Franklin P. NelsonFoggy Nelson

Franklin “Foggy” Nelson befriends Matt Murdock in law school and the pair become compatriots. Often working together at their firm, Nelson also helps Murdock with his Daredevil identity.

From Student to Sidekick

Foggy has compassion for the underdogs, though he grows up with a ruthless mother Rosalind “Razor” Sharpe, who leaves Foggy’s father to focus on her law career. As a result, he is raised by his father and stepmother. Despite the fact that he is abjectly neglected by his biological mother, Foggy becomes fascinated with the legal profession and is eventually accepted into a pre-law program at Columbia University in New York City.

While at Columbia, Foggy is bullied mercilessly, even by guys in his own fraternity, like Roger “Porkchop” Peterson. Luckily, he receives protection from fellow law student and future best friend (and Daredevil) Matthew Murdock. When Matt begins dating Elektra Natchios, Foggy does not approve. He believes her to be dangerous, which, in the end, turns out to be very true.

The two later attend Harvard Law, where they take their bar exams. While there, Foggy exposes one of his instructors, Professor Golde, for committing plagiarism. He brings down Golde, even when the teacher threatens to tamper with his bar results.

While dealing with this dilemma, Foggy witnesses Wilson Fisk, AKA Kingpin, mercilessly beat up the criminal Victor Krueller, AKA Kruel. To keep the witnesses from squealing to the authorities, Fisk has Nelson drugged so he would not remember what he saw. Nevertheless, the incident sticks in the back of the lawyer’s subconscious, motivating him to pursue justice, no matter the cost. Where his fondness for bow ties originates from is anyone’s guess.

Dastardly Disputants

Foggy’s biggest foes are the ones he sees in the courtroom, namely other lawyers working against him. One of his earliest enemies, although he’d soon forget it, is Wilson Fisk, who has drugged him after Foggy witnesses the beating of Kruel. Not knowing it, Fisk creates a highly-motivated crusader for justice that day as the incident remains in Nelson’s subconscious, driving his career as a lawyer from that point on.

Zebediah Killgrave, AKA Purple Man, seeks to use the legal services of Foggy and Matt, but only incurs their wrath when he kidnaps Karen Page. Other villains who become adversaries of Foggy are Melvin Potter, AKA Gladiator, Leland Owlsley, Jonathan Powers, AKA Jester, and a time-traveling android known as Mr. Kline.

Trustworthy Teammates

Foggy’s biggest ally is, of course, his best friend, Matt Murdock. Despite going their separate ways a few times over the years, the two remain close chums since their first meeting in law school.

With Murdock as his friend, Foggy also gains Daredevil as a protector. Karen Page is another person on whom Foggy can rely, despite her not reciprocating his romantic feelings towards her. They can usually trust one another when the going gets tough. When Foggy shares a firm with Matt at Nelson & Murdock, Nelson also represents a number of super-powered clientele, like the Fantastic Four, who become his friends and allies.

Case-By-Case

After becoming fully licensed lawyers, Foggy and Matt opened the law offices of Nelson & Murdock with financial backing from Foggy’s parents and hired Karen Page as their secretary. Although Nelson pursued Page romantically, he also maintained a relationship with his old girlfriend Deborah Harris, who had gone to jail for a plot to assassinate the mayor of New York (even though she helped thwart the plot with Daredevil’s help). In the end, Page would fall for Murdock, not Foggy.

One of the firm’s first clients was the Fantastic Four, who needed help with the lease on their headquarters in the Baxter Building. Another early customer was the Purple Man, who kidnapped Karen. Leland Owlsley, a dastardly Wall Street financier who eventually developed a serum that gave him the ability to fly, attempted to hire the two lawyers, but once they discovered his true identity, they had him arrested and jailed.

Matt’s secret identity sometimes got Foggy into mortal peril. When Foggy went to the wax museum with some friends, he got caught in the middle of a brawl between Daredevil, Ox, and the Eel, which landed him in the hospital. He recovered and made it back to work to assist Namor McKenzie, AKA Namor the Sub-Mariner, who needed help preventing the surface world from hurting his ocean home. Next, Foggy worked for Wilbur Day, AKA Stilt-Man, a former employee of Kaxton Laboratories whose patents for hydraulic lifts were stolen by his boss Carl Kaxton.

Foggy was once mistaken for Daredevil when Peter Parker, AKA Spider-Man, tracked the Super Hero back to the offices of Nelson & Murdock. Spider-Man didn’t think the blind Matt could be Daredevil, so he set his sights on Nelson. Foggy did not deny the accusation, wanting to prove himself to Page. To further the ruse, he bought a Daredevil costume from costume designer Melvin Potter.

