It seems that Marvel Comics is about to enter interesting times, as the newest cover for Daredevil indicates that we’re going to get the Iron Man Without Fear. I’m not sure that there’s any other way to read the cover of Daredevil #22, which shows an Iron Man helmet with devil horns, indicating that Matt Murdock is about to receive a significant technological upgrade.
The issue is set to be released in June, with the solicitation description reading as so:
“Still grappling with the blood on his hands, Matt Murdock makes one of the biggest choices of his life. But what effect will Matt’s choices have on DAREDEVIL? And what about the people who need him? See why people are talking about DAREDEVIL as one of Marvel’s best ongoing series.”
The recent comic arcs have indeed seen Daredevil switching up his look. He temporarily ditched his classic red suit for a black one for a while and with Tony Stark currently out of action in the comics, there’s definitely an Iron Man-shaped hole in the 616 universe.
But how could an Iron Man-tech augmented Daredevil work? Well, the hero relies on his superhuman senses, so at first glance you’d think a suit of armor encasing his entire body would hinder his combat abilities. Perhaps this suit is specially designed to work in tandem with them though, maybe boosting his sensory capabilities way beyond what his body could normally achieve. And if Daredevil’s powers really were amped up to the nth degree, he’d almost be omniscient (at least in terms of street-level superheroics). But I suspect the truth behind this teasing image will only become apparent this summer.
Whatever the case, it looks like Daredevil’s enemies had better go into hiding. They might be used to simply being kicked, punched and beaten with sticks, but come June, they may be running from some deadly and destructive repulsor blasts.