Like any superhero, Daredevil has faced down a number of foes. In his beginning days, he often fought a different villain in every issue. He borrowed more than a few from Spider-Man; Doc Ock, Electro, and Mysterio all make appearances. And let’s be honest, some of his enemies have been a little laughable (well, at least their names have been). A few villains have stayed around for the long run, most notably Kingpin and Bullseye. Their orchestrations never seem to stray far from Daredevil. Let’s take a look at a few of the costumed characters Daredevil has taken on.

Stilt-Man

Daredevil #26 - Stan Lee and Gene Colan

When I was referring to ridiculous names, Stilt-Man came to mind immediately. As you can see from the image, his name is rather literal. He engineered long, telescopic metal legs that made him tower above the ground. He incorporated the stilts into a full-on battle suit. After all, every professional criminal needs one. As you can imagine, stealth wasn’t exactly his middle name. It’s not like he could duck behind a counter to hide mid-robbery. He and Daredevil duked it out on more than one occasion, but Stilt-Man rarely came out on top. He was also a part of the first Emissaries of Evil group; a gang recruited by Electro and intent on taking revenge on Daredevil for foiling so many of their nefarious plans. Yeah, that didn’t turn out in their favor.

The Hand

Daredevil #502 - Andy Diggle and Robert De La Torre

Ninjas are everywhere, and that’s truly the case when the Hand shows up. The mystical organized crime group has been around for 800 years. They enter Daredevil’s life (and the Marvel universe) with the return of Elektra Natchios in issue 174. They’re more than ruthless assassins, they can use occult magic. Actually, they’re a little like the Sith; the Hand just has greater numbers. During our first encounter with them, they tried to kill Matt Murdock and Melvin Potter (the Gladiator) but were thwarted. Their greatest enemy was Stick, Murdock’s mentor, and his group Chaste. Daredevil of course stood with his former mentor against them. Later though, as part of the Shadowland storyline, Daredevil takes leadership of one faction of the Hand and uses them as a force of justice. Whew.

Bullseye

Daredevil #290 - Cover artist Kieron Dwyer

By description alone, Bullseye may not sound dangerous. He can use any object as a lethal projectile; he quite literally has a deadly aim. It’s much more than “he can throw stuff.” It means he can use a playing card or a paper clip to take someone’s life. It’s so serious that when he’s hauled into prison at one point he’s strapped down and kept in a straitjacket. He fights Daredevil time and time again. At one point a brain tumor causes him to see everyone around him as Daredevil, and this causes him to kill random people. He can’t seem to get enough of causing pain for Daredevil and even kills two of his love interests.

That’s just three of his foes! When you think about the long list, it’s rather amazing that Daredevil is still in one piece.

Daredevil: Yellow hit me hard. It was a sweet love letter and nice way to revisit the origin story. The art by Tim Sale particularly made me sit up and take notice. The city was textured in a way I haven’t seen other artists do, and Daredevil looked acrobatic and incredibly graceful. I stared at the above image from the comic for at least five minutes; I was mesmerized. On his site, Sale states:

“Daredevil: Yellow was a story set in New York, and I think New York lends itself to the textures and layers of art that you can create with wash. Whenever anybody had seen my wash drawings, they liked them, and I certainly enjoyed doing them. It was something different and new. It was a different way of coming at the story. How do you apply the technique to the story and keep yourself interested? It was also a way of having more control; I was sort of painting without color.”