Potter disliked Super Heroes, but wanted to test the strength of his armor and convinced Foggy to fight against him, telling him it would impress Karen. The designer took on the persona of Gladiator and made the fight as real as possible, almost killing Foggy before the real Daredevil intervened and saved his friend’s life. He admitted to the hoax, but was furious that Karen ended up with Matt’s twin “brother” Mike who was supposed to be the Daredevil, but was actually Matt’s third identity.

Later, Nelson was elected New York City District Attorney and made Matt his assistant. His campaign was terrorized by the Jester, who was hired by mayoral candidate Richard Raleigh and preferred a more malleable DA. Daredevil defeated Jester, and Raleigh was killed by Man-Monster during an encounter with Spider-Man.

Nelson’s tenure as DA hit a snag when one of his staff members, Mason Hollis, turned out to be the Super Villain known as Crime-Wave. His reputation temporarily tarnished, Foggy still had great success in persecuting the criminals (costumed or otherwise) of New York City. Things were going so well that he contemplated an eventual gubernatorial campaign.

Unfortunately, all the success and ambition came crashing down when Foggy was blackmailed by a time-traveling android known as Mr. Kline, hoping to pre-empt future events by unfairly prosecuting Daredevil’s friend Natasha Romanoff, Black Widow on false murder charges. Matt defended her and cleared her of all charges. The case was a black mark on Foggy’s legal reputation and destroyed any chances he had for becoming governor. Ashamed of his actions, Nelson contemplated resigning as DA, but was dissuaded by Murdock.

Months later, Nelson was targeted for assassination while investigating Jerome Beechman, AKA Mandrill’s Black Spectre terrorists. He survived, but was abducted by Phil Sterling, AKADeath-Stalker, who sought secrets uncovered by Nelson’s activist sister Candace. Daredevil rescued both Nelson siblings.

Foggy’s brilliant legal mind was coveted by both the good guys and the bad. Nick Fury asked him to serve on S.H.I.E.L.D.’s board of directors, but a sentient Dreadnought robot abducted Nelson for the subversive Hydra. Hydra also captured Daredevil and Black Widow, but Nelson freed them to defeat Dreadnought and its comrades. Foggy ultimately declined S.H.I.E.L.D.’s offer.

Trying to regain some popularity, Foggy promoted the capabilities of the Worldwide Habitual Offenders (WHO) computer, which turned murderous before Spider-Man destroyed it. The poor guy just couldn’t catch a break. 

In his bid for re-election as DA, Foggy was once again terrorized by the Jester (who was again stopped by Daredevil) and lost to Jamal Cavil, AKA Blake Tower. After this defeat, Foggy briefly opened Storefront Legal Services, which failed due to his financial mismanagement, before re-establishing Nelson & Murdock with Matt. During this time, Kingpin sent Elektra to assassinate Foggy, but she refused to kill a friend of Matt’s. While investigating Glenn Industries’ misdeeds, Nelson inadvertently earned a criminal reputation as “Guts” Nelson but sidestepped accompanying difficulties with Daredevil’s help.

After Nelson and Deborah were married, she was kidnapped by an associate of the Purple Man. The couple soon divorced because of their differing notions of societal success and Deborah was drawn to Nelson’s latest client, Micah Synn, brutal ruler of the Kinjorge Tribe who was descended from British royalty. The second iteration of the Nelson & Murdock partnership came to an end when the Kingpin learned that Murdock was Daredevil. Fisk made Matt’s life a living hell and Foggy worked to defend his friend from false bribery charges.

Nelson received multiple job offers and began dating photographer Glorianna O’Breen, Murdock’s former flame and a relative of Deborah’s.

Nelson took a position with Kelco Industrials, but resigned when it became clear that Kelco was in the Kingpin’s pocket; Matt opened his own law clinic, acting as advisor to victims of Kelco’s illegal chemical dumping. Nelson & Murdock was reopened for the third time and everything seemed to be back to normal when reporter Sara Harrington tried to expose Daredevil’s secret identity, which led to Daredevil faking Matt Murdock’s death. Nelson later believed his friend to be dead, until he was saved by Daredevil, who suffered a nervous breakdown, thus revealing his true identity to his best friend in the world.

Although enraged that Murdock had kept such a secret for so long, Nelson nevertheless stood by his friend. After Murdock’s recovery, his supposed death was attributed to a S.H.I.E.L.D. operation. They were then recruited by Foggy’s long-absent mother Rosalind Sharpe to start a new firm Sharpe, Nelson, and Murdock. Their first client was Daredevil’s nemesis Calvin Zabo, AKA Mister Hyde. More difficulties arose when Foggy started dating Liz Osborn (apparent widow of Harry Osborn) and incurred the wrath of both Quentin Beck, AKA Mysterio, and Norman Osborn, AKA Green Goblin. In particular, Mysterio manipulated Nelson into pursuing client Lydia McKenzie, then framed him for her murder. Sharpe fired her son and Murdock resigned in protest.

