Battle at the Presidential Hotel

Battle at the Presidential Hotel
Previous	Chronologically: Assassination of Darius Davis Narratively: Kidnapping of Felix Manning
Next	Assassination of James Connors
War	Kingpin's Federal Corruption
Date	Late 2017
Location	Presidential Hotel, New York City, New York
Result (Outcome)	Daredevil makes a deal with Kingpin. Benjamin Poindexter becomes paralyzed. Tammy Hattley and several corrupt FBI agents are arrested.
Combatants
Daredevil
FBI Kingpin
Benjamin Poindexter
Commanders
Daredevil
Kingpin
Benjamin Poindexter
Casualties
-
Arinori Mockta Markham Several FBI agents
-

"No prison can keep me, you know that. Come on! Kill me!"
"No! God knows I want to, but you don't get to destroy who I am. You will go back to prison and you will live the rest of your miserable life in a cage, knowing you'll never have Vanessa, that this city rejected you. It beat you. I beat you!"

―Kingpin and Daredevil^[src]

The Battle at the Presidential Hotel was a three-sided confrontation between Daredevil, Kingpin, and Benjamin Poindexter during Kingpin's wedding ceremony.

Background

"Marriage?"
"He's been planning the ceremony for months. He's gonna charm the press and the public and make Hell's Kitchen love him again."

―Daredevil and Felix Manning^[src]

Wilson Fisk agrees to cooperate with the FBI

Serving his sentence at Rikers Island, Wilson Fisk came up with the plan to get out of prison and restore his criminal empire by manipulating the FBI. He targeted Ray Nadeem, playing on his desperate financial situation, and struck a deal to provide the FBI with an intel on criminals in exchange of Vanessa Marianna not being charged as his accessory. With Fisk's help, the FBI was able to bring down the Albanian Syndicate, which proved the value of his intel. Fisk then used Jasper Evans to stage an attack on himself and force Nadeem to tranfer him out of Rikers Island to keep him safe, while secretly setting Evans free.

Now residing at Presidential Hotel, Fisk continued his work on manipulating the FBI agents on his security detail, coercing them into working for him. He took a special interest in Benjamin Poindexter, noticing his uncanny combat and accuracy skills, as well as a fragile mental state that made him rather succeptible. Matt Murdock, who had been investigating Fisk's release and seeking a way to bring him down again, tried to look into Fisk's connection with the Albanian Syndicate and got into Rikers Island. He got into Fisk's trap, who confirmed his suspicions that Murdock and Daredevil were the same person, but Murdock was able to learn about Evans from Vic Jusufi.

Benjamin Poindexter impersonates Daredevil

Eventually, Fisk succeeded in manipulating Poindexter and getting him on his side, taking advantage of his admiration of Julie Barnes and the growing distrust towards him within the FBI. When Fisk found out that Foggy Nelson and Karen Page found Evans and he was ready to talk, Fisk ordered Poindexter in Daredevil's Suit to lay waste on New York Bulletin and kill Evans. Despite Daredevil's attempt to stop him, Poindexter's mission was successful and Daredevil was branded a murderer and a terrorist. To make sure Poindexter would not drift away from him, Fisk had Barnes killed and ordered Felix Manning to hide her body.

Ray Nadeem is forced to work for Kingpin

Daredevil joined forces with Nadeem and the two soon discovered Poindexter being responsible for the massacre, and his connecting to Fisk. Although Nadeem tried to bring that up to the FBI, Tammy Hattley revealed that she had been working for Fisk as well and killed Winn, while Manning forged an evidence incriminating Nadeem. Being forced into working for the FBI, Nadeem became an accessory to numerous crimes, while Fisk was successfully cleared of his charges by the United States Department of Justice. When Fisk ordered for Page to be killed, Nadeem could no longer abide by Fisk's orders and allowed Brett Mahoney to take Page away, saving her life.

Benjamin Poindexter kills Ray Nadeem

Knowing that Fisk would be hunting him down as a traitor, Nadeem got into contact with Nelson and Murdock, who offered to represent him in their attempt to take Fisk down. They brought up the issue to Blake Tower who agreed to set up a grand jury and let Nadeem testify against Fisk, even though he would serve his sentence as Fisk's accessory. Even though Murdock successfully brought Nadeem in to for his testimony, Fisk was able to pressure the jurors into not reaching a verdict, so their efforts ended in naught. Marianna suggested that Nadeem was too much of a liability, so she and Fisk had Poindexter to kill him and the FBI twisted the narrative into making him a criminal.

Daredevil interrogates Felix Manning

Daredevil decided that the law was powerless against Fisk and decided to end him for good, kidnapping Manning to extract information on him. Manning revealed that Fisk was preparing for his wedding with Marianna, which would help him win out the public adoration once again. Daredevil also found about Barnes and contacted Poindexter, revealing to him that Fisk had her killed and sending him into homicidal rage that he would direct towards Fisk. Meanwhile, Nelson and Page found Nadeem's dying declaration in which he confessed everything before Poindexter killed him, which would be admissable in court and capable of destroying Fisk.

Battle

Wilson Fisk marries Vanessa Marianna

"You'll keep my secret, and you won't harm Karen Page or Foggy Nelson or anyone else. Because if you do, I will go after your wife. And I will prove Vanessa ordered the murder of Agent Ray Nadeem, and like her husband, she'll spend the rest of her life in a cell."

