Daredevil’s First 10 Villains, Ranked By Power

Daredevil was always a hero who had unique villains, both for his powers of having super senses to offset his inability to see, and for his secret identity as an attorney. Of course, Daredevil is Matt Murdock, a vision-impaired attorney who believes in the justice system over his own brand of vigilante justice, something that makes him a very different superhero compared to his contemporaries. However, it also means that many of his villains have ties to the world of organized crime, since that is an area of the Marvel Universe that often escapes the hand of justice. This goes all the way back to Daredevil’s first-ever villains.

Here is a look at the first 10 villains Daredevil fought in Marvel Comics, ranked by power.

10) Fixer

The very first villain Daredevil ever faced in comics was one of the weakest for him, but it was also someone who made things very personal for Matt Murdock. The Fixer here is a man named Roscoe Sweeney, and he was a boxing organizer who fixed fights using blackmail. He is the one who tried to force Jack Murcock to throw a fight that he refused to when he realized Matt was watching. In Daredevil #1, Matt had become Daredevil and went to get revenge, and Fixer died from a heart attack while running from the hero. He was a normal man who bullied people and couldn’t take it when the heat came back onto him.

9) Duke Klaus Kruger

Duke Klaus Kruger was the villain who appeared in Daredevil #9. He was the ruler of a country named Lichtenbad, who was a former exchange student in the United States, where he met Matt Murdock and Foggy Nelson. His goal was to trick the best and brightest minds to come to his country to use for nefarious purposes. One of these was Matt Murdock, but this backfired since Matt was Daredevil. While the ruler of a country, he was not that powerful and died when he fell from his castle walls while attacking Daredevil.

8) Organizer

The Organizer was a man named Abner Jones, and he debuted in Daredevil #10. A masked villain, he was one of the early criminal masterminds that Daeredevil had to face early in his career as a vigilante. He tried to become the mayor of New York City, a plan that Wilson Fisk actually achieved years later. However, unlike Fisk, the Organizer continued his criminal empire while running for mayor, which caused his campaign to end early when Daredevil beat and unmasked him to the public.

7) Mr. Fear

Mr. Fear was similar to Big Man in Spider-Man comic books in that he was a villain who had henchmen working for him as he attacked the heroes. Mr. Fear even used one of the same villains Big Man used in the Enforcers, as Ox made his return here. Mr. Fear was named Zoltan Drago, and he was Marvel’s version of Scarecrow, since he used a fear gas on his enemies, delivering the shots with a gun. However, he was vulnerable to his gas, and he used this to trick Ox and Eel into fighting for him. However. Daredevil had no problems beating him.

6) El Matador

El Matador made his debut in Daredevil #5, and his claim to fame was beating bulls in a thousand bullfights, so he took the fight to heroes. He actually debuted in a fight with Hulk in Smash #38 when he tried to use his popularity to trigger revolutions in Spain. When he ended up speared by a bull while the crowd jeered him, he swore revenge by committing to a life of crime. While a great matador, he wasn’t very dangerous when fighting Daredevil, although he did return more than once to fight the hero in the future.

5) Stilt-Man

Stilt-Man is one of the most mocked supervillains in Marvel Comics. He was rehabilitated somewhat in Iron Man comics earlier this decade when it showed how smart and manipulative he was, but most of his career was spent losing to superheroes on an almost comical basis. Wilbur Day created giant stilts that allowed him to reach great heights. However, this battlesuit was never that strong, and everyone from Spider-Man to Daredevil beat him on a regular basis. Stilt-Man debuted in Daredevil #8.

4) Owl

Owl was Daredevil’s first unique supervillain antagonist after he fought a regular mobster in his first issue and the Spider-Man villain Electro in the second. Leland Owlsley debuted in Daredevil #3, and he was a crooked businessman who hired Matt Murdock and Foggy Nelson to represent him. He ended up becoming one of Daredevil’s most persistent villains in the criminal underworld. He had no actual superpowers, but he was able to fly thanks to a special serum that he created. Sadly, this serum also began to deteriorate his mental capacity and made him a lot less dangerous than he could have been. Owl never reached the level of Wilson Fisk or Tombstone in the criminal underworld, but he was definitely one of Daredevil’s most tenacious enemies.

3) Electro

In Daredevil #2, the Man Without Fear battled a Spider-Man villain. This second outing for Daredevil saw him come face-to-face with Electro, who debuted in The Amazing Spider-Man #9. He was the first person Daredevil gought who had actual superpowers, as he gained the ability to control electricity after a power line accident. In this issue, Daredevil catches Electro breaking into the Baxter Building while the Fantastic Four are out of town. He is able to track him by hearing the electricity pulsating in his body, and he beats Electro long enough for the police to show up and hose the villain down. While this seems easy, Electro is a very powerful villain and has had many great battles since that time.

2) Warlord Krang

The Warlord Krang made his debut in Fantastic Four Annual #1, where he took the role of a general in the Atlantian Army, which put the Fantastic Four in conflict with him and Namor, the Sub-Mariner. However, Namor took leadership of Atlantis back, and Krang was once again subservient to him. However, Krang wanted to attack the surface world, and this led to Daredevil #7. While Daredevil never actually fought Krang, he did fight Namor, who wanted to use legal means to take sovereign control of Atlantis, and it was Krang who forced Namor to break out of prison to save his land. Krang has similar powers to Namor, but he is also a military genius.

1) Killgrave

The most powerful Daredevil villain in his first 10 fights was someone who became even more powerful as the years wore on. Killgrave, also known as the Purple Man, debuted in Daredevil #4. Of course, Killgrave’s power is the ability to tell anyone what to do, and they have no choice but to follow his orders. At one time, he took Jessica Jones captive and forced her to do unthinkable things until he tired of her and let her go, broken and humiliated by his manipulative powers. While Killgrave is the most powerful villain Daredevil faced, Matt’s willpower was too strong, and Killgrave’s powers couldn’t work on him. His powers also don’t work on Captain America, Dr. Doom, and Kingpin.

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