When the Daily Globe exposed Daredevil’s secret identity, Nelson supported his friend during the crisis, advising him to sue the Globe rather than admit the truth and face legal repercussions from years of deception. During this time, Foggy worked with Dakota North, a private investigator.

Foggy’s death was faked by Kingpin’s estranged wife Vanessa Fisk after he visited Murdock in prison. Entering witness protection in Philadelphia as “Everett Williams,” Nelson was targeted by mobsters, but rescued by Hand ninjas commanded by Pagon, a Skrull impersonating Elektra. When Murdock escaped prison to clear his name, Nelson revealed the deception and, with fellow attorney Becky Blake, cleared Murdock of criminal charges, and the three formed a new firm: Nelson, Blake, and Murdock. To Nelson’s dismay, one of their first clients was also the first villain he had fought, Melvin Potter, drugged into insanity by Mr. Fear (Larry Cranston). Fear also arranged for Milla Donovan, Matt’s love interest, to be drugged. The firm later faced potential scandal from criminal Lady Bullseye’s actions.

Foggy and Matt have since established another new firm that specializes in assisting super human clients. However, due to Murdock’s notoriety as Daredevil, they often serve as legal consultants rather than trial attorneys. 

When Foggy was diagnosed with Ewing’s Sarcoma, a type of cancer located his hip, Matt came to the rescue and tapped Hank Pym to help. Pym shrank down to fight the cancer cells at a molecular level and even though the treatment failed to cure him, it prevented the cancer’s spread. Matt’s secret identity as Daredevil soon came to light, putting Foggy’s life at risk. Seeing an opportunity to protect Foggy from his enemies, Matt and Hank faked Foggy’s death during an encounter with the armored Leap-Frog. After its success, Foggy moved to San Francisco and laid low, a move that Matt and his girlfriend Kirsten McDuffie also made. 

During this time, the villain Max Coleridge, AKA Shroud, revealed Foggy had survived his seeming death. Foggy soon lost his memory that Matt and Daredevil were the same person thanks to the Purple Man’s children, the Purple Children, who used their father’s mind-controlling amplification machine. The Purple Children were attempting to help Matt restore his anonymity as a thank you for often protecting them from their abusive father. Foggy soon regained his missing memory when Daredevil unmasked himself.

Foggy eventually beat his cancer and started dating a woman named Alina. Things were going well until Matt showed up and asked for Foggy’s help on a Supreme Court case. Matt approached Foggy at a bar, and Foggy was hesitant to help him since he liked life without Daredevil. They were soon attacked by Lonnie Lincoln, AKA Tombstone, and Matt improvised, setting the bar on fire, creating enough smoke to conceal himself as he fought off Tombstone and his goons. After escaping, the pair reconciled when Matt apologized to Foggy for everything. Foggy agreed to help him on the case but was clear about how things were not yet fixed between them, nor did he agree with what Matt did with his life. 

When Matt became Deputy Mayor under Mayor Wilson Fisk, the sadistic ninja clan known as the Hand laid siege to the city. However, Fisk suffered a seemingly fatal injury, making Matt the mayor and Foggy his chief of staff. After the siege, Matt quit and Foggy followed suit. 

In response to the Hand, Matt and Elektra teamed up to oppose the Hand by leading the Fist, a group formed centuries ago with the same objective. They recruited Foggy, Daredevil’s mentor, Stick, and incarcerated superhuman criminals from Myrmidon Prison with an offer of redemption for their help against the Hand. Though when the Lunate Talisman, the key to defeating the ninja cult, was destroyed, Foggy and Stick turned to dust, revealing themselves to be puppets for the Hand. The real Foggy and Stick had died months prior and were trapped in Hell, prisoners of the Hand’s demon-god, the Beast. So Daredevil died to travel to Hell and bring them back and once there, his suit transformed to reflect the burning, white-hot rage of his soul. 

When Daredevil found Foggy and Stick, the true puppet master behind the Fist revealed themselves to be none other than the Beast’s sister: the Wild. This bad news dealt Matt a blow since he thought it was God behind the Fist, but Foggy reassured him that together, nobody could beat them.

Matt freed his friends and entered a battle with the Beast and the Wild. Matt struck down his foes and his friends made it out alive, literally restored to life as the Beast’s realm of Hell crumbled around Daredevil. Foggy reached out and called for his friend but the path to the living remained closed to him. 

Though missing Matt and dealing with his death, Foggy returned to his work with former NYPD detective Cole North, and together they started Nelson North Legal Services. 

Foggy eventually learned that his friend Matt had survived when he showed up at his place of business. Matt had been restored to life, living just down the road as a priest suffering from amnesia and working at Saint Nicholas’ Youth Home. Meanwhile, one day Father Matt showed up at Nelson North Legal Services. To Foggy’s great relief, his friend was alive, but when it came to light that Matt had been reborn for a while and hadn’t told him, Foggy was furious and he stormed out.