Daredevil: Matt Murdock Adjusts to His New Job… Working for the Kingpin

With Wilson Fisk as the new mayor of New York, Matt Murdock finds himself between a rock and a hard place. On the one hand, there’s a warrant out for Daredevil’s arrest. On the other hand, he just got an offer from Fisk to become the mayor’s personal lawyer. And here’s the craziest part: He accepted the job!

Is Matt trying to advance his law career or is he playing a two-faced game like the crooked mayor he just agreed to serve? We’ll learn more about it in DAREDEVIL #597 by Charles Soule and Stefano Landini on January 10, 2018. In the meantime, Marvel.com caught up with Charles to get a better grip of what Manhattan looks like under the control of Kingpin.

Marvel.com: Can you give us a quick rundown of the dynamic between Murdock and Fisk as lawyer and mayor?

Charles Soule: I’m trying to set things up in this story as closely as I can to the way things actually work in City Hall. The truth is, there aren’t a ton of checks on the power of the mayor in New York. More or less, if the mayor wants the city to shift in a certain direction, or has policies he or she wants implemented, then the city’s various departments and agencies tend to go that way. So, Fisk has all the power, and Matt Murdock has very little – at least in a political sense. However, he’s got his mind, and of course he’s got all the abilities of Daredevil… so he’s still got a fighting chance.

Marvel.com: Where can we expect this situation to go? Is Matt going to tolerate Fisk’s control of the city for much longer?

Charles Soule: Well, that would be telling. Let’s put it this way – from the moment Matt heard that Fisk had been elected mayor, he was convinced that Fisk was putting something sinister into motion, and he was resolved to stop it any way he could. He could approach it any number of ways – but he knows the one thing he probably can’t do is just go in fists-first. You can’t just beat up the Mayor and hope to achieve anything, even if it is Wilson Fisk.

DAREDEVIL #597

Marvel.com: Is there anyone else out in Manhattan who might be a useful ally in destabilizing the Fisk regime?

Charles Soule: Well, sure. Fisk didn’t win in a landslide. He won by like a percentage point – it was super close. So, that means about half the city didn’t want him in office. Beyond that, there are all the superheroes who run around Manhattan – street-level folks like Spider-Man, Moon Knight, Echo and of course, Matt’s buddies in the Defenders. The problem is that one of the first things Wilson did when he took office was to start building up evidence against New York’s vigilantes, in a move toward making them actual criminals. He’s already got a warrant out for Daredevil’s arrest, which makes things pretty tough too. The city’s changing quickly, no doubt about it.

Marvel.com: What do you think Mayor Fisk has done that greatly benefits the city?

Charles Soule: Well, it’s early days yet. In Marvel Universe time, he’s been in office for maybe like a week. He has plans, but the first thing he needs to do is start convincing people that they should listen to him and trust him – even with all the power of the mayor’s office, tons of people still think of Wilson Fisk as the Kingpin of Crime. If he wants to change the city for the better – and believe it or not, he thinks he does – the first thing he’ll need to do is get more of its citizens on his side.

Marvel.com: In Part 3 of the story, Matt has the chance to serve at the mercy of the mayor. What kind of internal struggle is he going through?

Charles Soule: That’s a lot of the story of Part 3, actually [in DAREDEVIL #597]. At the end of the previous chapter, Wilson Fisk came to Matt Murdock with an offer to actually leave the DA’s office and help him in his work as mayor. Matt accepted – which is completely crazy. It’s throwing himself into the lion’s den. Doing high-wire work without a net. But that’s Daredevil, right? No fear.