Foggy Nelson

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caption=
comic_color=background:#ff8080
character_name=Foggy Nelson
publisher=Marvel Comics
debut="Daredevil" v1 #1 (April 1964)
creators=Stan Lee
Bill Everett
full_name=Franklin P. Nelson
status=Alive
supports=Daredevil, Spider-Man
relatives=Mr. and Mrs. Edward Nelson (parents), Candace Nelson (sister), Liz Allan (wife, MC2 alternate future, deceased), Norman "Normie" Osborn (III) (step-son, MC2 alternate future). |

"Note: Foggy Nelson is also a semi common name for grey cats."

Franklin P. "Foggy" Nelson is a fictional character in the Marvel Comics universe, part of the supporting cast of Daredevil (Matt Murdock); Foggy is Matt's best friend. The character was created by Stan Lee and Bill Everett.

Initially used only for comic relief, Foggy has developed into one of the strongest supporting characters in the Marvel Universe. He shares a very deep friendship with Matt Murdock, being both his sidekick and his protector. With his down-to-earth, everyman lifestyle, he acts as a contrast to his tormented superhero colleague.

Foggy is always portrayed as a slightly obese man who obviously spends a lot of time behind a desk. However, time and again, he has proven to be almost as good a lawyer as Murdock and tried numerous cases which bear that out.

Publication history

Foggy Nelson first appeared in "Daredevil" v1 #1 (April 1964), and was created by Stan Lee and Bill Everett.

Foggy Nelson received an entry in the "Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Update '89" #5.

Fictional character biography

The Beginnings

Foggy is Matt Murdock's roommate while they study at Columbia Law School. Matt protects Foggy against bullies and helps him study. When Matt begins dating Elektra Natchios, Foggy disapproves, because he thinks she is dangerous (which turns out to be a correct assessment). After Elektra leaves the university, Matt and Foggy transfer to Harvard Law School. After graduating, Matt and Foggy open up a private law practice. They hire a secretary, Karen Page, with whom both Matt and Foggy fall in love. Karen was in love with Matt, so the only option for Foggy was to retire from the competition. He's approached by Abner Jonas to be a candidate for District attorney, and in a party given by Jonas, Foggy meets again an old high-school flame, Deborah Harris. As it turns out, Debbie is an agent working for the Organizer, a criminal mastermind, who is later revealed to be Abner Jonas when Daredevil, and then Nelson, smell something fishy and decide to investigate. While we see that Debbie is somewhat reluctant to follow the Organizer's plans, she goes to jail all the same. Nelson is heartbroken and turns again his attentions to Karen Page

Foggy, at that point, and for many years to come, is not aware of his partner's double life as a superhero. He wouldn't even consider the idea due to Matt's blindness, though he eventually is suspicious about Matt's sudden and unexplained absences, and his frequent bruises. To avoid those suspicions, Murdock has resorted to many deceptions to avoid Foggy's hunches, like creating his "twin brother" Mike Murdock (Matt himself in disguise), faking his death or asking someone else to wear the costume.

District attorney

Nelson is again approached to be a candidate for district attorney, this time without hidden agendas: he's really fond of the idea of being able to do something to fight crime actively, and sets himself to work with enthusiasm. About this time, Debbie Harris is released from jail, and, having redeemed herself, she and Foggy start to date again, in spite of people's warnings that it would be bad for his career as a District Attorney to date an ex-con. Foggy doesn't mind and goes on with the courtship. While things seem to be on the sunny side, Debbie is ransomed to the Time Continuum by the Unholy trio, led by the Exterminator. Foggy and Daredevil investigate, each on his own side. Foggy is made a prisoner by the Exterminator and Daredevil comes to the rescue. A fight ensues and there's a final explosion, after which Foggy finds some rags of the DD uniform: it is then assumed that "Mike Murdock" has died. Debbie returns from the Time Continuum and she and Foggy resume their happy relationship

By that time, there's a schism between Matt and Foggy, as, due to Matt's troubled relationship with Karen, and his own troubles as Daredevil, he doesn't help Foggy in his campaign. Foggy feels abandoned and Matt isn't really able to explain without revealing his secret. However, once Foggy wins the election, the two reconcile and Foggy offers Matt an opportunity to become assistant to the DA.

Later, Foggy is blackmailed by the mysterious Mr. Kline, and is forced by him to prosecute the Black Widow, who is defended by Matt. This again severed their longtime friendship and Matt left for San Francisco with the Widow. They again reconciled when Foggy was badly wounded when he was investigating a criminal conspiracy by Black Spectre, and Matt came back to New York to help him in his fight against crime.

