#mike meta

[murdockmeta]

**Mike's referring to a woman that Butch murdered so that it would be easier for Butch to become Kingpin.

Okay, so, this makes me think there was some arguing going on between butch and mike behind the scenes that we didn't get to see (which i already suspected considering his reaction to how butch assaulted hammerhead in vol 6).

I've said in previous posts that I really wish we could've seen butch and mike's convos both post what happened to hammerhead and post butch killing the previous kingpin

mike obviously. doesnt. like killing. i mean, him and butch literally made a pact not to kill people even though they were working as career criminals. its one line mike isn't willing to cross and im sure he had very strong feelings about butch going behind his back and doing it anyways.

occuring right after the panels referenced below, butch says he's "gonna go run a !@#% business" and i think that kinda points to how those unseen arguments might've gone.

butch says this in reaction to mike suggesting an alternative to butch's plans to murder wilson fisk. it seems like butch has been justifying his actions by equating it as a means to an end. he's willing to get his hands dirty if it benefits the bigger pieces at play

as we can see in the panel above... mike doesn't agree with this approach. at all. not that he isn't willing to admit that it worked out. he trusts butch and he wants to give him some leeway when it comes to all of this.

mike's really hurt here and really concerned. he'd already been concerned for butch after killing the first time. he wanted to find a way to stop butch from spiraling further. then, he finds out butch is planning to kill again and he's furious.

he's trying to understand butch's motives but he can't because of the way butch sees this argument versus how mike sees it.

butch sees murder as a moving piece. by this point, he's trying hard to remove his personal reservations so it doesn't compromise his position as kingpin. he's trying not to see it as him killing his dad, he's trying to see it as a beneficial move for his 'business' as the kingpin of crime.

mike can't accept this point of view. and i also think he can't accept that butch genuinely thinks this way. butch is his friend and he believes butch is a good person.

mike's admitting he could understand butch wanting to kill in an emotional circumstance but this?? being so cold, callous, and calculating about it?

he can't wrap his head around that and he resents the notion entirely (which makes sense considering how his father died. jack's death was punishment for a 'business deal' gone wrong. that directly parallels butch's reasoning for wanting to kill his own father.) this circles back to how mike is shown to be an inherently compassionate person.

And it all accumulates to this. mike is hurt and butch is frustrated and they're both angry. mike feels betrayed again, it probably feels like a wound being reopened from when butch killed the first time. butch has a lot on his shoulders as acting kingpin. he feels like mike doesnt understand that, which is what's causing his reaction.

idk how to end this fuckin post but. yeah. *sighs*

[murdockmeta]

I think it's really intriguing that Mike had this whole "let's infiltrate the criminal underground so we can make it better" thing going on because well.

Do you know how stubborn and how strong your moral code has to be to get in Mike's position and still talk about "bloodless"? Mike has been a criminal most of his life. He's seen the underbelly of humanity in a very intimate way. That's not something to be said lightly, either.

Mike, despite being a con-man and being shit on by those he cares about and knowing how horrible people can be, still wants to make things better. He stuck to this idea that he was genuinely going to make a change for the better from the inside. And he wanted to do it, all of it, without killing anyone. He never wanted to stoop to that level.

There's no way he hasn't seen the worst of the worst, doing what he does. You aren't a criminal involved with mob/gang activity and not see some fucked up shit. It never soured him, though. He never turned his back on the idea he could make things better. Not only that, he saw how fucking horrible people are, and he still thought they deserved something better than they had.

Thats. That's amazing. Mike's probably had people betray him and he's probably done the same thing to others. Hes crossed lines and redrawn them just to cross them again. He's watched people steal and con and threaten and fight and murder and he still thought... "yeah, I can make this better. I can make things better for them. They're shitty people but they're still people."

Mike sees himself as one of those people, too. And he still wants to make things better, be better. He has this unending compassion and drive that he hides beneath his carefree ways. He tries so hard to come off as casual and cool but really he has a fire in him that can't be put out.

I love that. I just love that.

[murdockmeta]

welcome back to watchmojo where we are counting down ren's top 5 mike murdock moments

5. Killing Bullseye that one time

so, technically this didnt ACTUALLY happen (or itd be my number one lmfao), it was in a dream Matt was having while he was dying. but listen, okay, mike was still so real for this. bullseye was this close to killing Matt and Mike comes outta nowhere, declares his love for Karen Page, and boom shoots the guy right off a fuckin skyscraper how could i NOT talk about this, okay?

