Marvel Is Rekindling Daredevil’s Best Rivalry Just in Time For His MCU Launch

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Warning: Contains SPOILERS for Daredevil: Unleash Hell #3 (2025)

Daredevil
has no shortage of comic book rivals, but there is none better than his relationship with the Ghost Riders
. While these heroes share a similar motivation to their “costumed” aesthetics, Daredevil and the Ghost Rider couldn’t be more ideologically different. Yet, despite their obvious disdain for one another, Marvel is resurrecting this old rivalry with a new face that promises to be far more entertaining than before.

In Daredevil: Unleash Hell #3– written by Erica Schultz, with art by Valentina Pinti – Daredevil clashes with Muse’s new companion, Morgan Whittier. Imbued with the power of Muse’s damned soul, Morgan effortlessly parries the Hand’s ex-assassin.

Having underestimated her opponent, Daredevil astonishingly loses the fight before Morgan impales the hero’s heart. Meanwhile, the Ghost Rider picks up the smell of sin in Hell’s Kitchen and arrives to aid Daredevil’s fight. While this Daredevil isn’t the one Johnny Blaze and Danny Ketch have crossed in the past, Marvel is setting up a new hellish
alliance between Blaze and Elektra.

The Longrunning Daredevil/Ghost Rider Gets An Unexpected Twist As the Duo “Unleash Hell”

Daredevil: Unleash Hell #3–Written By Erica Schultz; Art By Valentina Pinti & José Luis Soares; Ink By Valentina Pinti & Jonas Tindade; Color By Dee Cunniffe; Lettering By VC’s Clayton Cowles

Daredevil and the Ghost Riders’ relationship stretches back to the mid-1970s to the late 1990s, when the two heroes crossed paths in 1976’s Daredevil #138 – written by Marv Wolfman, with art John Byrne – where Karen Page has just been kidnapped by a villain who wants to use Karen to uncover her father’s research in interdimensional travel. Both Daredevil and Ghost Rider independently discover Karen’s location, arriving to save her at the same time. The story continues into Ghost Rider #20, where Matt Murdock and Johnny Blaze fully team up to defeat the villains and save Karen.

However, while their relationship in these two comics is friendly, even as
Ghost Rider incinerates the villain
, Daredevil’s tolerance for Ghost Rider’s infernal form of punishment lessened in the following years. In 1991’s Daredevil #295, Daredevil meets Danny Ketch for the first time, who has since taken his brother’s place as the Spirit of Vengeance. Unlike his relationship with Johnny in the ‘70s, Matt immediately disapproves of Danny’s actions in this comic. This Ghost Rider is more brutal than his brother, and, after Daredevil accidentally intercepts a Penance Stare, Matt learns how horrific the Ghost Riders can be.

The Pair Of Devilish Marvel Heroes Are Fundamentally Opposed In Many Ways

Similar Aesthetic Choices Don’t Represent Their Nature

Danny Ketch and Matt Murdock later face each other as enemies once more in 1997’s Daredevil #372as Daredevil lambastes the Ghost Rider for his punitive form of punishment without a fair trial or representation. However, Daredevil’s obstinate refusal to understand the Ghost Rider’s spiritual sight only
enrages the Spirit of Vengeance
. Ghost Rider tries to inflict the Penance Stare on Matt as punishment for his impetuousness, leaving the hero behind cold and emotionally shaken from the experience. This is when the fundamental divide between Daredevil and, at least, Danny Ketch becomes present.

Despite Daredevil’s aesthetic, Matt Murdock is a man of God; his faith is what compels his journey, while the Ghost Riders are emissaries of Hell and deliver a violent form of punishing justice devoid of God’s will. While Daredevil isn’t afraid to beat the living hell out of his opponents, his faith compels him to protect the sanctity of the human soul and to give sinners a second chance at redemption. By contrast,
the Spirit of Vengeance
cannot allow such a thing. It’s not simply a choice, it’s their contract. Both demon and host are servants of the Devil.