―Daredevil to Kingpin^[src]

As Wilson Fisk's wedding ceremony took place, he made his marriage with Vanessa Marianna official, inviting various socialites and crime bosses to attend. Wearing Daredevil's Suit, Benjamin Poindexter took Julie Barnes's frozen corpse and drove to Presidential Hotel, taking out J. Lim and other FBI agents that were providing security, with Daredevil following close after. As Fisk and Marianna exchanged their vows and went on to have a dance, New York Bulletin spread the footage of Ray Nadeem's declaration online, publically incriminating Fisk.

Benjamin Poindexter crashes the wedding ceremony

As the attendees reseived the footage and Tammy Hattley informed Fisk that several agents were down, Fisk decided to take Marianna to safety. At that moment, Poindexter showed up at the scene and mockingly wished Fisk and Marianna the best on his and Barnes' behalf. He then attempted to kill Marianna with a microhpone throw, but Daredevil intervened just in time to save her life. In the subsequent chaos, during which attendees were running for their lives, Daredevil and Poinedxter engaged in a three-sided confrontation with the FBI agents.

Daredevil went on to pursue Fisk and Marianna that retreated in their penthouse, while Poindexter was fighting his former colleagues. He killed several agents, including Arinori and Mockta and wounded Hattley, who was pleading for her life. Poindexter aimed a gun at her and prepared to finish her off, but as he ran out of ammo, he settled on knocking her away. Daredevil, meanwhile, got to Fisk's secret observation room and knocked down agents guarding it, before asking Shelby to shut down the elevators, knocking that the New York City Police Department was outside and ready to enter the building.

Daredevil and Kingpin fight

With no way to escape, Fisk and Daredevil engaged in a brutal fight, before Poindexter joined them and made another attempt on Marianna's life, with Daredevil intervening to save her. As their battle progressed, Fisk was able to bring Poindexter down and slam him against the wall, breaking his spine. However, he was too exhausted to resist Daredevil, who proceeded to mercilessly beat him down and almost snapped his neck, before Marianna begged for him to stop. Fisk taunted Daredevil, claiming that he would not stop until Foggy Nelson, Karen Page and everyone he cared are dead, and Daredevil's only choice was to kill him.

Daredevil forces Kingpin into complying

Daredevil refused to break his rule and told Fisk would have to go back to prison, keep the secret of his identity and never harm those he cared for. Daredevil claimed that Fisk would try to disobey, he would prove that Marianna was an accessory in Ray Nadeem's murder and she would be imprisoned as well, so Fisk was forced to make a deal with Daredevil and keep his wife safe. As Daredevil retreated, Brett Mahoney and the SWAT unit entered the penthouse, taking Fisk and survivng FBI agents under arrest, while Mahoney pointed out that the Daredevil who was commiting crimes recently, was Poindexter in disguise. Fisk pleaded to give him a chance to say goodbye to his wife, but Mahoney replied that he never gave Nadeem such a luxury and took him into custody.

Aftermath

Wilson Fisk's Incarceration

Kingpin is arrested by Brett Mahoney

"The whole FBI corruption scandal, Agent Nadeem, all that. It's why my husband was acquitted."

―Vanessa Fisk to Benjamin Poindexter^[src]

NYPD officers led by Brett Mahoney stormed Wilson Fisk's suite, where they spotted Benjamin Poindexter in a Daredevil suit, who was unable to move and unmasked him. As the real Daredevil was spotted leaving, this cleared Daredevil's name and made it known to the authorities that Poindexter was the one who had committed the recent murders in Daredevil's name. Meanwhile, Fisk and Vanessa Marianna were escorted out of the hotel, with Fisk being handcuffed and placed in the back of a squad car. The NYPD also arrested Tammy Hattley and all the remaining FBI agents who worked under Fisk's command. Hattley then decided to confess and corroborated Ray Nadeem's statement, resulting in a successful incarceration for Fisk.

However, Nadeem's confession only succeeded in keeping Fisk incarcerated for a short time. Due to the scandal that emanated from the FBI's corruption, Fisk was acquitted from his crimes and was released from prison. Fisk then recouped his empire and reaffirmed himself as the kingpin of crime in New York City. Despite his release from prison, Fisk still upheld his end of the deal in regards to not harming Page or Nelson, although he became aware of Vanessa's involvement in Nelson's death.

Benjamin Poindexter's Augmentation

Bullseye targets Foggy Nelson

"About your friend... I had nothing to do with his death. I kept that promise."

―Wilson Fisk to Matt Murdock^[src]

As he had been paralyzed, Benjamin Poindexter agreed to an experimental surgery, during which Kenji Oyama replaced his destroyed spine with a Cogmium framework, allowing Poindexter to walk again. Following the successful surgery, Poindexter was remanded to a medical facility. In 2025, Vanessa Fisk arranged for Poindexter to be acquitted from his crimes committed during Kingpin's Federal Corruption, in exchange for Poindexter killing Benny Cafaro and Foggy Nelson. Poindexter tracked down Nelson to Josie's Bar and murdered him, leading to a brutal confrontation with Daredevil, who was unable to save his friend in time. Daredevil defeated Poindexter and he was taken into custody, and a year later, the court gave him multiple life sentence for killing eleven people, including Nelson, during his attack.