4. Being thrown to the ground

listen, he looks good a little roughed up, alright? what are you, a fuckin cop or somethin? aint it my right as a living, breathing, human being to enjoy pretty boys being thrown around a lil sometimes? damn

for reference: the first photo was when he was pretending to be Matt, trying to deal with some mob bosses. one of them got angry and pushed him down. the second was when mike was first introduced in the soule/noto run. bad guys bust into the bar hes at and matt throws him behind cover lmfao

3. this EXCELLENT reintroduction in the 2020 annual

the 2020 annual is when we get mike's whole backstory and THIS is the first panel we see him in. this is genuinely poetic. mike murdock wouldnt exist without first being made-up by matt (and matt pretending to be mike). we all know the story of matt losing his eye sight, he pushed a person out of the way of a van that was carrying toxic chemicals, blah blah

well. here we are yet again. except everythings flipped on its head. mike is pretending to be matt. he's jumping in front of this van to make the guys think theyve hit him so he can help rob them. he isnt saving anyone but he sure as hell is putting himself in danger. it sets the tone for his whole character. its just. yeah. this was fantastic, honestly.

2. his reaction to butch assualting hammerhead

okay so this was the moment in vol 6 that genuinely caught my complete attention. this was the moment i realized just how different and special mike was.

murdocks are known for, well, violence. jack was a boxer, he wanted matt to grow up and be nothing like him. he didnt want matt to fight only for matt to become daredevil later in life. we are led to believe there's almost this inherent violent streak to being "a murdock"

this is after a mob boss meeting, mike is watching hammerhead (a boss) from the shadows, helping butch keep track of him. he lets butch know where hammerhead is. butch proceeds to threaten hammerhead, bash his head into a car, yell at him, then gouge one of his eyes out.

and, well. this was mike's reaction.

this is the first time we are given a glimpse of mike's morals, his values. besides how much he cares for the people close to him, we find out he has an aversion to violence. he's a career criminal, i'm not saying he doesnt know how to throw a punch, but he goes out of his way to avoid it.

he's repeatedly shown to be a voice of reason, a mediator, and every time a violent solution is brought up, he immediately protests and wants to figure out a different way. that's fascinating to me.

he's breaking the mold of being "a murdock" in the most unexpected way. we think he must be so much like jack to so easily get involved in crime (with even jack saying so himself), but here we are shown that's wrong.

i wish we could've gotten his and butch's convo directly after this. also, another thing, mike's reaction to people he cares about doing something he doesnt approve of isn't to get angry, it's to worry. which, again. fascinating. admirable, even.

when he finds out matt's "in rehab" he's worried, and yeah a little angry, but mostly concerned for his brother. even after this incident, we are seen mike being very worried later. he's concerned for butch's mental state and wants to stop him from making any rash decisions (ie killing someone)

but, yeah. sorry for the damn essay (and heres another) anyways

trying to save wilson fisk from being assassinated

christs sake hes so fucking gorgeous. also ignore matt being an asshole here because that's all he ever did when mike was around.

this was another very interesting moment in which we see mike's strong morals on full display. we are repeatedly told mike isn't the kind of person to be trusted, he doesnt take things seriously, he's morally ambiguous yada yada. and yet.

as soon as he finds out butch is planning to maybe (which he later find out he's correct about) put a hit on wilson fisk, wilson fuckin fisk, he wants to stop it. mike is under the impression that killing someone is not a line you can cross and come back from. he's deeply concerned about the path his friend is headed down.

In this scene, he's coming to visit foggy in the hospital to talk to him about maybe getting butch out of jail while also hoping to catch daredevil there. he does, obviously.

his full intention is to team up with daredevil to try and take fisk down. mike thinks if he can take fisk down it'll stop butch from trying to kill him.

him going to daredevil also shows his ability to extend his compassion to others. he has no fuckin reason to trust daredevil. daredevil has done nothing but insult mike, yell and argue with him, and even rough him up a couple of times. and still, mike decides to reach out because he knows daredevil is supposed to be a good guy. he also knows daredevil is supposed to be matt's close friend.

he brings it up more than once that the reason he trusts daredevil is because of matt being his friend (despite mike and matt supposedly not being close).

so, yeah, i got a little off-topic, but that's why i love this scene so much. it shows not only how deeply mike cares for people, but also his compassion and aversion to violence. he's trying to take care of his best friend and trust daredevil despite their differences. he's showing how good of a person he is and how dedicated he is to his cause of a "bloodless" coup.

-----

if you made it this far fuckin THANKS, mike is my favoritest most specialist boy lmao and this turned into a character study high key but im not mad about it

[murdockmeta]

There's something that really hurts about Mike trying to offer Butch a solution to his problems so he doesn't have to kill anyone only for Butch to get angry at Mike and saying he "never takes anything serious." And then, despite this, the next time we see Mike he's calling Butch to try and make amends.

There's something about him stopping by to bring Foggy flowers and Matt immediately assuming Mike is lying and in general Matt thinking Mikes always trying to run some "get rich quick" scheme while Mike's actually trying to do good that. really hurts.

There's something about Mike repeatedly showing loyalty, dedication, morality, and bravery only for people to call him flaky, unserious, sleazy, and a fake that really. really. hurts.