10 Years Later, I Still Can’t Get Over How Intensely 1 MCU Hero Lost His First Fight With His Nemesis

A decade later, I still haven"t got over just how brutally one MCU hero is beaten by their nemesis in their pair"s first fight. With 17 years now behind it, the MCU timeline has a huge number of stories behind it, featuring a wide range of heroes and villains locked in epic combats. However, while the franchise has established some of the best on-screen hero vs villain conflicts in superhero movie history, it"s also wasted some truly great comic rivalries - something that was perhaps inevitable since the franchise has so often killed off its antagonists in their debut film appearances.
As such, it"s a welcome relief to look at Marvel"s best handled rivalries, and the way they take the formula that audiences come to expect from the genre and flip it on its head in interesting ways. While a hero being defeated early in the story is by no means a totally unheard of development, I"m still oddly glad one release took the time to have a hero face one of their most devastating defeats the first time they faced their comic and show nemesis, as it"s a big part of what served to make a seriously great series so impactful, and has some major implications for an upcoming MCU release as well.
Daredevil's First Fight Against Kingpin Ends In A Brutal Defeat For The Marvel Hero In His Own Show Close Daredevil season 1 spends some time building to the first actual physical confrontation between Daredevil and Kingpin in the Marvel series, with this showdown eventually happening in Daredevil season 1, episode 9. After Murdock realizes Fisk was behind the murder of Elena Cardenas - a woman that Matt, Foggy and Karen sought to help in keeping her apartment following she and other residents facing illicit pressure to move out - he struggles with the idea that the criminal has covered his tracks so completely that the law can"t prosecute him, instead tracking him down as Daredevil.
However, Daredevil first faces Nobu - another well-trained combatant - which leaves him with some considerable wounds, including a notable one from Nobu embedding his weapon in Daredevil and then dragging him across the floor with it, though the vigilante does eventually net a win. This victory is followed up with arguably the worst defeat the hero has faced up to this point of the show, as Daredevil finally gets to face off against Kingpin, and quickly finds himself being trashed by his enemy, only narrowly escaping with his life because he jumps out of a window in order to save himself.
As one of the first times we really get to see Vincent D"Onofrio"s Kingpin be in an actual fight, the scene works effectively to show just how powerful he is, with him shrugging off almost all of the vigilante"s attempts to hurt him, and launching a no-holds beatdown on Daredevil throughout that becomes increasingly brutal as the fight dissolves into Fisk simply whaling on his blood-covered enemy. Ultimately, it"s a vicious and bitter loss for the hero in his first fray with Kingpin, and one that brutally cements the pair"s escalating rivalry.
Why Daredevil Loses His First Fight Against Kingpin So Badly Close First and foremost, Daredevil losing his first fight against Kingpin in the show makes sense because he"s actively gone to confront the villain in the hopes of killing him, despite not killing being part of his personal code. Had Daredevil won, he thus either would have killed Kingpin, thought he"d killed Kingpin but actually failed, or otherwise had to change his mind about the murder not long after he"d set his heart to it. All three options would"ve presented a very different version of the story, and one that would"ve been harder to root for Matt Murdock in.
As it stands, having Daredevil be trounced by Kingpin works better into the overarching narrative of the story since the matter of what Matt would have done if he could have beaten Kingpin remains ambiguous, letting Daredevil"s moral struggles remain an unresolved topic for more of the series. Similarly, Matt being so badly wounded after being so intensely defeated is what leads Foggy to learn his secret identity - having showed up at Matt"s apartment and discovering him wounded and still clad in his Daredevil suit - which could"ve been harder to justify otherwise.
This also stands to reason because Daredevil had no real idea about Kingpin"s fighting ability, whereas Fisk had a better idea of his opponent"s skills based on the fights he already knew about the hero getting into. Fisk knowing about Daredevil"s abilities and knowing the vigilante had no idea about his own means he entered their clash with a twofold natural advantage - and one you can see playing in his favor as Daredevil tries to confront him like he would essentially anyone else, rather than being able to factor in anything about Kingpin"s specific skillset.
Daredevil Losing His First Fight Against Kingpin Makes Daredevil: Born Again Even More Interesting Close One of the most effective things about Daredevil is the way it manages to make the idea of being a vigilante with superpowers grounded and realistic feeling. A good part of what makes this feat possible is that the story isn"t afraid to have Matt Murdock be fallible, both in terms of showing him as unsure of how to do the right thing, and in terms of showing him getting absolutely beaten within an inch of his life more than once within the series - particularly when it comes to his dealings with Kingpin, much like this first fight in question.
Daredevil: Born Again is set to premiere on March 4, 2025.
This also serves the handy purpose of making Kingpin feel like more of a genuinely imposing threat to both Daredevil himself and any who fall into his targets, with both of these concepts working together to make the prospect of Daredevil and Kingpin facing off again in the MCU"s Daredevil: Born Again all the more exciting. Since we"ve seen just how possible it is for Daredevil to lose to his nemesis since day one, the prospect of this happening once more always seems in sight - something that makes the higher stakes of Daredevil: Born Again"s plot look even more tense.

Marvel Cinematic Universe The Marvel Cinematic Universe is a multimedia superhero franchise that began in 2008 with Paramount's Iron Man starring Robert Downey Jr. The franchise quickly grew in popularity, with Disney eventually buying out Marvel Entertainment in 2009. The MCU consists of dozens of movies and TV shows, most notably Avengers: Endgame, WandaVision, and Loki.
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