By Ben Morse
Daredevil calls himself the Man Without Fear—Mr. Fear, with the able assistance of writer Ed Brubaker, would like to test that theory.
Brubaker spent his year as the writer of DAREDEVIL getting Matt Murdock out of the mess his predecessor Brian Michael Bendis had made of ol' Hornhead's life. Along with artist Michael Lark, Brubaker busted DD out of prison and took him half way around the world to clear his name, put his secret identity back safely into anonymity—to a degree—and regain his place as the protector of Hell's Kitchen.
It seemed like after so much anguish, Daredevil could finally live happily ever after.
Yeah right.
Horrible, irrational things started happening to Matt and the people he cared about, capping off with wife Milla losing control in a subway and pushing a man to his death. As this tragedy occurs across town, the mastermind behind Daredevil's recent woes, Mr. Fear, stepped forth from the shadows and revealed himself.
Marvel.com caught up with Brubaker to talk about turning this also-ran villain into a legitimate threat and what Marvel's master of fear has in store for the man who claims to be without.
Marvel.com: When and why did you decide to bring Mr. Fear back as a major villain for Daredevil?
Ed Brubaker: It was really [former DAREDEVIL editor and current Marvel Executive Editor] Ralph Macchio who helped me out there. I was e-mailing with him about DD a bit, and he mentioned that he always thought the Larry Cranston version of Mr. Fear should have become a much bigger DD villain, and that he saw a lot of potential there.
Ralph also threw down the gauntlet a bit by pointing out that before Frank Miller got his hands on him, Bullseye wasn't considered DD's archrival, or that interesting of a bad guy, but now he's one of the most popular and scary bad guys in the whole Marvel [Universe]. So I went back and reread Larry Cranston's first appearances, and I agreed with Ralph that he needed to come back in a major and twisted way.
Marvel.com: Who is Larry Cranston? What makes him tick?
Ed Brubaker: Larry went to Law School with Matt and Foggy, and he never liked them really. He resented Matt initially because he beat him in a [mock] court in senior year and shamed him, or that's how it is in Larry's mind. He's a real complex and messed up bad guy, really. He's ego-driven, but has an inferiority complex at the same time, and he was one of the first people to figure out Matt was Daredevil.
Marvel.com: Do you feel like you've reset Mr. Fear from the ground up here?
Ed Brubaker: Not that much, I don't think. I mostly evolved him a bit and changed his fear gas into more than one kind of gas or drug, so he's more of a complex threat now. He'd been sitting off in a separate life for a while, festering about Matt Murdock, basically, and so I figured he'd use that time to really beef himself up so he's ready for his next confrontation with DD.
His basic motivation is still the same. He's got a long-term grudge against Matt Murdock and wants to ruin his life.
Marvel.com: What is Mr. Fear's plan here?
Ed Brubaker: His plan is to torture Matt by drugging his wife and making her insane and homicidal. And at the same time, he's gotten a lot of lower level crooks hooked on a new drug he made that has made them all much more violent than they would be otherwise, and they're tearing apart Hell's Kitchen while Matt is worrying about his wife.
Marvel.com: How is Mr. Fear using his powers differently than before?
Ed Brubaker: He's more sophisticated. He used to just use pellets, but now he's got gas, pheromones, pills, all sorts of things that make him much harder to get at. All those [people] he's surrounded himself with both love and fear him at the same time, because of his gases and drugs.
Marvel.com: Do you feel that Daredevil is a character that needs a "Kingpin," i.e. that one central villain who is pulling the others' strings from behind the scenes?
Ed Brubaker: Not really. It's just that neighborhood crime is a big part of DD as a book, and that's usually organized crime.
Marvel.com: What does Mr. Fear still have in store for Daredevil next?
Ed Brubaker: That would be telling. Nothing good, though.
DAREDEVIL #104, by Ed Brubaker and Michael Lark, ships January 30. But if you're hungry for more Brubaker/Lark DD action right now, check out their debut issue right now with Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited.
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