Daredevil regularly deals with true monsters like Wilson Fisk and the Hand, but despite fighting such terrifying enemies, it seems only one villain has ever truly traumatized him, torturing him even worse than Joker has tormented Batman. Daredevil is a major street-level hero in the Marvel Universe. While characters like the Avengers are off in space making sure a world-ending threat doesn’t reach Earth, Daredevil is on the streets of New York making sure there is a New York for the Avengers to return to.
Throughout Brian Michael Bendis’ five-year run on Daredevil, one of the major elements of the overarching plot was Daredevil’s secret identity being made public. Matt has to deal with reporters hounding him and villains randomly attacking him now and then. This finally reaches a climax when the U.S. government is able to arrest Matt Murdock and try him for his crimes as a vigilante. This is all seen in Daredevil #81 by Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev, which shows Matt being brought into court and forced to stand trial for breaking the law.
While Foggy argues his case, Matt begins to daydream and imagines breaking out of the courtroom and fleeing the country with his wife, Milla Donovan. While this is a perfectly normal daydream to have, considering Matt’s skill and situation, what isn’t normal is how the daydream for him ends.
Daredevil’s Greatest Enemy Torments His Dreams
One of the worst enemies that Matt has ever fought is Bullseye. Bullseye has often been compared to DC’s Joker, but it turns out that Bullseye is much worse. Joker ultimately wants to push Batman to break his one rule against killing. However, that goal is all about facilitating the corruption of Batman. What Bullseye wants is to simply torture Matt for existing. Matt has fallen in love with several women over the years, such as Karen Page, Elektra, and Milla Donovan. Bullseye has killed the first two and tries to kill Milla when Daredevil’s identity is exposed. It seems that Bullseye’s habit of killing Matt’s loved ones has left a significant trauma on Daredevil, much bigger than anything Joker has ever done to Batman.
During Matt’s daydream, he imagines escaping America and running off to France with his wife Milla Donovan. The two spend months, if not years, there together, happily. But one night, Matt wakes up to see Milla has been murdered by Bullseye, which Bullseye sadistically taunts Matt over. This pushes Matt over the edge, and he responds with lethal force, finally killing Bullseye. The strange thing about this, though, is this is all Matt’s daydream. Matt is imagining what could happen if he just escapes court with his skills and runs away. Why on Earth would Matt imagine such a daydream ending with the love of his life being murdered?
Matt Imagines Milla Killed By Bullseye
The likely explanation is that after Bullseye killed two of Matt’s girlfriends, Matt simply doesn’t believe he can shirk responsibility and run away without Bullseye coming after him as punishment. If Matt faces his punishment and goes to prison for being Daredevil, then Milla should be safe from his villains. If Matt runs away with her, then surely someone will haunt him, with the most likely candidate being Bullseye. This is why of all the villains Matt has fought, it seems Bullseye is the only one to traumatize Daredevil, the Man without Fear.
Daredevil #81 is on sale now from Marvel Comics!
