‘Marvel Rivals’ Daredevil Lore Takes A Shot At Modern Spider-Man Comics With Reverse ‘One More Day’
In further making the case that developer NetEase has a better handle on Marvel Comics’ stable of characters than the publisher itself, the recent addition of Daredevil to Marvel Rivals has brought with it the multiversal reveal that in The Man Without Fear’s home universe, Spider-Man’s One More Day deal with Mephisto had a far different outcome than the one made by his 616 counterpart.
Joining the fight on September 10th as the game’s 23rd Duelist character and 43rd overall, this version of Matt Murdock hails from a timeline, as recounted in his first in-game lore entry by way of a conversation between him and Spider-Man, where a surprise invasion of New York City by The Hand claims the lives of his closest friends: Foggy Nelson, Karen Page, Danny Rand, Luke Cage, Jessica Jones, Misty Knight, and the web-head himself.
Eventually successful in repelling their attack but driven mad with guilt over his inability to save those closest to him, the hero then decides to put a decisive end to the ninja clan’s destructive ways by going into Hell and killing their patron demon, The Beast.
Though successful in this goal, his slaying of such a high-ranking demon soon prompts another invasion of Earth, this time by Hell itself, whose “near-infinite number of primordial horrors” quickly turn the planet into an all-you-can-eat free-for-all.
Unable to put up an adequate defense against the hordes of Hell, even with the power he recently acquired from The Beast, Daredevil ultimately strikes a deal with one of K’un-Lun’s Immortal Beasts, Yinglong, agreeing to free him from demonic captivity in exchange for his help both mastering his new abilities and setting up the mythical warrior’s home, the Eight City, as a safe haven for mankind’s ever-dwindling survivors.
And it is upon Spider-Man’s learning of Daredevil’s showdown with The Beast that the following exchange occurs:
“I’m all for facing my demons, Matty,” Spider-Man said, “but maybe not quite so literally.”
“I’m not sure my world’s Spider-Man would have agreed with you,” Daredevil responded. “He was willing to make a deal with Mephisto himself to save his marriage and his daughter.”
“Yeah… well… I…”
Now it was Spider-Man’s turn to fall silent. For some reason, Daredevil’s words had hit him harder than any punch on the battlefield ever could. His heart rate spiked. His breathing grew more rapid. The brow of his mask became damp with sweat. Daredevil had no idea what this other Spider-Man had sacrificed, but whatever it was, it was still haunting him.
“I’m sorry, Peter,” Daredevil said, placing a sympathetic hand on his friend’s shoulder.
“Don’t be,” Spider-Man said, regaining his composure. “This isn’t about me. It’s about you.”
As noted above, the Faustian bargain with Marvel’s Satan stand-in mentioned by Daredevil is a not-so-subtle reference to the wall-crawler’s 2008 One More Day storyline.
Penned in 2008 by then-Marvel Comics Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada out of his belief that a married superhero would be seen as ‘unrelatable’ by younger readers, the entire four-issue tale eventually concluded with Spider-Man and Mary-Jane agreeing to trade their marriage to Mephisto in exchange for his saving of a then-critically-wounded Aunt May.
Widely panned as one of, if not the worst storylines in comic book history, let alone Spider-Man’s, not a day since its publication has gone by where fans haven’t begged Marvel Comics to not only retcon its out-of-character conclusion, but at the very least let Peter free from his corporate-mandated arrested development.
And while Marvel Comics continues to dismiss this sentiment, much to chagrin of die-hard comic fans and general audiences (after all, there’s a reason MJ keeps getting variant covers and not, say, Carlie Cooper or Shay Marken), Marvel Rivals‘ ‘inverted One More Day‘ nod shows that NetEase is more tuned in to the pulse of Marvel fandom than the actual company itself.
