Despite being one of Marvel’s most stalwart heroes, Daredevil tends to avoid the cosmic adventures that frequently interrupt the lives of the Avengers. And yet on the occasion where he was called upon to save the entire planet, Matt Murdock came through… or at least he would have done, if a tiny art error hadn’t turned his cosmic triumph into a joke.

In Giant-Size Defenders #3 – from Steve Gerber, Jim Starlin, and Len Wein – the team are swept up in a cliched but pulse-pounding story, as the Elder of the Universe known as the Grandmaster (who MCU fans will know as Thor: Ragnarok‘s Jeff Goldblum) pits them against a team of aliens with Earth as the prize. Recruited by blowhard villain-turned-hero Nighthawk, Daredevil becomes the sixth member of the Grandmaster’s team as he competes against the advanced computer known as the Prime Mover and its own group of minions. In a series of ‘kill or be killed’ battles, the Defenders fight to keep the Prime Mover from claiming Earth and are ultimately victorious. Sadly, their performance is so impressive, the Grandmaster decides to claim Earth himself so he can breed superhumans to use in future games.

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While the rest of the team charge the godlike being, Daredevil hangs back. Matt Murdock doesn’t have the power to take on the Grandmaster, but he does know the villain can’t resist games of chance. Snagging a coin-like disc from the now destroyed Prime Mover, Matt marks one side, challenging the Grandmaster to a simple coin flip. The “cosmic gambling addict” can’t resist, and chooses tails (the side of the coin Daredevil hasn’t marked with a cross.) Using his advanced sense of touch, Daredevil tosses the coin to land on heads, winning the day. At least, that’s what the story claims, but any reader paying attention will notice that the face-up side of the coin is lacking the cross Matt carved on ‘heads,’ meaning the Grandmaster was right and should have taken possession of the planet then and there.

It’s unclear why the coin lacks the ‘X’ that should have appeared as, while it’s a small detail, the mark does appear immediately before in art of the coin spinning. While fans noticed the error when the comic was published in 1974, Stan Lee later pointed it out in The Official Marvel No-Prize Book – a collection of comic errors from throughout Marvel history. What makes the error particularly unfortunate is that Matt Murdock is blind, adding the extra layer of irony that Daredevil really would have been unable to accurately call how the coin had landed by sight.

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Thankfully, the Grandmaster abides by the result, even as the Defenders are left with the impression that Daredevil is near-unforgivably reckless, since his advanced senses are still a secret, and the wager seems genuine from their perspective. Given its classic use of the Grandmaster as a cosmic tournament organizer, Giant-Size Defenders #3 remains one of Marvel’s most beloved single-issue comics, with the small art error only lending it a more prominent place in readers’ hearts. But while Stan Lee and comic readers may see the funny side, Daredevil would likely find it less amusing that the one time he was called on to save the entire planet from a cosmic despot, he did so by losing a coin toss and accidentally claiming a win.

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About The Author


Robert Wood
(398 Articles Published)

Robert Wood is a comics editor for Screen Rant and the author of ‘The False Elephant (and 99 Other Unreasonably Short Stories).’ He received his Master’s in English Literature from Lancaster University, and now happily spends his days applying it to Daredevil and the Hulk.

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