Warning: Spoilers for Daredevil #6!After years of being a Man Without Fear, Daredevil is being tormented by his diabolical reflection, The One Who Fears. Lately, the reborn Father Matthew Murdock has been plagued by literal demons in the form of the Seven Deadly Sins. Possessing familiar allies like Ben Ulrich and She-Hulk, these fiends have been intent on dragging him back down to Hell.
Matt Murdock’s Inner demons reach the surface in the form of his dark mirror image in Daredevil #6 by Saladin Ahmed, Aaron Kuder, Jesus Aburtov, and VC’s Clayton Cowles. Doctor Strange pays Matthew a visit to better understand the monsters from Hell that have been chasing him, putting him on a metaphysical trial of sorts.
Once he enters the portal that Strange opens for him, Matt falls into an abyss and comes face to face with “the worst version of myself. The One who Doubts. The One who Fears.”
Daredevil’s Worst Traits Have Come to Haunt Him
As a mirror image, The One Who Fears isn’t as much a complete opposite of Daredevil as much as it is a reflection of Daredevil’s worst self. It’s all of Matt’s worst qualities amplified into a monstrous version of himself. It’s made up of qualities that readers have seen in Daredevil dating back to his earliest stories. It’s his doubts, his fear, his self-loathing, and most recurring of all, his Catholic guilt, the same Catholic guilt that he expresses at the start of this very issue.
His worst qualities have compelled him to make dire mistakes and get people hurt. When Daredevil isn’t his best self and these bad qualities overwhelm him, bad things happen. Daredevil practically becomes his own worst enemy, worse than any villain in his rogues’ gallery. This issue challenges those qualities, especially his Catholic guilt, and questions how fixating on these emotions brings the worst out of him, literally creating a monster. However, there is a bright side to this ordeal for Matt.
Daredevil Takes On The Monster Inside Himself
This monster doesn’t dissipate until Daredevil recites John 1:5 to himself, bringing his Hand of God suit into the real world. He realizes how his worst qualities do more harm than good for him and, thus, he must trust that “God is light” without allowing his thoughts to drag him into the darkness. It’s a lesson he learned when he first gained the Hand of God suit, but now it’s vital for him to not forget this again. Keeping this lesson in mind helps Daredevil ward off The One Who Fears and will prove vital in preventing the Seven Deadly Sins from dragging him to Hell.
