Spider-Man Almost Leaking Daredevil's Identity Proves Other Heroes Shouldn't Trust Him

Summary Spider-Man's lack of care for Daredevil's secret identity almost led to its exposure — twice.

Daredevil's secret identity is crucial to him, since he lacks major superpowers.

Spider-Man's history of revealing identities explains why he's not trusted by other heroes.

Spider-Man is one of the most popular and important heroes in the Marvel Universe, but he's far from the most respected. Despite his amazing acts of heroism, neither the public nor other superheroes tend to trust Spider-Man, and a big reason for that might be because Peter almost blew Daredevil's secret identity after one of their first meetings.

Spider-Man's surprising lack of care for Daredevil's secret identity was first seen in Daredevil #25 by Stan Lee and Gene Colan. In this story, after deducing Daredevil's identity after a previous adventure, Spider-Man sends a letter to Matt Murdock's office claiming that he knows Matt Murdock and Daredevil are one and the same.

The letter wasn't seen by Matt Murdock, though, and was instead received by Karen Page and Foggy Nelson, Matt Murdock's partners. These two immediately began to believe that Matt was Daredevil, since they had no doubts about Spider-Man's truthfulness. This "betrayal" forced Matt to create the ridiculous excuse of his twin brother, Mike Murdock.

Matt Murdock's secret identity is unbelievably important to him.

Related Spider-Man Already Named the 1 Hero Everyone Hates More Than Him Spider-Man is a hero who often has difficulties with team-ups, from his infamous bad luck to his constant commentary, but there's one hero even worse.

Daredevil Should Never Trust Spider-Man Again After This Early Betrayal

Daredevil #25 by the Legendary Stan Lee, Gene Colan, Frank Giacoia, and Art Simek

Matt Murdock's secret identity is unbelievably important to him. He doesn't have any major superpowers that would allow him to just pick up and move his life somewhere else. He lives a public life and has a number of friends as Matt, such as Foggy Nelson. When Daredevil's secret identity was exposed, it nearly ruined Matt's life and the lives of all his friends. It was one of the darkest periods in his life, which is why it's so surprising that Matt's identity was nearly leaked decades earlier — all because Spider-Man didn't use any forethought before sending a letter accusing Matt of being Daredevil.

Spider-Man has demonstrated a concerning habit of simply announcing to the world that Matt Murdock is Daredevil. During Brian Michael Bendis' run on Daredevil, after Matt's identity is leaked, Spider-Man figures it's perfectly fine to just find Matt on the street, in public, and call him Daredevil. At the time, Matt was simply trying to deny and ignore the claims that he was Daredevil, but having a known superhero like Spider-Man show up and openly call him Daredevil certainly didn't help the image that Matt was trying to present, which Matt even pointed out to Spider-Man.

Spider-Man Has Nearly Spoiled Daredevil's Identity a Few Times

Spider-Man Really Isn't Good at Keeping a Secret

Close

When Spider-Man's identity was leaked, he almost lost Aunt May, and he did lose his marriage to Mary Jane. It was one of the most devastating moments in Spider-Man's history, but apparently, before he lost his identity, he had no respect for the identities of other heroes. This perfectly explains why every other hero in the Marvel Universe tends to treat Spider-Man with disdain, as Spider-Man had absolutely no issue nearly leaking Daredevil's secret identity — twice.

Daredevil #25 is available now from Marvel Comics!

Daredevil Created By Stan Lee , Bill Everett First Appearance Daredevil Alias Matthew Michael Murdock Alliance Avengers, New Avengers, Defenders, Marvel Knights, The Chaste, The Hand Race Human Franchise Marvel Expand