Warning! Spoilers for The Amazing Spider-Man #65!
To defeat the evil that is Kingpin, Spider-Man has put together a team of street heroes, but snubbed the most obvious addition: the new Daredevil! Matt Murdock would be so disappointed.
Seen on the final page of the latest issue of The Amazing Spider-Man by Nick Spencer and Federico Vicentini with Federico Sabbatini, Spider-Man and Kingpin have been searching for pieces of a mysterious and powerful artifact known as the Lifeline Tablet. Said to hold the secret to eternal life as well as the ability to heal grave wounds, the Tablet is a huge get for anyone that can assemble its scattered pieces and is understandably something that Spidey cannot let fall into the wrong hands.
With both Kingpin and Spider-Man in possession of a couple pieces of the Lifeline Tablet each, the final push to find the remaining fragments has hit a fever pitch. Employing his go-to assassin, Bullseye, as well as most of the criminal underworld of New York City to find Spidey’s super-buddy, Boomerang, who just so happens to know the location of every piece of the artifact, Spider-Man has taken it upon himself to gather his own group of street-level heroes to beat Kingpin to the punch. It’s just too bad the new Daredevil didn’t make the cut.
Recently taking over for the original Daredevil, Matt Murdock, while he serves time in prison, the anti-hero known as Elektra has donned the “DD” insignia to carry on Matt’s work as a superhero in the interim. Still learning how to deal with the ups and downs of being a real hero, Elektra has been doing a pretty bang-up job of keeping the legacy of Daredevil alive, making Spider-Man’s snub of her on his team even more confusing.
Consisting of well-known street-level heroes such as Hawkeye, Iron Fist, Spider-Woman, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage and the one and only Wolverine, Spider-Man not saving a spot on the team for Elektra’s Daredevil doesn’t seem to track. Not only is Elektra well versed in the nefarious ways of both Kingpin and Bullseye, but she recently had a stint on the Savage Avengers with Wolverine as well, the rapport between the two clearly being something worth revisiting. But as seen in Savage Wolverine #6 by Zeb Wells and Jose Madureira, it’s quite possible that Spidey’s hang-up comes from a few reasons. Based on the fact that he isn’t sure whether Elektra has actual superpowers (but neither does Hawkeye), doesn’t have a real working or personal relationship with her (their exchange in Savage Wolverine is awkward at best), doesn’t trust her being an ex-assassin (Wolverine kills just as much on his own, no assassin label needed), or simply doesn’t think she’s up to snuff (really, Spidey?), Spider-Man’s exclusion of Elektra from his newfound team is a head scratcher to say the least.
So while it seems a bit fishy that the new Daredevil isn’t on a street team that would clearly benefit from her being on it, Spider-Man might have his own personal reasons as to why he didn’t send out an invite. And although her absence is notable, this new war on New York City’s criminal underworld is only getting started, and could easily lead Spidey to reassess his decision not to include Elektra, giving fans hope that she might be the ace up Spider-Man’s sleeve, or at the very least, a hero he can call on in a pinch.
