The personal feud between Matt Murdock, aka Daredevil, and Wilson Fisk, better known as the Kingpin, has long defined both of these pillars of the Marvel Universe. The two may not have started out their comic book careers as arch enemies, yet it didn’t take long for the two to reach that level of animosity between them. Over the years, tensions between these two titans of New York City have boiled over at multiple points, though never so much as they did during 2022’s Devil’s Reign.
Written by acclaimed scribe Chip Zdarsky, who had been helming Daredevil for three years at the time of its release, Devil’s Reign immediately cemented itself as one of the most important stories for both its titular hero and the vast majority of other characters involved. Throughout the course of the series, Zdarsky honed in on the nuances of relationships between the likes of Daredevil and Kingpin, Kingpin and Butch Pharris, and even Luke Cage and Jessica Jones. In doing so, Zdarsky opened the door for a whole new status quo in the pages of Marvel Comics, one which the street-level heroes of New York City will continue to feel for years to come.
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Devil’s Reign Was Kicked Off by None Other Than Mayor Wilson Fisk
Daredevil’s Worst Enemy Finally Got the Chance to Wage Open War on the Heroes of NYC – and He Took It
Devil’s Reign #1 opens to the sight of an unexpectedly peaceful locale, with the Stromwyn twins enjoying time aboard their yacht in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea as they discuss what moves to make next in the game they have been playing from afar. It was the Stromwyn’s who helped Wilson Fisk secure his position as the Mayor of New York City, just as it is the Stromwyn’s who have even bigger plans for their fellow villain and his political career. This introduction reinforces the severity of things to come, yet it also lulls readers into a false sense of security that is almost immediately broken once the action shifts from such a picturesque scene to the grim and gritty streets of Hell’s Kitchen.
As soon as Devil’s Reign moves to NYC, readers are met with a potent reminder of just why Marcho Checchetto is the perfect artist for these kinds of stories. The detailed set pieces capture all the explosive action at hand just as well as they do all the tension between the likes of Daredevil and Fisk, the latter of whom is incensed that he has lost all his memories and knowledge of the true identity of his nemesis. Of the many major changes in the lives of these two leading up to Devil’s Reign was the deal Daredevil reached with the children of Zebediah Killgrave, better known as the Purple Man, who inherited their father’s powers and used them to erase any and all open knowledge of the hero’s secret identity. Upon making this discovery, even in spite of the joy his recent election win and marriage to Typhoid Mary brought him, Fisk couldn’t help but give in to his baser instincts, kicking off an all-out war between his budding regime and the heroes of NYC.
Devil’s Reign Nearly Razed Marvel Comics’ New York City to the Ground
More Than One Major Marvel Villain Took Their Shot at Taking Over NYC During Devil’s Reign
With a single press conference, Mayor Fisk announces the development of a new kind of Thunderbolts, this time in the form of specialized, frequently superpowered units tasked with haranguing and arresting any and all superheroes who operate in his city. These Thunderbolt Units quickly prove just how far they are willing to go in those efforts, as Miles Morales is accosted by heavily-armed goons after saving children from a burning apartment building. When Captain America steps in to calm the situation, it instead turns violent, drawing further heroes into the fray before sending them running for cover in the sewers of NYC.
It isn’t just the heroes who are out on the streets that suffer from Fisk’s actions, but even those who are relaxing at home. During an otherwise ordinary day at the Baxter Building, the Fantastic Four are beset upon by an army of Homeland Security agents and New York bureaucrats. This seemingly innocuous investigation is only cover for Fisk’s other new agent, Doctor Octopus, to begin stripping Marvel’s First Family of their powers and resources. While Reed Richards and Sue Storm are left with power dampeners shackled around their necks, Ben Grimm and Johnny Storm are forced to shield the children of the Fantastic Four from wanton gunfire as they make a hasty escape. This kind of reckless regard for public safety is precisely what pulls Luke Cage and Jessica Jones into their own confrontation with Fisk’s Thunderbolts, and what puts the former in the spotlight as a champion of the people all over again.
