WARNING: This article contains SPOILERS for Daredevil #600
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Daredevil has found a new way to shape New York City’s future - as its Mayor. The Big apple has long been an important location in the Marvel Comics Universe. The last few years have seen New York’s politics become a standalone plot in their own right, with J. Jonah Jameson once successfully running for the Mayor’s Office, as well. But the latest incumbent marked a new age, as Wilson Fisk, the Kingpin of Crime was elected Mayor.
Using the events of Marvel’s Secret Empire to win favor with the public, he provided for those hit hardest in New York… then when the smoke had cleared, launched a successful bid for the city’s top position. Daredevil was out of the country at the time and returned to the shocking news that Fisk had won. But even more surprisingly, Fisk decided to improve his public perception by bringing in a hostile figure as his deputy.
He requested that Matt Murdock himself become his deputy, setting events in motion for Matt’s own appointment.
The milestone Daredevil #600 sees Charles Soule’s plot take another another turn. Daredevil and Fisk have powerful enemies, and the infamous ninjas of the Hand prepare to take New York in an act of retribution. With the superheroes and Fisk’s police force clashing, nobody is focused on the threat presented by the Hand. Which allows them all the opportunity they need.
By the end of the issue, Fisk is out - and possibly even dead. Normally, the order of succession mandates that the Public Advocate take over if the Mayor is incapacitated. But in the Marvel Universe, the last Mayor changed it. Matt Murdock is now Mayor of New York City.
Charles Soule’s Daredevil run is proving tremendously popular. As an attorney, he understands Matt Murdock’s world better than possibly any other writer who’s penned the Man Without Fear’s arcs to date. Meanwhile, Soule’s knack for long-term plotting is paying off big time: the “Mayor Fisk” arc is among the most complex and calculated he’s launched to date. It’s still uncertain whether or not this milestone issue is just the next step in the “Mayor Fisk” arc, or is setting up a much more significant, longer-term change to Daredevil’s status quo.
But Murdock’s time as Mayor is certainly getting off to a difficult start. The reality is that Daredevil is in no shape to fight the Hand. The issue ends with him badly beaten, left by the police in the back of a van, handcuffed and alone. Matt Murdock may be Mayor, but his unexplained absence leaves a power vacuum in New York City… one that the Hand will be keen to exploit.
MORE: Daredevil Season 3: Every Update You Need To Know
Daredevil #600 is on sale now from Marvel Comics.
