The Punisher’s war on crime will take a dark turn in the distant future. Daredevil is currently all over your TV sets and mobile devices, thanks to the Daredevil: Born Again series on Disney+. But in the comics, a new Daredevil series jumps ahead to the distant future to show what Old Man Matt Murdock is up to as a retired superhero. Daredevil: Cold Day in Hell presents one of many possible futures for the Marvel Universe, and this one in particular reveals that things have taken a dark turn for street-level characters, most notably Punisher. WARNING: Spoilers for Daredevil: Cold Day in Hell #1 below.
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Daredevil: Cold Day in Hell #1 is from the creative team of Charles Soule, Steve McNiven, and VC’s Clayton Cowles. The story follows Old Man Matt Murdock, who has retired from being Daredevil and no longer has his special abilities. That all changes when an explosion in a subway sends his abilities flooding back into his body. When Matt investigates, he finds Steve Rogers/Captain America sacrificing himself to save a young girl. The terrorists escape with Cap’s shield, which they take back to their boss: Bullseye.
This Bullseye has seen better days. His hands tremor and are unable to stay still on their own. Bullseye’s lackeys tell him that an old redheaded man dressed like a priest tried to stop them. That description is enough to let Bullseye know that Daredevil is back in action. So he takes Captain America’s shield to show his prisoner, a mutilated Punisher.
Old Man Bullseye has a tortured Punisher as his prisoner
The first image we see of Punisher is hard to look at. It’s not that he’s considerably older and losing all his hair. It’s that he’s been a prisoner of Bullseye for so long that the villain has carved his body up to the point that he is missing his arms and legs. The wall Punisher is hanging from is riddled with holes, as if Bullseye has been using Punisher for target practice. The hundreds of small wounds across Punisher’s body are evidence of this.
Punisher’s trademark skull logo is also carved into his chest. His arms and legs are connected to an electrical battery of some kind, and a table in the room displays Bullseye’s torture devices, such as saws, pliers, hammers, etc. Bullseye teases Punisher with Cap’s shield, since Frank Castle always looked up to Steve Rogers.
“You miss the old days, Castle?” Bullseye says as he taunts Punisher. “‘Cause I sure do.”
Daredevil: Cold Day in Hell is setting up a future confrontation between Daredevil and Bullseye. This makes a lot of sense, because you can’t tell a standalone Daredevil story — especially one that takes place in the far-flung future — without Bullseye factoring into it. The matter of Kingpin is quickly taken care of in the opening pages when we find out he’s already dead, and Matt Murdock spends his time visiting Wilson Fisk’s grave.
Daredevil vs. Bullseye in Daredevil: Cold Day in Hell won’t be like the fights we’ve seen them have before, like in Daredevil: Born Again. Matt may have his powers again, but he’s still an elderly man, same as Bullseye. Plus, it’s pretty likely that Daredevil loses his powers again, which could spell trouble for him if Bullseye were able to get the upper hand.
What did you think of Daredevil: Cold Day in Hell #1? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!
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