Daredevil Fact — November 5, 2026

Today's Fact

One killer, two vigilantes, and a race run simultaneously in two different comic books — the loser still had to win in a courtroom.

DAREDEVIL BEAT THE PUNISHER TO A POISONER — THEN DEFENDED THE POISONER IN COURT!

The Featured Fact

In 1988 someone began slipping cyanide into products made by the Zum Corporation, and two incompatible hunters took the case at once. The crossover ran in parallel: The Punisher Vol. 2 #10 and Daredevil Vol. 1 #257 told the same manhunt concurrently, each book shadowing the other as Frank Castle and Matt Murdock closed on the killer, Alfred Coppersmith.

Daredevil won the race. Where Castle arrived ready to execute, Matt fought through, took Coppersmith alive, and carried the unconscious murderer out of the Punisher's reach — deliberately denying Frank the kill and staking everything on the system Castle despised.

Then came the part no other hero would volunteer for. Matt Murdock, attorney, went on to represent Coppersmith in court — defending the very poisoner he had just bled to capture, because in Murdock's code a captured man is a defendant, entitled to counsel, even when his lawyer's knuckles are still healing.

Why It's Obscure

The crossover's real fight was never Daredevil versus Punisher. It was Murdock versus Castle's entire philosophy, argued first with fists and then with a defence table.

1988

Two books, one hunt — Punisher #10 and Daredevil #257 ran concurrently, the same chase told from both men's shoulders.

The target

Alfred Coppersmith — A poisoner tampering with Zum Corporation products gave both vigilantes the same scent.

The finish

Alive, on purpose — Daredevil won the confrontation and made off with the unconscious killer — a verdict Castle would never have delivered.

The sequel

Counsel for the poisoner — Marvel's own retrospective notes the kicker plainly: Murdock then represented Coppersmith in court.

Gallery

Both halves of the man who arrested a killer at midnight and billed him by the hour in the morning — plus the executioner he outran.

Comic panels of Matt Murdock arguing a case in a courtroom, with Daredevil in an inset panel — **Counsel Murdock**Matt arguing in court, cane in hand, while Daredevil does the bleeding in the inset panel. This is the second half of the Coppersmith story: the defence.

Daredevil comic cover showing Daredevil raising his right hand as if being sworn in, before an American flag — **Sworn in red**Daredevil raising his right hand before the flag on a courtroom cover — the Coppersmith defence made the pose inevitable.

Portrait of Frank Castle, the Punisher, in his skull-emblem shirt holding a rifle — **The other hunter**Frank Castle, the rival Murdock beat to the killer. Castle's plan for Coppersmith had no courtroom in it.

Sources

Every fact on this page was checked against at least two independent sources before publication.

Bullpen Bulletins

Flashback Friday: Daredevil vs. the Punisher — Marvel.comMarvel's official retrospective documents the concurrent Punisher #10 and Daredevil #257 cyanide-killer crossover, Daredevil winning with the unconscious Coppersmith, and Murdock representing him in court.
Daredevil Vol. 1 #257 (1988) and The Punisher Vol. 2 #10 (1988)The primary issues — the twin-told manhunt for Alfred Coppersmith, published the same year from both vigilantes' perspectives.