And we’re back to New Avengers. Spider-Man is so social now. Ronin. When announced, New Avengers was to feature a new character on the roster. The first image to come out with this mysterious new character was this cover:
“Bubble Boy,” as he was immediately dubbed, was not the character. He was later described as a “placeholder,” which is just… bizarre. But the actual new character is Ronin. Sort of. By the time New Avengers #1 came out, we had seen Ronin in this terrible variant cover by Joe Quesada:
Everybody who rightly dunked on Rob Leifeld for that one Captain America drawing was mysteriously quiet about this one! But who is Ronin? Well, after an intro of Ronin whupping some dudes…
We get this recap page…
..reminding us that the heavily Japanese-influenced Daredevil was the only person at the Raft to refuse the call. Which he did, as we’ll remember, because his public drama was just too much for him to inflict on the team. So, like, Matt Murdock taking on a 2nd superhero identity whilst working with the Avengers seems like the obvious explanation for who Ronin is, right? Haha. We next find Steve Roger discreetly meeting with Matt Murdock in the park “yesterday.” Matt reiterates his refusal to join the Avengers, but Steve cuts him off and asks about the Silver Samurai.
So, like, that would certainly seem to put to rest the identity of Ronin, wouldn’t it? Wolverine is unavailable due to being on a quest to reconnect with/right the wrongs of/see what’s left of the past he’s suddenly remembered. Cut to the present, as Ronin does various ninja-ing around Japan, then back to “yesterday” to continue their conversation, wherein Matt is mad at Cap for trying to shame him into this, and Cap asks what he can do if he can’t join the Avengers.
SO, LIKE, THAT WOULD CERTAINLY SEEM TO PUT TO REST THE IDENTITY OF RONIN, WOULDN’T IT? Across the next several pages, Ronin silently sneaks into a Clan Yashida installation, where he then watched as Harada is presented with his gear as the Silver Samurai. Silver Samurai actually debuted in an issue of Daredevil, but Chris Claremont was the next person to use him in the issues of Marvel Team-Up with saw (57, 74, 83, 84, 85) and then 2 issues of Spider-Woman before, inevitably, Silver Samurai wound up inextricably linked to the X-World, like almost everything Claremont touched. It’s a wonder Iron Fist wasn’t revealed to be a mutant.
WHO INDEED? Back in the present, Harada inspects his stuff as Viper, the once and future head of Hydra, appears, and they kiss, which is a new wrinkle, I think, in their relationship, but I’m not an expert.
Who’s behind all that hair!? In the present, Ronin is discovered, and spends 2 pages battling a typically endless army of Hand ninjas in an increasingly tense and bloody battle.
Now Original Recipe Peter is using Yiddish. Bendis just can’t help himself.
And we’re off to the races? Who is Ronin? Well, it’s not Matt Murdock. But it was going to be. For all the obvious reasons. But then Bendis finalized his plans for the end of his Daredevil run, which would land on the genuinely shocking twist of Matt Murdock going to prison. Which, B said, is how he wanted to end it, but he assumed he couldn’t. I mean, how would that be fair to whoever followed him? So he planned to do this Ronin thing. But then he found out Marvel had secured his friend Ed Brubaker to succeed Bendis on the book (With Michael Lark taking over art chores from Alex Maleev), and Bendis discussed it with Ed, who was completely onboard to pick up the baton from there. So, after planning NOT to put Matt in jail, he suddenly was going to put Matt in jail, and therefore, Ronin couldn’t be Matt anymore. But Ronin had already been widely teased as coming soon. So… somebody had to be in that suit. But who?