Comics Over Time

Murdock and Marvel: 2025

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Episode 99 - Murdock and Marvel: 2025

In a year so recent that we don’t even have Eisners for it yet, comics continued to thrive and movie ticket sales continued to dive.  It was a great time to be a comic retailer, but a very bad year if you happen to be a political cartoonist.  Lets talk about the year that was 2025.

Preshow

  • New era of Daredevil comic begins in March: https://www.marvel.com/articles/comics/daredevil-stephanie-phillips-lee-garbett-new-era-true-believer-blind-bags-march-2026 

    • The Year in Comics 

    Comics in Other Media

    Comic Sales

    Notable Comics

    Top Comic News

    Notable Passings

    Marvel

    Eisner Awards - Hall of Fame Judges Choices

    Dan's Favorite

    The Year in Daredevil 

    Appearances: Daredevil v8 #15-25, Daredevil: Unleash Hell – Red Band #1-5, Daredevil: Cold Day in Hell #1-3, Timeslide #1, Alligator Loki Holiday Special #1, Women of Marvel: She-Devils #1, Moon Girl & Devil Dinosaur 10th Anniversary Special #1, Marvel Masterworks: Daredevil #19, Marvel/DC: Deadpool/Batman #1, Undead Iron Fist #2

    Writer: Saladin Ahmed (#15-25) 

    Pencils: Luigi Zagaria (#15), Aaron Kuder (#16-19), Jose Luis (#20, #24-25), Luis and Carlos Nieto (#21-23) 

    Inks: Luigi Zagaria (#15), Aaron Kuder (#16-19), Oren Junior (#20, #24-25), Junior and Carlos Neito (#21, #23), Junior, Nieto and Jonas Trindade (#22) 

    • As we open the year, the Introductory Rites storyline continues: Daredevil and Elektra find her private investigator dead in an alley, and the tension between them is thick. Matt insists he’s chasing Jason, not causing collateral damage — and Father Javi backs him up later at Saint Nicholas, reminding him that not every tragedy is God’s doing. But before Matt can steady himself, a scream in the night leads him to a rooftop encounter with the sin demon Wrath — fast, brutal, overwhelming. Matt gets absolutely wrecked and blacks out. 
    • He wakes up shaken, served with a legal summons from Nelson & North Legal Services. Foggy is suing Saint Nick’s over Matt beating down a would-be pimp, Chris Rizzollo — and Matt is convinced a demon is behind it. He tries to exorcise Foggy with scripture, only to learn the hard way that when he burned his priestly clothes, he gave up that authority. The demon inside Foggy taunts him: judgment is coming. Even She-Hulk can’t help — legally, Matt has to defend the youth home himself. 
    • Meanwhile, the horror escalates. Matt finds part of Bullseye’s detached arm in an alley and soon discovers Wrath again — only this time, when he looks closely, he sees Jason’s face inside the monster. Realizing he can’t fight this with holy words, Matt tries violence, but Wrath slips away. Back at Saint Nick’s, the kids are divided — some happy to see him, others angry and afraid. And as Foggy challenges him to beat him in court to learn where Cole North is, we see North barely alive… with Wrath looming over him. 
    • Courtroom Matt returns, defending Saint Nicholas himself while Foggy — still demon-possessed — tears him apart on the stand. During a recess in the park, Matt admits he’s ready to concede. That’s when the demon Pride abandons Foggy in fury, claiming Wrath will finish Matt anyway. Free at last, Foggy points him to the building where North and Jason are being held. Inside? A massacre. Daredevil finds North barely breathing before Wrath attacks again and forces Matt into the cruelest choice imaginable: save Foggy… or Bullseye. 
    • In the final rooftop showdown, Matt refuses to play the demon’s game. He saves Foggy without hesitation and even throws a line to the one-armed Bullseye — who misses and plummets to the street below. Wrath releases Jason and declares Daredevil “worthy of hell” before vanishing. Days later, Elektra tells Matt she still can’t find Kingpin. Matt offers to help — she declines. And in a quiet, heavy final beat, Matt returns to Saint Nicholas one last time… to apologize, and to say goodbye. 
    • In the second and final storyline of volume 8, Rites of Reconciliation, It opens with Matt wakes up from devil-and-Bullseye nightmares and we find him living with Nyla Skin—someone he first connected with back when he was “Jack” and had lost his memory. He’s freelancing legal advice through an app, trying to be semi-functional, but of course a missing girl case pulls him back into the suit. What starts as a simple disappearance turns into a full-blown bio-horror situation: spores, infected tenants, shady corporate cover-ups, and Justin Stromwyn reborn as the fungal monster Lionsmane. Nyla actually saves Matt with a coded clue, and he finishes the job with industrial fungicide—because sometimes the devil fights mold with hardware-store science. 
    • Meanwhile, Hell’s Kitchen is tearing itself apart under a new gang called Nouvelle Direction. Matt learns that Cole North has been working with Elektra—and yeah, that stings. He clashes with Taskmaster (who was hired to kill him), gets his senses scrambled by grenades, and Elektra swoops in for the save. Matt tries to talk feelings; Elektra shuts that down immediately. Back home, Nyla calls him out for always leaving, always choosing the mask. She’s right. He walks away realizing he’s pushed almost everyone out of his life. 
    • Back in the red suit, Matt rescues Father Javi, reconnects with Elektra, and starts chasing the real power behind Nouvelle Direction. Bodies begin turning up—gang leaders executed, scripture written in blood. After a brutal bar fight with Wrecker and another grisly discovery, Daredevil finally recognizes the handwriting. The blood. The message. It’s not just gang warfare. 
      • It’s Kingpin. 
    • The conclusion of Rites of Reconciliation and volume 8 will be our final spotlight... 

      • This Week's Spotlight: Daredevil Volume 8 issues #25 (#687 LGY) from November 2025 “Rites of Reconciliation Part 6”

      Recap

      Why We Picked This Story

      Daredevil Rapid Fire Questions

      The Takeaway

      Comics had their biggest year yet.

      Questions or comments

      We'd love to hear from you!  Email us at [email protected] or find us on Twitter @comicsoftime.

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      THANKS TO THE FOLLOWING CREATORS AND RESOURCES 

      Music: Our theme music is by the very talented Lesfm.  You can find more about them and their music at https://pixabay.com/users/lesfm-22579021/. 

      The Grand Comics Database: Dan uses custom queries against a downloadable copy of the GCD to construct his publisher, title and creator charts. 

      Comichron: Our source for comic book sales data. 

      Marvel Year By Year: A Visual History 

      DC Comics Year By Year: A Visual Chronicle 

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_films_based_on_English-language_comics 

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Marvel_Comics_superhero_debuts 

      https://comicbookreadingorders.com/marvel/event-timeline/ 

      https://www.comic-con.org/awards/eisner-awards/past-recipients/past-recipients-1990s/ 

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      Comics Over TimeBy Duane Eckholm and Dan Newland