Franklin P. NelsonFoggy Nelson

Character Chronology Highlights

After becoming fully licensed lawyers, Foggy and Matt opened the law offices of Nelson & Murdock with financial backing from Foggy’s parents and hired Karen Page as their secretary. Although Nelson pursued Page romantically, he also maintained a relationship with his old girlfriend Deborah Harris, who had gone to jail for a plot to assassinate the mayor of New York (even though she helped thwart the plot with Daredevil’s help). In the end, Page would fall for Murdock, not Foggy.

One of the firm’s first clients was the Fantastic Four, who needed help with the lease on their headquarters in the Baxter Building. Another early customer was Zebediah Killgrave, the Purple Man, who kidnapped Karen. Leland Owlsley, a dastardly Wall Street financier who eventually developed a serum that gave him the ability to fly, attempted to hire the two lawyers, but once they discovered his true identity, they had him arrested and jailed.

Matt’s secret identity sometimes got Foggy into mortal peril. When Foggy went to the wax museum with some friends, he got caught in the middle of a brawl between Daredevil, Ox, and the Eel, which landed him in the hospital. He recovered and made it back to work to assist Namor, who needed help preventing the surface world from hurting his ocean home. Next, Foggy worked for Wilbur Day, a former employee of Kaxton Laboratories whose patents for hydraulic lifts were stolen by his boss Carl Kaxton.

Foggy was once mistaken for Daredevil when Spider-Man tracked the Super Hero back to the offices of Nelson & Murdock. Spider-Man didn’t think the blind Matt could be Daredevil, so he set his sights on Nelson. Foggy did not deny the accusation, wanting to prove himself to Page. To further the ruse, he bought a Daredevil costume from costume designer Melvin Potter.

Potter disliked Super Heroes, but wanted to test the strength of his armor and convinced Foggy to fight against him, telling him it would impress Karen. The designer took on the persona of Gladiator and made the fight as real as possible, almost killing Foggy before the real Daredevil intervened and saved his friend’s life. He admitted to the hoax, but was furious that Karen ended up with Matt’s twin “brother” Mike who was supposed be the Daredevil, but was actually Matt’s third identity.

Later, Nelson was elected New York City District Attorney and made Matt his assistant. His campaign was terrorized by the Jester (Jonathan Powers), who was hired by mayoral candidate Richard Raleigh and preferred a more malleable DA. Daredevil defeated Jester, and Raleigh was killed by Man-Monster during an encounter with Spider-Man.

Nelson’s tenure as DA hit a snag when one of his staff members, Roy Hollis, turned out to be the Super Villain known as Crime-Wave. His reputation temporarily tarnished, Foggy still had great success in persecuting the criminals (costumed or otherwise) of New York City. Things were going so well that he contemplated an eventual gubernatorial campaign.

Unfortunately, all the success and ambition came crashing down when Foggy was blackmailed by a time-traveling android (Mr. Kline) hoping to pre-empt future events by unfairly prosecuting Daredevil’s friend Black Widow (Natasha Romanoff) on false murder charges. Matt defended her and cleared her of all charges. The case was a black mark on Foggy’s legal reputation and destroyed any chances he had for becoming governor. Ashamed of his actions, Nelson contemplated resigning as DA, but was dissuaded by Murdock.

Months later, Nelson was targeted for assassination while investigating Mandrill’s Black Spectre terrorists. He survived, but was abducted by Phil Sterling, now Death-Stalker, who sought secrets uncovered by Nelson’s activist sister Candace. Daredevil rescued both Nelson siblings.

Foggy’s brilliant legal mind was coveted by both the good guys and the bad. Nick Fury asked him to serve on S.H.I.E.L.D.’s board of directors, but a sentient Dreadnought robot abducted Nelson for the subversive Hydra. Hydra also captured Daredevil and Black Widow, but Nelson freed them to defeat Dreadnought and its comrades. Foggy ultimately declined S.H.I.E.L.D.’s offer.

Trying to regain some popularity, Foggy promoted the capabilities of the WHO (Worldwide Habitual Offenders) computer, which turned murderous before Spider-Man destroyed it. The poor guy just couldn’t catch a break.

In his bid for re-election as DA, Foggy was once again terrorized by the Jester (who was again stopped by Daredevil) and lost to Blake Tower. After this defeat, Foggy briefly opened Storefront Legal Services, which failed due to his financial mismanagement, before re-establishing Nelson & Murdock with Matt. During this time, Kingpin sent Elektra to assassinate Foggy, but she refused to kill a friend of Matt’s. While investigating Glenn Industries’ misdeeds, Nelson inadvertently earned a criminal reputation as “Guts” Nelson but sidestepped accompanying difficulties with Daredevil’s help.

After Nelson and Deborah were married, she was kidnapped by an associate of the Purple Man. The couple soon divorced because of their differing notions of societal success and Deborah was drawn to Nelson’s latest client, Micah Synn, brutal ruler of the Kinjorge Tribe who was descended from British royalty. The second iteration of the Nelson & Murdock partnership came to an end when the Kingpin learned that Murdock was Daredevil. Fisk made Matt’s life a living hell and Foggy worked to defend his friend from false bribery charges.

Nelson received multiple job offers and began dating photographer Glorianna O’Breen, Murdock’s former flame and a relative of Deborah’s.

Nelson took a position with Kelco Industrials, but resigned when it became clear that Kelco was in the Kingpin’s pocket; Matt opened his own law clinic, acting as advisor to victims of Kelco’s illegal chemical dumping. Nelson & Murdock was reopened for the third time and everything seemed to be back to normal when reporter Sara Harrington tried to expose Daredevil’s secret identity, which led to Daredevil faking Matt Murdock’s death. Nelson later believed his friend to be dead, until he was saved by Daredevil, who suffered a nervous breakdown, thus revealing his true identity to his best friend in the world.

Although enraged that Murdock had kept such a secret for so long, Nelson nevertheless stood by his friend. After Murdock’s recovery, his supposed death was attributed to a S.H.I.E.L.D. operation. They were then recruited by Foggy’s long-absent mother Rosalind Sharpe to start a new firm Sharpe, Nelson, and Murdock. Their first client was Daredevil’s nemesis Mr. Hyde. More difficulties arose when Foggy started dating Liz Osborn (apparent widow of Harry Osborn) and incurred the wrath of both Mysterio and the Green Goblin. In particular, Mysterio manipulated Nelson into pursuing client Lydia McKenzie, then framed him for her murder. Sharpe fired her son and Murdock resigned in protest.

When the Daily Globe exposed Daredevil’s secret identity, Nelson supported his friend during the crisis, advising him to sue the Globe rather than admit the truth and face legal repercussions from years of deception.

Foggy’s death was faked by Kingpin’s estranged wife Vanessa Fisk after he visited Murdock in prison. Entering witness protection in Philadelphia as “Everett Williams,” Nelson was targeted by mobsters, but rescued by Hand ninjas commanded by Pagon, a Skrull impersonating Elektra. When Murdock escaped prison to clear his name, Nelson revealed the deception and, with fellow attorney Becky Blake, cleared Murdock of criminal charges, and the three formed a new firm: Nelson, Blake, and Murdock. To Nelson’s dismay, one of their first clients was also the first villain he had fought, Melvin Potter, drugged into insanity by Mr. Fear (Larry Cranston). Fear also arranged for Milla Donovan, Matt’s love interest, to be drugged. The firm later faced potential scandal from criminal Lady Bullseye’s actions.

Foggy and Matt have since established another new firm that specializes in assisting super human clients. However, due to Murdock’s notoriety as Daredevil, they often serve as legal consultants rather than trial attorneys.