil Lady Bullseye was also the lawyer hired by his in-laws to wrestle away control of his still catatonic, now ex-wife, and that the assassin had been working in tandem with the Hand to target Daredevil and bring him under their control. After successfully ruining the life of Matthew Murdock, she offered him control of the Hand, which his promptly and firmly refused.
Unfortunately the Hand had a back up plan which involved reaching out to (and murdering the loved ones of) the Kingpin. The Kingpin returned to NYC with the intention of taking control of the Hand and defeating Daredevil once and for all, with Lady Bullseye there to aid him. Initially Kingpin appeared to want to work with Daredevil in an attempt to defeat the Hand together, but once Kingpin murdered the man responsible for killing his girlfriend, he decided to seize control of the Hand for himself and take out Daredevil.
With Lady Bullseye's assistance, Kingpin to implicate Daredevil in the murders of several police officers and judges. They also arranged for the people closest to Matt having their lives ruined. Foggy got disbarred in a scandal and Dakota lost her private detective license.
This all took place during the era known as "Dark Reign", when Norman Osborn was in a position of power. Wanting to be seen as the face of the law, Osborn sent Bullseye after Daredevil. The two had another one of their angry face offs, which only ended when Bullseye firebombed a Hell's Kitchen apartment complex (resulting in over one hundred civilians dying.) The event left Matt stunned, guilt ridden, and traumatized.
Meanwhile, Master Izo's own plans were slowly being revealed. He had founded the Chaste (the ninja clan to which Daredevil and his master, Stick, belong) and had trained Lady Bullseye before she left him to join the Hand. He intended to have Daredevil take control of the Hand himself and purge the clan of evil, turning the ninjas into a group that fought for good. Izo had been working at his plan for many years, ultimately tricking the Hand into accepting Daredevil as their rightful leader by faking his own murder. Izo was able to convince Matt that the Hand could become a force for good, an army to be used in the pursuit of justice instead of vengeance. In the end, Matt was able to defeat the Kingpin and Lady Bullseye in battle, thus cementing his claim to leadership of the Hand.
His first order of business was to call upon the generals already in place to assess the state of the clan. Matt traveled to Japan with White Tiger (freshly resurrected from a battle with Lady Bullseye) and Black Tarantula as his lieutenants and was met with fierce opposition and in fighting from the men who rejected him for being white and being a member of the Chaste. Matt didn't care much for that nonsense and beat the crap out of several people while experiencing some very ominous nightmares about his future in the form of Elektra. Basically, Matt was starting to become increasingly paranoid about everything that had already happened and about what was yet to come.
All the while, the Hand had been hard at work in Hell's Kitchen, turning the neighborhood into what appeared to be a Japanese feudal castle. They constructed a new building on the site of the burned out apartment complex, with walls surrounding the entirety of the neighborhood, forcing out anyone who wasn't part of their clan. The castle was to be called Shadowland, and in it's basement would be a prison to hold enemies of justice. Daredevil himself would be the judge, jury, and executioner to all prisoners and he ruled the area within those walls with an iron fist. The doubts and worries he'd had in Japan were rapidly vanishing, replaced by a cold, vengeful tyrant.
The other "street level" heroes of the city weren't so sure about Matt's plan at all-- in fact most of them thought he'd maybe lost it a bit. Spider-Man, Power Man and Iron Fist and even the Punisher came to the conclusion that what Matt was doing was kinda sorta insane. As all of that was happening, Bullseye was able to escape from prison (yet again.) Hellbent on confronting his rival, Bullseye arrived in Hell's Kitchen where he and Daredevil (now clad in a black version of his costume) battled it out on the rooftops one last time. Then, in epic fashion, Daredevil stabbed Bullseye to death with Elektra's sais, an image which was captured by news cameras and broadcast live for the world to see.
In the wake of his victory over Bullseye, Daredevil was able to recruit several superheroes to work with the Hand, as well as continue his battles against other "street level" heroes. He was confronted by several of his friends, and this attempted intervention goes rather poorly, in an all out brawl with Hand ninjas facing down against the likes of Spider-Man, Ghost Rider, Iron Fist, Power Man, and others. Chaos ensued, and the heroes were only able to escape Daredevil's fortress when the Punisher busted in and saved them. All the while, Daredevil was ordering his ninjas and the heroes loyal to him (White Tiger, Colleen Wing, Black Tarantula, and others) to take out both members of the mafia and corrupt members of law enforcement. He also joined with Typhoid Mary to dig up Bullseye's corpse in order to attempt a resurrection, to use his former enemy as a slave.
All the while, Kingpin and Lady Bullseye were conspiring to dethrone Daredevil by summoning a supernatural solution, and shortly after Ghost Rider encounters members of the Snakeroot Clan, former enemies of the Hand who were now allied with Daredevil, and it soon became clear that their presence had been the deciding factor in Matt's sudden loss of touch with reality. It turned out the Snakeroot had been able to infect him with a demon called the Beast of the Hand, a horrific monster that sought to completely devour humanity. Master Izo revealed that in order to defeat the Beast, Daredevil had to be killed. The heroes all balked at that, except for Punisher, who thought it was a great idea.
At last it was time to bring this ridiculous saga to a conclusion. Daredevil was confronted mid-Bulleye-resurrection by his enemy heroes, an overly gory battle ensued, Elektra showed up, more fighting happened, and then Daredevil declared that Murdock was dead, now he was only The Beast. The whole situation came to a head when Foggy arrived at yell some sense into Matt. Naturally, this didn't work and Matt decided to execute Foggy, only to be healed by Iron Fist's chi. Elektra then entered Matt's psyche and talked to him, urging him to defeat the Beast from within. While he was weak and tempted to just give up, he ultimately overcame the monster by committing seppuku.
After the Beast was defeated and expelled from Matt's mind and body, the spell of Shadowland was lifted and Elektra whisked his body away. He later awoke in a Catholic church, lost and confused, but still alive and riddled with guilt. Unable to cope with what he had done, Matt boarded a bus bound for the Southwest with the intent of atoning for his sins and rambling around. His adventures in the Southwest caused him to remember his original mission, get right with God, and have a renewed sense of justice. He decided to return to Hell's Kitchen (which was being tended to by Black Panther in the wake of Shadowland) where he reunited and made up with Foggy. His optimistic outlook on life was restored and most of his friendships were at last being renewed.