Both Heroes Know What It’s Like To Deserve Hell

Matt Murdock’s relationship with Johnny and Danny is complicatedly varied. Matt has historically allied with Johnny without problems but has consistently despised working with Danny. However,
Matt Murdock isn’t the only Daredevil
with an established relationship with a Ghost Rider. In Charles Soule’s run of the 2012 Thunderbolts series, Johnny Blaze joins the Red Hulk’s Thunderbolts team alongside veteran members like Elektra. Funnily enough, in 2013’s Thunderbolts #21Johnny admits that he hates Matt Murdock because he feels he, a hellfire-infused stunt biker, should have been called Daredevil. That said, Johnny and Elektra never share this mutual animosity.

While their relationship wouldn’t be called a “friendship,” Johnny and Elektra get along fine enough throughout the Thunderbolts series. Unlike Matt Murdock, who has admittedly been to Hell a few times, Elektra truly understands what it feels like to burn for her sins. She and Johnny most likely look at each other and see a fellow soul forever scorched by hellfire. In Elektra’s ongoing Daredevil: Unleash Hell series, she discovers that her time in Hell has imparted her with
a basic version of the Ghost Riders’ ability
to sense sin. No words are needed when both souls wreak of Hell.

Elektra Finds An Easy Ally In The Ghost Rider

Johnny Blaze Is Determined To Save Daredevil’s Soul

Now, Johnny Blaze has sensed Muse’s sin, and it’s boiling over in Hell’s Kitchen.
Muse is far more powerful than both Daredevils
are willing to admit. Despite Elektra’s decades of training, Muse and Morgan have prepared to face their iconic enemy. As Morgan savagely brutalizes Daredevil, Ghost Rider can feel her soul reel from the devastating fight; the closer he gets, “the more rage boils over.” A great evil has possessed his mutually damned soul and she’s losing the fight. Tragically, just as Johnny arrives, Elektra is killed as her soul is sent back to Hell and within Muse’s grasp.

Fortunately for Daredevil, she’s not alone. As her soul slips through Hell’s inferno, she faces the fiendish visage of Muse, Morgan, and a demonically twisted variant of herself. As long as her soul persists the demons’ onslaught, the Ghost Rider can still save her from damnation.
Johnny Blaze was once the King of Hell
and has since reclaimed his Spirit of Vengeance, free from the Devil’s grasp. Johnny Blaze and Elektra have spent years managing the literal demons inside them while trying to rediscover their humanity along the way. Unlike Matt, Elektra has an ally in the Ghost Rider.

Marvel Needs to Keep This Infernal Team Going

Elektra’s Daredevil Is Perfectly Suited For Hell’s Kitchen’s Supernatural Side

While Marvel hasn’t frequently thrown these two heroes together,
Daredevil and Ghost Rider
make an exciting team. If it’s Matt Murdock at the helm, his fundamental disagreement with the Ghost Rider’s very nature, despite his ironic aesthetic, would open up amazing character growth for the two. Assuredly, Matt would have some choice words once he learned that Johnny Blaze waged a war with Heaven. But, with Elektra as the main Daredevil, the tag team feels dynamic but comfortable. Elektra and Johnny know how to read a soul, they don’t ever need to talk to understand one another.

Marvel has made a strong choice in forcing Elektra to confront Hell’s Kitchen’s paranormal threats. From bonding with the Beast to her own frequent trips to Hell, Elektra is specially built to handle the supernatural threats that linger in the shadows. While Marvel may not fully explore
Elektra and Johnny’s relationship
in Hell Unleashed, it’s nostalgic to see old dynamics brought back with a modern flair. Whether Daredevil and Ghost Rider assume old rivalries or forge a demonic new friendship, this infernal mashup is bound to unleash hell on the forces of Hell itself.

Daredevil: Unleash Hell #3 is available now from Marvel Comics.

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