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Daredevil (1964 series) #175

on-sale: Jun 23, 1981
Frank Miller

Daredevil (1964 series) #175 cover

Story Name:

Gantlet


Synopsis

Daredevil (1964 series) #175 synopsis by Anthony Silvestro
Rating: 5 stars

Daredevil tracks Elektra down to the hotel she’s staying at, finding her meditating. He tells her about his missing radar and asks if she knows why the Hand would be targeting Matt Murdock. He thanks her for helping him and tries to appeal to their shared history, but she promptly kicks him out of the window, making it supposedly clear where they stand now. Elsewhere, Kirigi kills the Hand ninja who failed last issue and receives his next target: Elektra! Daredevil stops by Heather’s apartment and finds a note saying that she’s left him yet again after he stood her up. This actually relieves him, since he figures The Hand will now target those close to him, and she’ll be too visible at the party she’s at for them to try and kill her there. That just leaves Foggy, and Matt heads to protect him.

Foggy hops in a cab to make his way to the courthouse, as the Melvin Potter case is due to proceed soon. All the while, he’s unknowingly being stalked by Hand ninja. Daredevil takes care of the ninja just as silently, leaving Foggy completely unaware that anything is going on. Daredevil tries interrogating one of the ninja, but he’s killed by another and starts to dissolve, as is customary for defeated Hand ninja. Daredevil stops the fleeing ninja and notes that he doesn’t dissolve for some reason. He finds a business card for a weapon shop on the ninja, but feels that this clue is too obviously a red herring. Elektra hits Daredevil from behind and swipes the card. He points out the obvious trap and she points out that the ninja who had it didn’t dissolve upon death and therefore can’t be one of the Hand. Therefore, she reasons that someone might be helping them, and tells Daredevil not to get involved any further.

At the courthouse, Foggy tries to stall until Matt can arrive. Meanwhile, Elektra heads to the weapons shop on the business card, pretending to be interested in buying shuriken. She suddenly throws them, killing four Hand ninja that were waiting to ambush her, and she descends further into the Hand’s lair. She finds four heavily armored Hand ninja, when Daredevil suddenly arrives to help her, and she slips away to let him deal with them. Meanwhile, Foggy has run out of time and Becky tells him that he’ll have to present the case! Elektra proceeds further into the Hand’s base and finds Kirigi waiting for her. They engage in a brutal fight, with Elektra landing two killing blows in quick succession. No matter how much damage she does though, Kirigi just won’t go down. Daredevil has similar issues dealing with the ninja without his radar, getting tagged by one of them.

Back at the courthouse, Foggy ponders the notes on the trial for many silent moments before finally moving for a mistrial! Elektra uses everything at her disposal to try and bring Kirigi down, her belt, her headpiece, and even Kirigi’s own sword. She stabs him through the chest which is finally enough to cause him to stumble off, injured but still alive. At the same time, Daredevil finishes his fight in stylish fashion, disarming one of the ninja and using his sword to perfectly break the swords of the remaining two, which is enough to send them running. Daredevil catches up to Elektra but collapses from his wounds. Though she knows she could be rid of him if she does nothing, Elektra still bandages up Matt, saving him once again. Later, Matt finally arrives at the courthouse to find that Foggy found a legal precedent to get the whole case thrown out! Finally, we discover that the Kingpin planted the ninja with the business card, once again using Daredevil to take out his enemies for him! His plan successful, Kingpin promises that he’ll deal with Daredevil, all in due time!


Characters
Good (or All)
DAREDEVIL
ELEKTRA
FOGGYNELSON
GLADIATOR1
Plus: Becky Blake (Rebecca Blake), Heather Glenn.

Enemies
KINGPIN
Plus: Hand (The Hand), Kirigi.

> Daredevil (1964 series) comic book info and issue index



Excelsioring your collection:
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(The Boy Wonder)

Main/1st Story Full Credits

Frank Miller
Klaus Janson
Christie Scheele
Frank Miller (Cover Penciler)
Klaus Janson (Cover Inker)
Unknown (Cover Colorist)
Additional Credits
Letterer: Joe Rosen.



Review / Commentaries


Daredevil (1964 series) #175 Review by (March 12, 2025)

Review: Daredevil and Elektra continue to take on the Hand in this absolutely phenomenal continuation to last issue! The action is this issue is particularly cool, with Elektra taking on Kirigi and Daredevil fighting several armored Hand ninja. The fight between Elektra and Kirigi is particularly brutal and epic and the choreography for their fight is beautiful! No matter what she does to him, the guy just won’t stay down, leaving him alive for yet another epic fight next issue! Daredevil also has a particularly cool moment where he uses one of the Hand’s swords to cleanly slice through the swords of two other ninja! They’re left just as stunned as the readers and then can only run away after the epic move! I’ve also always noticed that Daredevil is a bit quippier in this issue, which can come off a little weird if you’re used to his post-Miller depictions. I’ve always took it as a defensive tactic to steady himself after losing his radar, as though he is prone to the occasional dry joke, this is almost Spider-Man levels of snark, which was generally getting phased out by this point.

Foggy also gets to prove that he’s a good lawyer! While they don’t elaborate on exactly what the legal loophole is, he somehow manages to find one to get the case against Melvin Potter thrown out! While this is a bit unlikely, it is nice to show that Foggy can be just as good of a lawyer as Matt when he wants to (arguably better since he actually consistently shows up). And of course, Kingpin once again demonstrates his unfailing preparedness, having planted the location of the Hand’s hideout for Daredevil to find. Always in control, he once again uses Daredevil to take out his enemies for him. Simply epic. Overall, this issue has everything you could want, a fantastic continuation that paves the way for yet more classic additions to the Daredevil mythos next issue!

Comments: Kirigi uses various weapons typical of ninja including a katana, a kyoketsu-shugi (a rope knife), and tetsu-bishi (poisoned caltrops).





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