1. Into the Ring

Crime cartels, including the Russian mafia, Yakuza, and Chinese mob, have exploited Hell's Kitchen 's circumstances since "the incident". Blinded as a boy in an accident that gave him heightened senses, Matt Murdock starts fighting this rising criminal element by night as a costumed vigilante while opening a law firm with his friend, Foggy Nelson. Their first client is Karen Page, a secretary for construction company Union Allied, who has been framed for the murder of her co-worker, Daniel Fisher, after accidentally uncovering a money laundering scheme. Murdock stops Karen from being prosecuted and protects her from a professional hitman before exposing the scandal through Ben Urich at The New York Bulletin.

Grateful for their help, Page offers to work for Murdock and Nelson. James Wesley covers up the involvement of his employer in the scandal, and orders Anatoly and Vladimir Ranskahov, the Russians' leaders, to handle Murdock ("the man in black"): they kidnap a young boy to lure him into a trap.