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This sets up two of the most important plots that runs through the heart of Devil’s Reign. As Luke Cage’s status and prominence propels him to his own bid for the office of Mayor of New York City, Fisk cannot ignore the fact that he has only gripped the hearts and minds of the most fearful and authoritarian New Yorkers rather than those of its general populace. Luckily, Fisk has already kidnapped and imprisoned the Purple Man, whose power the former Kingpin of Crime is ready to use to sway the rest of the city in his favor when election day comes. That being said, Fisk’s plans are just a small piece of the sprawling puzzle that is Devil’s Reign, as Doctor Octopus’ takeover of the Baxter Building gives him everything he needs to take on a mission of interdimensional conquest from the shadows.
Having secretly replaced Tony Stark with the Chameleon and called upon a trio of Multiversal variants of himself, the threat of Doctor Octopus soars past any that Fisk or his Thunderbolts could ever offer. When a confrontation with the Avengers forces Doctor Octopus to reveal his plan early, the longtime Spider-Man villain pivots his efforts towards becoming the city’s apparent savior rather than usurping Fisk’s seat as mayor. With dozens of heroes ranging from Moon Knight to the Iron Fist imprisoned and being forced to fight from the shadows, it is only a matter of time before the city is considered “crime free,” marking the culmination of Fisk’s purported political efforts. Where this should be a victory, it instead weakens Fisk’s regime and its true purposes, driving him to take drastic measures by turning the power of the Purple Man on himself to reclaim his lost memories of Daredevil’s true identity. Again, these moments of great personal tension are exactly where Checchetto’s artwork shines even brighter than the series’ more action-packed sequences, whereas the latter are filled with some of the best examples of colorist Marcio Menyz’s work to date.
All of this comes during two other revelatory moments in the series, as the city’s incarcerated heroes lead a brazen prison break while their free comrades on the outside learn of Fisk’s plot to use the Purple Man’s children as a way of further expanding his reach over the general populace. It is at this point when Devil’s Reign reaches its breaking point, with the battle between the city’s heroes, Thunderbolts, and quartet of Doctors Octopus exploding out in the streets of NYC, only to be interrupted by an army of mind-controlled New Yorkers. As the fight rages on outside to the detriment of everyone, Fisk takes it upon himself to brutally assault Mike Murdock, who had been posing as his brother and helping Butch try to find a place in his father’s twisted version of their hometown. With that, Fisk cements his impending final fight with Daredevil, who very nearly kills the Kingpin after the villain’s attempt to escape the city is engulfed by the chaos he started. All the while, the Purple Man’s children and the other heroes are ending that same chaos, with the young Joseph Killgrave being the one to stop his father’s latest reign of terror.
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Of course, neither the Kingpin nor Purple Man would truly meet their end in Devil’s Reign, although their respective places in the Marvel Universe would be forever altered because of it. In the case of Killgrave, he simply hasn’t been seen since beyond flashback sequences and throwback titles like 2024’s Venom: Separation Anxiety. For Fisk, however, the defeat he suffered in Devil’s Reign pushed him to leave everything behind and try to embrace the life he was building for himself alongside his beloved bride. Though this meant stepping away from the Stromwyn’s plans for a presidential run in exceedingly brutal fashion, it also paved the way for Fisk to become a key player during the Krakoan Era and the ensuing war against Orchis.
Devil’s Reign also left behind a myriad of changes to the status quo in Marvel’s vision of New York City. At the end of the series and since it closed out, Luke Cage has maintained his position within the Mayor’s Office of NYC, yet he wasn’t able to immediately overwrite many of the projects and positions that his predecessor enacted. This left Mayor Cage with various Thunderbolts to deal with, legislation that needed to be undone through the proper bureaucratic channels, and a superhero population still struggling to get back to normal. Even now, the likes of Agent Gao have continued in their efforts to see Fisk’s mission come to fruition, and it is hard to imagine those who believe in it will be an afterthough in the pages of Marvel Comics any time soon.
Marvel’s Devil’s Reign #1
- WRITER
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Chip Zdarsky
- Artist
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Marco Checchetto
- Letterer
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Clayton Cowles
- Cover Artist
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Matthew Wilson, Marco Checchetto
- Publisher
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Marvel Comics
- Colorist
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Marcio Menyz
