The Worst Day Of Daredevil's Life

3. His Livelihood Ruined

Now equipped with the knowledge of Daredevil's true identity, Kingpin wastes no time at all in dismantling Matt's life from the ground up. First on the agenda are his finances, which Fisk reduces immeasurably thanks to his connections with the IRS. This leaves Murdock penniless, without his own apartment, and with the Kingpin now aware of his occupation, his career as a lawyer is thrown into immediate peril.

Fisk, now exercising his judicial clout, frames Murdock for perjury and has him disbarred. Seeing as how this was, y'know, his life's work and all, Matt is left jobless. It's only later in the novel where he's able to find a steady job at a local diner, but even that's a far cry from his time spent as Hell's Kitchen's preeminent attorney.

Then, somewhat coincidentally, Matt's romantic partner, Glorianna, leaves him for his legal partner, Foggy Nelson. The implication is that Kingpin is behind it all, but while Murdock emerges from the ordeal without a prison sentence, Fisk deems his fate too light and orders his apartment destroyed, leaving the vigilante with no home, no job, and no money.

Irrespective of the fact that Mazzucchelli's image of Murdock searching through the rubble of his temporary accommodation is an iconic one, it's also thoroughly depressing. Matt is brought down to nothing, suffers a mental breakdown when he's left to the streets of New York, and no one - not even Foggy - is able to look out for him.

Oh, and poor Ben Urich - Daredevil's main ally at the Daily Bugle - has his fingers broken by a Kingpin thug, putting a halt to his own investigation into Fisk's attacks on Murdock. Awful stuff.