Matt Murdock is born again. After sacrificing his life to save the souls of his friends trapped in Hell by the Hand cult and the Beast, the horn-headed Daredevil of Hell’s Kitchen returned to life… as Father Matthew Murdock, catholic priest of the Saint Nicholas Youth Home. When the demon Sloth possessed Matt’s ex-wife, the assassin Elektra — the new Daredevil — Father Matthew began to recall memories from Matt Murdock’s life as Daredevil (in Saladin Ahmed and Aaron Kuder’s Daredevil #1). Matthew donned a black cloth mask and exorcised the demon, who warned: “The others are gonna be a hell of a lot harder.”
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Father Matt resumed duties as the vigilante Daredevil, battling Hell’s Kitchen’s newest gang — The Heat — who hired Daredevil’s deadliest enemy: the assassin Bullseye. Another demon, Envy, possessed The Daily Bugle‘s Ben Urich, who then spread slander about St. Nick’s as a “school for criminals” under an anonymous account named Reveal All Devils. Daredevil thwarted the Heat’s attempted hit on Byron “Butch” Pharris — the son of Wilson Fisk who inherited his crown as the new Kingpin of Crime — and finally drove the demon out of Urich. But once again, there was another warning: “I’m so damn jealous of my brothers. They’re gonna rip you to shreds.”
This week’s Daredevil (Vol. 8) #5 reunites Father Matt with another friend from another lifetime: Jennifer Walters, the superhero lawyer She-Hulk. Jennifer knew Matt Murdock, blind lawyer, who is dead. And yet she also recognizes Father Matthew, youth home director. Jen strong-arms Matt into lunch at Le Poisson D’Avril and tells him that someone is gunning for St. Nick’s “litigation-wise.” As they indulge in several courses and imbibe alcoholic drinks, Jen tells Matt that someone is digging into the mysterious Father Matthew with a bounty for dirt on his school. They’re practically powerless not to feast on sushi at another restaurant a few blocks away, and go for gelato for dessert.
Matt’s senses detect a slight echo in an angry She-Hulk’s heartbeat and the scent of brimstone, and realizes: “A devil has hold of her.” He fashions a black table cloth into a makeshift mask (reminiscent of his black-clad ninja look in Marvel’s Daredevil TV series) and attempts to contain the raging She-Hulk, but he’s bloated and slow… the wages of his gluttony.
Meanwhile, Daredevil’s old foe, Mister Hyde, hijacked a chemical lab but is quickly subdued by a hangry She-Hulk who will smash through anything to get her gelato. Rather than fight the sinner, the masked Matt fights the sin: Gluttony. With a prayer, Matt casts away the demon and saves She-Hulk’s soul. He then realizes the identity of the demons making his life hell.
“Gluttony… Envy… Sloth… these devils who have been seizing the souls of those around me — they’re the Seven Deadly Sins,” Matt says. “Which means there are four more out there. And I need to stop them before they hurt anyone else.” And then, as if a prayer is answered, the sorcerer Doctor Strange appears and tells Father Matt it’s time for his confession.
Daredevil #5 is on sale now from Marvel Comics.
