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March 9’s Devil’s Reign #5 (opens in new tab) picks up the surprise cliffhanger from March 2’s Daredevil: Woman Without Fear #3, which casually dropped the bombshell that Matt Murdock has been murdered in his apartment off-page and that the prime suspect is none other than Mayor Wilson Fisk, the Kingpin – with an editor’s note pointing to the now released Devil’s Reign #5 as the issue where the story of Matt’s murder would be told.
Now, the truth comes out in Devil’s Reign #5, and there’s a bit of truth and a bit of lie in the previous spoiler of Matt Murdock’s murder at the hands of Wilson Fisk. We’ll break it all down right now, but be warned, you’re entering spoiler territory.
Spoilers ahead for Devil’s Reign #5
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Devil’s Reign #5 opens with Kingpin reeling from the return of his memory of Daredevil’s secret identity Matt Murdock, ordering the Thunderbolts to kidnap Purple Man’s children by whatever means necessary to add their power to that of the captured Purple Man, whose mind-control abilities are being channeled into Fisk’s cane, giving him some level of mesmeric power himself.
Though teen hero team the Champions intervene along with Jessica Jones, they’re only able to rescue one of Purple Man’s kids from being taken by the Thunderbolts and promptly drained of their power. Now empowered with overwhelming mind control abilities, Purple Man is released from captivity with Fisk sending him to mesmerize as much of the city as necessary to kill every hero still operating in New York.
Kicking Otto Octavius and his Superior Four variants out of the Baxter Building, Fisk goes on a rampage, vowing to murder Matt Murdock with his bare hands.
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At the same time, Fisk’s estranged son Butch argues with Mike Murdock, Matt Murdock’s magically created ersatz twin brother (it’s… a long story) over Butch’s plans to kill his father. Mike offers Butch help in the form of the reality-warping Asgardian Norn Stone he’s keeping stashed at Matt Murdock’s place, but Butch refuses. Mike leaves, determined to use the stone’s power to help take down Kingpin and set things right.
As for Matt himself, he’s embroiled alongside the rest of the heroes who are resisting Fisk’s anti-hero orders in a fight against the Thunderbolts, leaving his apartment empty for Mike to sneak in and get the stone.
But when Mike sneaks in, he finds the place already ransacked by none other than Kingpin, who promptly accuses Mike – who he mistakes for his twin, Matt – of being Daredevil and even faking being blind. Mike tries to protest, but Fisk beats him to a bloody pulp, apparently killing him.
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Just as Kingpin lays Mike’s lifeless, bloodied body on the ground, Matt’s old flame Kirsten MacDuffie arrives looking for Matt, witnessing the aftermath of Kingpin’s murder of Mike Murdock.
So there you have it – Matt Murdock is alive and well, but his twin brother Mike seems to be dead at the hands of Kingpin. And since many people don’t even know of Mike’s existence, and even Kingpin mistook him for Matt (being in Matt’s apartment and all), it makes sense that the first version of the story to spread among Matt Murdock’s community would be that Matt himself was murdered.
What happens next, both with Fisk and with the Murdock brothers? We’ll find out in April 6’s Devil’s Reign #6 (opens in new tab).
Kingpin is solidly at the top of the list of the best Daredevil villains ever.
