Marvel has changed a lot over the decades. Go back to the Silver Age beginnings of the Marvel Universe and it is a very different place. While it was lauded for its maturity, especially compared to DC’s more fantastical output at the time, it was still primarily for younger readers. The heroes were good, the villains were bad, and everyone had their one true love. One character that has arguably changed the most since then is Daredevil. Back then, he was basically Spider-Man in every way that counted, a quipping acrobatic crimefighter that didn’t really stand out and dated his secretary Karen Page. All of that would change in the 1980s, when writer/artist Frank Miller took over the book. Since then, Daredevil has changed a lot and 27 years ago, the final nail was put in the coffin of the Man Without Fear’s Silver Age in Daredevil (Vol. 2) #5 with the death of Karen Page.
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Karen Page is one of the more interesting love interests in Marvel history, mostly because of the sheer disrespect that the character was treated with over the decades. She was basically the Pepper Potts/Gwen Stacy/Betty Brant/Betty Ross of the early days of the book, but eventually Karen kind of just floated away and Matt fell back on his favorite hobby — Catholic guilt-tinged love affairs. However, Karen would return in Frank Miller and Davif Mazzuchelli’s “Born Again” (where Miller first indulged his hobby of reducing beloved female characters to old prostitutes). Karen would return as the years went on, leading to one of the most interesting and forgotten periods of Daredevil history: Karl Kessel/Cary Nord run on the book, which help build the character back up before her death.
Karen Page Was Recast as Daredevil’s Love Interest After “Born Again”
As with all things modern Daredevil, we have to go back to Miller’s run. It’s the greatest time in Daredevil history, and it basically wiped away the older, funnier version of the character completely. After Miller left the book, everyone sort of aped his approach to the hero. Sometimes, we got lucky and got Ann Nocenti, and other times we didn’t. That brings us to 1996. Much like everything without an X or a spider on it, Daredevil was floundering, so they decided to try something different.
Writer Karl Kesel, who wrote Adventures of Superman throughout the “Death of Superman” saga, came onboard with artist Cary Nord, this being the artist’s big break. They did something novel at that time with the character: they made him funny and more like his old school self. They reached past Frank Miller to a Matt Murdock who wasn’t consumed and obsessed. Nord’s artwork sealed the deal, his clean simple lines giving the book a classic feel while losing little of the detail of modern comics. Daredevil (Vol. 1) #353-357 and #359-364 were a short but fruitful time taking an old school approach, as the industry took notice and the book started having a small bit of success for the first time in ages.
Old school also meant Karen Page, and the run did a great job with her as a character, having rebuilt her life. Her and Matt were good together, fans liked it. It was a classic take without losing all of the bite of the later versions of the character, and it’s part of why her death was shocking in Daredevil (Vol. 2) #5. Kesel and Nord had rebuilt the character and she was considered a part of his life again. It was the change that his life seemed to need at that point, but she’s stayed dead ever since.
At this point there are several reasons why keeping her dead is important. Daredevil is in a more grounded world than the rest of the heroes, and Karen coming back to life just wouldn’t feel right. Sure, the Hand could always do it for reasons, but it wouldn’t really fit. The next problem is what are you going to do with her? We’ve spent years with Elektra as the love of his life, and it doesn’t feel right for them to get back together (Personally, I prefer Mia). Bringing her back from “Born Again” was one thing; people beat addiction all the time. Maybe on Bleeker Street or Fifth Avenue, people get resurrected, but not in Hell’s Kitchen (yes, I’m sure it happened, but it was too good a line to not use). At this point, we don’t need her as a love interest, because Elektra is around. She’s completely superfluous to events.
Karen Page Will Probably Actually Rest in Peace
Death gets undone in comic book universes all the time, even in the more grounded portions of the universe. However, at this point, the only way you get Karen back is if she’s resurrected as some kind of evil weapon of the Hand. Most readers have no connection to her, and it would be a little too much for the Daredevil side of things. It’s same reason most readers wouldn’t actually enjoy the return of Gwen Stacy; she’s more important as a symbol.
It was a such a shocking moment. This sort of thing didn’t really happen very much. The hero usually saves the girl, so when it doesn’t happen, it’s one of those moments that actually means something. Matt has lost enough where he would still be a tragic person if she was brought back, so it’s not a formative event, it’s more that she’s been replaced so totally that no one really needs her back. She was a Silver Age girl, and Matt outgrew her.
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images courtesy of Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
