Assassination of Christian Blake

The Assassination of Christian Blake was an attempt by Carl Hoffman to execute his partner Christian Blake.

Background

In the aftermath of the bombings throughout Hell's Kitchen, Detective Christian Blake and his partner Carl Hoffman, along with other police officers on Wilson Fisk's payroll, killed any survivors they came across. When they received word that Vladimir Ranskahov had survived the blast and was holed up in an abandoned building with the Masked Man, they surrounded the building. Ben Urich, a reporter from the New York Bulletin, arrived to report on the situation.

Meanwhile, Fisk communicated with the Man in the Mask using police radios. He offered him a way out of the building if he killed Ranskahov, but threatened to destroy his reputation if he refused. When the Man in the Mask refused his offer, Fisk ordered a SWAT team to shoot at the police, using his contacts in the media to infer that the Man in the Mask was responsible. Blake was shot and badly wounded.

Blake was taken to Metro-General Hospital and put under police guard, to prevent the Man in the Mask from finishing the job.^[6]

Attack

When the news reported that Christian Blake had regained consciousness, Wilson Fisk worried that he would be angry at him for having him shot, and would turn on him, betraying him to the police. Fisk asked James Wesley to reach out to Carl Hoffman, Blake's partner, to offer to pay him to kill Blake. Hoffman was reluctant, telling Fisk that Blake was a friend, not just a partner. Fisk, however, asked him to name his own price. In the end, Hoffman, feeling coerced, agreed to do it.

Hoffman arrived at Metro-General Hospital and was met by officer Brett Mahoney, who was guarding Blake's hospital room. Hoffman held a bag containing Blake's favorite sandwich, in which he had hidden a syringe. Hoffman injected Blake's IV with the contents of the syringe before Blake woke up. Masked Man knocked Hoffman out, and told Blake that it was too late to save his life, but that he could at least make Fisk pay for what he did. Blake did give him valuable information, and when the officers outside his room arrived on the scene, Blake was dead, the Masked Man had escaped out the window, and Hoffman told everyone that the Masked Man had killed his partner.^[7]

Aftermath

Carl Hoffman was approached by Leland Owlsley, who was growing increasingly worried about Wilson Fisk's erratic behavior. Owlsley offered Hoffman ten million dollars to stay in hiding, and informed him that if Owsley did not check in every 24 hours, he should go to the police and tell them everything he knew about Fisk in exchange for witness protection.^[8]

References