It's A Long Way Down

During a recap of Daredevil's clashes with the classic Spider-Man villain, Electro, there was one little item that was mentioned in passing which we should really explore in detail:

How did Daredevil find his way back to Earth from outer space?

It's a feat that would tax the credulity of even we comic book readers.

Let's take a look at how Daredevil got into this mess in the first place. Battling Electro in the famous headquarters of the Fantastic Four, the Baxter Building, DD was caught off guard while he was attempting to lift a dumbbell in order to hurl it at his foe, not realizing that it was actually one of the weights the Thing used in his workouts. Now if you or I were in DD's place and feeling around in the dark for a weapon, we'd probably give up on using that dumbbell almost instantly when our own ordinary sense of touch revealed that the darn thing was larger than we were. The fact that DD kept at it already makes him seem like the kind of chap who's going to be clueless to save himself in a ship bound for the stars.

Rendered unconscious by Electro, who probably can't help chuckling all the way to the FF's hangar at DD practically handing his victory to him, our villain is pretty confident that he's never going to have to worry about this hero again.

Ohhh, Electro. You're not too swift on the uptake yourself. When "the bewildered Fantastic Four" return, they're going to stay bewildered as to who was responsible for their missing rocket, unless you leave them a note and tell them. (If you actually end up doing that, you dope, then just remember to sign Daredevil's name and not your own.)

Meanwhile, heading into outer space (though he doesn't know it yet), Daredevil awakens, immediately reaching out with his hyper senses to assess his situation. Luckily the FF don't keep any dumbbells in their ships that would confound anyone with hyper senses.

In reaching out for familiar sounds, we can only hope DD doesn't begin to hear TAC TAC TAC sounds which signal the ship is being bombarded with cosmic rays, because that's a whole other story entirely.

Even after he realizes the situation, DD refuses to even consider the situation hopeless, because... well, I don't know why, since by all rights this situation IS hopeless. Unless Reed Richards keeps an owners manual handy, DD is pretty much stuck on this ship as it streaks away from Earth, since this man is no pilot. (Unless law school was offering internships with NASA for some reason. "You may be defending someone in the space program someday, students!") But just look at how giddy he is as he bolts for the control room. (How would you even know where that is, pal?)

If you can work them in ti...? You're not cracking a safe here, bub--how are you going to operate controls that you're totally unfamiliar with? Do they have heartbeats? Odor? Does the control panel somehow give off indications that allow you to pick up on their operation? Clue you in on which controls do what?

Never fear--because we discover that Daredevil can sense the direction of a flight while in the void of space. As long as we're pulling abilities out of the hat for this brand new hero in only his second issue, we might as well tack that one on, eh? Before you know it, he's on approach to Central Park--and check out that smile! Quite a joyride for the Man Without Any Piloting Credentials Fear.

And surviving a crash landing when your ship is heading into the ground nose first with no deceleration? Child's play!

Those officers are right, DD, you did endanger people--because it probably came as a surprise to you that you'd be unable to hear the heartbeats of anyone below through the noise of a rocket blasting its way toward a crash landing. At any rate, you're certainly getting the hero thing down right off the bat--running out on law enforcement authorities is the best way to start building your new rep. How do you feel about the word "fugitive"?

Man, that horse must have been exposed to gamma rays at some point.

Heedless of the A.P.B. that's likely now out on him, things just start falling into place for DD in terms of returning to the Baxter Building to settle Electro's hash. And with his chosen method of transportation, one of those falling things might be himself if he's not careful; but this is Daredevil, a man who's memorized the timetable and flight path of a sightseeing helicopter service (specifications which we have to believe crossed Matt Murdock's desk at some point, since we know the guy isn't likely to go on a sightseeing tour).

And before Electro can say "Egad!", his vanquished foe literally drops in on him again.

Heh--how cool would it be if Electro's first thought had been that DD had bailed out of his rocket and plummeted all the way down, to say nothing of surviving re-entry. Now that's persistence.

At any rate, DD goes on to defeat his foe--and the FF no doubt conclude how dumb it was to have a skylight on the roof of their headquarters.