| Who remembers the Blue Talon? Not you? Well, no wonder...he appeared exactly once in the Marvel Universe that I'm aware of! But still, a cool forgotten character with some potential, again relegated to the dust bin of obscurity! The Blue Talon was an expert martial artist/assassin. Dig that cool costume! | |
 | The Blue Talon's real name was Yamura, and he worked for a man named Damon Dran, a rich criminal mastermind whose secret agenda (in this storyline at least) escapes me. However, Dardevil is throwing a wrench in his plans, so he hires the Blue Talon to deal with our fearless hero. |
| The Blue Talon meets up with Daredevil shortly, and a battle ensues. During the obligatory "villain explains his motives" speech, we learn that the Blue Talon was a martial artist who lost the finer "delicate" use of his hands, and now wears deadly blue metal talons/razors on them in order to make him more deadly in combat. Dig the yin/yang tattoo pattern on his face! This is one of the shortest battles ever, taking all of 3 pages before coming to an ignoble end. |  |
 | Unfortunately (for those of us who love obscure characters), the Blue Talon accidentally cut through a natural gas pipeline and ignited it, blowing himself to bits as his talons sparked and ignited the gas. Such a terrible way to waste a great character! |
| Dark Messiah is by far my favorite DD villain of all time and one of my absolute favorite forgotten characters from the 70's, so I'm going to give him some extra space on this site. From his costume to his powers to his name, everything about this character is cool! He first appeared in Daredevil #97. However, Dark Messiah went through some major changes and evolution during his few early (and only) appearances. We first encounter him as a blond youth named Mordecai Jones (who thought up THAT unlikely name?). He's a street performer, an acrobat of sorts. Daredevil is swinging across San Francisco when he comes upon the boy performing and is intrigued by his abilities. Dardevil says to himself that the boy is as talented as he is, acrobatically. During his performance, a rather large dog becomes agitated and attacks Mordecai. He falls backwards, hits his head on the pavement, and ends up in critical condition. Daredevil swoops down and comforts him while the ambulance arrives. After the ambulance leaves, DD is distracted by some minor criminal activity. Cutting back to the scene at the hospital, Mordecai is simply laying there waiting for help when an old man from the shadows (we never see his face) carts him off to some strange secluded laboratory. The mystery man hooks Mordecai up to several advanced alien machines and begins to "experiment" on him. The next morning, as Daredevil (in his secret identity of Matt Murdock) is walking through downtown San Francisco, he senses a powerful figure striding through the crowd. Mordecai is now...the Dark Messiah! |  |
 | Interstingly enough, the costume he wears on the cover is totally different than the costume he wears inside the issue. Here's the cover to Daredevil #97. Notice not only the very different costume, but also the different hair color (brown instead of blond). The cover was drawn by Gil Kane, the interior by Gene Colan. Who's to say which is the true original concept? The muscle shirt design with the long purple gloves fits the "San Francisco" theme more, if you know what I mean, and the blond hair is more in keeping with his "angelic" design". I personally like the cover costume more, and even better yet the one he got a few issues later (which we'll touch on in a bit). But let's look at his powers first. He's obviously deluisonal...the thinks he's the Messiah, returned to save mankind. Of course, running into a man dressed in all red with horns called Daredevil kinda sends him into a rage, obviously. :-) Dark Messiah has some level of enhanced strength. Dardevil mentions his physical power several times during their battle. He can also project beams of purple light from his eyes which can pin opponents to a wall or knock them over (force beams) or can melt/disintegrate solid stone walls. Dark Messiah also has some degree of invulnerability since Daredevil nearly breaks his hand while punching him (with no effect on Dark Messiah). Projecting forcefields is another of his cool powers, and he was able (a few issues later) to literally seal off the entire city of San Francisco with such a forcefield. Needless to say, his forcefields are also bullet proof. He also apparently has some sort of teleportation powers. |
| Right after Dark Messiah first appears, he disintegrates a hole in the wall of the local prison and lets out a handful of felons, 3 of whom become his disciples. Apparently, this religious fanatic wastes no time getting his ministry set up! After that he beats Daredevil to a pulp and teleports away, only to return later with his followers... |  |
 | ...the Disciples of Doom! Talk about your forgotten, obscure characters! These whacked out guys appeared in a cameo on the last panel of Daredevil #97, then got beaten down in the first half of Daredevil #98, never to appear again! Plus, there's no origin for them, not even how Dark Messiah created them or anything. Truly classic obscurities! The Disciples of Doom consist of Josiah, whose power consists of causing sonic vibrations that silently destroy things, Macabee, who can control fire and earth (opening "pits to hell", which tear the ground open and belch forth flames), and Uriah, who controls the power to warp reality in the form of illusions. Hey, I thought they were cool lackeys! ;-) |
| Interestingly enough, Dark Messiah's costume in this issue (Daredevil #98) is identical to his costume on the cover of #97. It's totally different from the costume he wore in the pages of #97. I consider this a better costume than that open sleeved muscle shirt costume. The color is now a more subdued grey-blue instead of dark purple. Also, his hair is mysteriously changed to brown instead of blond. I think they should have kept the blond hair. |  |
 | All during his unsuccessful fights with Dark Messiah, Daredevil was obsessed with the villain's hearbeat. It seemed so familiar to him, but he couldn't tell why...until the very end of the fight. It's then that Dardevil realizes that the heartbeat belongs to Mordecai Jones. Daredevil tells Dark Messiah this fact, which causes him to doubt who he is and ultimately explode in a fury of godly anger and confusion. But don't worry, Dark Messiah comes back a few issues later for one last hurrah! :-) |
| After the incredibly cool Dark Messiah, we got yet another cool forgotten character, although this one was nowhere near as interesting or dynamic as Dark Messiah was. His name is Ramrod! Ramrod is one tough character...he has metal plating grafted to his skull, his shoulders, etc. He can ram down brick walls, as well as any superhero dumb enough to get in his way. His first appearance was in Daredevil #103. |  |
 | So how did Ramrod come to be? Funny you should ask! Ramrod was an off shore oil rig foreman, and one day a huge oil drum fell on him, crushing every bone in his body. After passing out in the hospital, he awoke in an alien ship setting, able to move, stronger, better, faster...ummm...never mind. Anyway, his mysterious abductors (we'll reveal who they are later) remade him. They replaced his bones with steel, added plates to his head and shoulders, etc. His first appearance also predates Wolverine's first appearance by almost an entire year, so you could say that they stole the idea for Wolverine's reinforced bones from Ramrod's origin. So there, you Wolverine fanatics! Thhhhhhp!!! |
| Ramrod beats up on Daredevil and Black Widow throughout the issue, and even Spider-Man's guest appearance doesn't help matters much. Eventually though, Spider-Man climbs up the side of a tall building, with Ramrod following by punching handholds into the side of it. Spidey webs him up and with help from DD and Black Widow, manages to knock him off. The long fall doesn't kill Ramrod, but it does manage to knock him senseless. Still, not bad for an unknown villain's first outing! |  |
| And that brings us to the ultimate Dardevil story, a story involving tons of guest stars, new villains, and secrets revealed. I'm talking about Dardevil #105-107. What makes these issues so great? Everything (well, except the art...why Don Heck?). Let's cover these issues in order, shall we? |