Synopsis
Dark Reign: The List - Daredevil #1 synopsis by
Rob Johnson
Rating:
In Daredevil #500 Daredevil (Matt Murdock) agreed to become leader of his old foes the mystical assassin cult the Hand, in order to stop his other old enemy Kingpin (Wilson Fisk) getting the job.
Now Murdock is welcomed to the Hand's Manhattan skyscraper HQ. They have provided him with details of all their legitimate businesses, although many are fronts for their illegal activities. They are willing to give their sworn enemy this info because he has promised to lead them. And the punishment for betraying them would be beyond his imagination. Now he will undergo testing.
In Brooklyn a female costumed figure watches as cop Alex Kurtz is lured into a trap by 2 dirty cops (working for Norman Osborn's Zero Tolerance initiative) and a crooked judge. They threaten him to get him to stop investigating them. But the ninja figure hacks the 3 villains to pieces and vanishes before Kurtz can stop her.
In Avengers Tower Osborn calls in his Dark Avenger Hawkeye (Bullseye) to deal with the situation. He believes that the 3 were killed by the Hand, and informs Bullseye that the group is now led by his old enemy Daredevil. Bullseye doesn't believe DD would condone such actions, but Norman believes *anyone* will turn bad in the right circumstances. Now Daredevil has made Osborn's List, and Bullseye can go and kill him. Lester is a happy man as he changes from the Hawkeye costume to his Bullseye duds.
Somewhere underground Matt Murdock in his Daredevil costume has been tortured by the Hand. A hooded man says that DD is on his last legs. If he yields the pain will stop and they'll let him go. Murdock refuses to give in ... and the man says he's passed the Trial of Torments. But now he must face the Trial of Combat. He is faced with a giant warrior with 2 swords, and only 1 of them can live. Matt refuses to kill and the giant prepares to kill him ...
... when a flung pair of scissors stabs him in the neck. Bullseye has arrived and reserves to himself the right to kill Daredevil. And he's not alone as a squad of H.A.M.M.E.R. troops blasts their way in. Pitched battle ensues, including the Hand operatives Black Tarantula (Carlos LaMuerto) and White Tiger (Angela del Toro) (who were killed by the Hand and resurrected as their warriors in DD(1998)#112-115).
DD and Bullseye fight other opponents but Bullseye taunts DD to come outside and face him alone. He steps onto a ropeladder suspended from a helicopter, and DD latches onto him with his billy-club line. But the chopper takes them to Hell's Kitchen where occupants of a 'condemned' tenement block are refusing to evacuate so it can be knocked down for OsCorp to replace with condos. Bullseye cuts the billy-cord and drops DD on the roof.
The occupants think he's come to help them, as he often does in that neighbourhood. But Bullseye tells DD he's going to destroy the place. And all the death's will be DD's fault for not killing him long ago. And he triggers a bomb which brings the whole building down.
The mystery female ninja has watched this. She heads to Wilson Fisk's HQ and unmasks as Lady Bullseye. She tells him she saw the building collapse with Daredevil on it. But Kingpin assumes DD survived. However his plan is still on track.
Matt Murdock did indeed survive, but 107 people didn't. He's joined by Tarantula and Tiger and some Hand ninjas (all of whom as Hand operatives now work for *him*), and DD declares war on Norman Osborn.