Spider-Man Gets His Best Batman Moment in Marvel Comics
Spoilers below for Daredevil #23!
Spider-Man and Batman are superhero opposites. Batman is a billionaire who strikes fear into the hearts of criminals; Spider-Man is a broke freelancer who would rather make jokes at them. But sometimes the Marvel Comics hero adopts the DC Comics hero's methods to get things done. In the new issue of Daredevil, Spider-Man goes dark and achieves his own version of an iconic Batman scene.
Daredevil #23 is written by Chip Zdarsky with art by Marco Checchetto, color by Marcio Menyz, and lettering by Clayton Cowles. The entire series has dealt with the consequences of Daredevil accidentally killing a man during a routine crime patrol. When Spider-Man heard the news, he gave Daredevil an ultimatum: hang up the costume or New York's superheroes will be coming for him. Matt Murdock eventually donned the red tights again, but it was for an honest reason: to turn himself in and face trial for manslaughter.
But Daredevil isn't going to go to prison without first keeping his affairs in order. In Daredevil #23, he crashes a meeting held by Wilson Fisk, who gave up the Kingpin title to become mayor of New York City, to crown the new Kingpin of Crime. Daredevil tells them that they won't simply have the run of Hell's Kitchen without him, because "even from prison, I'm going to make your lives hell." The scene is reminiscent of an iconic sequence from DC's origin story Batman: Year One when a rookie Dark Knight makes himself known to Gotham City's underworld by bursting into a dinner for its most corrupt power brokers. "From this moment on", he told them, "none of you are safe." This set an intimidating tone for the war on crime ahead of him.
But the real terror in this scene isn't Daredevil. When Daredevil makes the threat, he looms small beneath the towering Fisk. Daredevil's words do little to shake the hardened gang bosses at the table. On the next page, the camera pulls back as Daredevil reveals who they should really fear. "It's not just me," he says, as the comic reveals that Spider-Man has been looming above them all in a spider's web.
This is Spider-Man at his most frightening, pulling the shadows over the hard-luck kid we know and showing us the monster he can be when he gets serious. Checchetto nails Spider-Man as intimidating and more powerful than we can understand. Zdarsky, who broke out as a star Marvel writer with Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, reinforces his dedication to the character, including in the next scene when Spider-Man fishes at Daredevil for compliments on his menacing act. Daredevil and Spider-Man overcome their differences out of shared principles; Daredevil's creative team gets to flex their grasp on Marvel's best-loved character. The result is a scene that Spider-Man fans are sure to call back to for years to come.
Daredevil #23 is available at local shops and digital providers now.