The Storefront

After losing the re-election for District Attorney to Blake Tower (and a slurring campaign against him by the Jester), Foggy resumes his career as counselor, again with Matt, in a free clinic called "The Storefront". Nelson and Murdock are partners again. During this time, Becky Blake, a Law student, is hired to work as the firm's secretary.

It is by this time that Foggy and Debbie's long courtship ends in marriage.

Sometime later, Elektra is hired by the Kingpin to assassinate Foggy. However, upon confronting Foggy, he recognizes her as "Matt's girl". Unable to kill Foggy after this, Elektra abandons her assignment, which leads to her (temporary) death at the hands of Bullseye.

The Decline and fall of Nelson and Murdock

Shortly after that, Foggy's marriage begins to go sour, as he is an easy going fellow whom his wife — who has become quite a snob — wants, unsuccessfully, to transform into a high socialite: the truth is that she feels she has married a "boring lawyer" and eventually falls in the arms of Mycah Synn, jungle crimelord. Even though Debbie returns to Foggy when she finds out that Synn is an abusive brute, their marriage is badly damaged and they eventually divorce.

The Nelson and Murdock firm suffers from lack of customers. One of the reasons is that Foggy was asked by Debbie to lie in favour of Mycah Synn -or else she would leave him-, and later admits his malpractice in order to denounce Synn's crimes. Another reason is the suicide of Heather Glenn, which drives to his partner Murdock -who's still brooding over the death of Elektra Natchios- to lose interest in his work and devote more and more time to his costumed career. Foggy can't fight alone against the lack of clients and the cascading of bills, and one day Matt returns to find an angry Foggy as the Nelson & Murdock premises are being closed for being unable to pay the rent.

Foggy is so depressed that he almost considers suicide, though while he is on the roof of a high building brooding about how his life's got screwed, he gets in the way of a dangerous fight between the Vulture and Daredevil, and the immediacy of such perilous situation makes him realize that he much prefers to be alive, after all.

Shortly later, Foggy and Glorianna O'breen (a recent ex-girlfriend of Matt) fall in love with each other as they are unsuccessfully trying to locate Murdock (who is the victim of a plot by the Kingpin to bring him down). Foggy and Glorianna are happy together for a while, but when Nelson defends a corporation for dropping toxic waste in rivers, Glorianna is disillussioned and feels he's doing something wrong, from a moral standpoint. Foggy refuses to defend his client when he learns that the company is owned by the Kingpin, but Glorianna leaves him.

When Daredevil's identity is outed to the press by an assistant of Ben Urich, Murdock fakes his death and assumes the fake identity of "Jack Battlin", not telling about this to close friends like Foggy, Karen Page or Ben Urich. During that time, Foggy maintains a solo career as lawyer. As the assumption of a different identity and a life without roots takes its toll in Matt's sanity, Karen gets the intuition that the "new Daredevil" that recently introduced himself to her might be Matt himself. She enlists Foggy's help "to search a man", and they end finding that Matt is still alive, as they meet him at Jack Battlin's apartment in a state of stupor, with his yellow daredevil uniform but without the mask. It is then when Foggy finally learns about Matt's secret identity, and he's quire sore for some time about his old friend having kept such a secret from him, but they eventually reconcile and become law partners again.

"Sharpe, Nelson & Murdock"

It is then when Rosalynd Sharpe, a famous and controversial Boston attorney, offers for Nelson and Murdock to become her associates. Rosalind and Foggy seem to know each other well, which surprises Matt. It is later revealed that Rosalind Sharpe is Nelson's biological mother: she divorced her husband and abandoned her son in order to be able to pursue her career as a lawyer. It was in fact, Sharpe's career that enticed her son to become a lawyer.

Around this time, Foggy starts dating Liz Allan. Later, Foggy's relationship with Liz Allan is ruined when the villain Mysterio manipulates him into having an affair with another woman, and then making it appear as if Nelson has murdered the woman after the affair (which Foggy can't remember clearly as he was drugged by Mysterio) . Liz forsakes Foggy after a brief exchange in prison, where she just asks him if he cheated on her. As Foggy admits so, she leaves him without allowing any further explanation. After the machinations by Mysterio are disclosed, and Foggy is set free. However, he feels so bad about having failed Liz, that he doesn't have the heart to even attempt resuming the relationship.

Another outcome of the Mysterio frame is that Sharpe fires him without even bothering to investigate the circumstances which lead to the arrest of her own son. She forsakes Foggy as she doesn't want the murder affair to bring bad publicity to the firm. When Matt Murdock starts preparing Foggy's defence, she fires him, too.

Around this time, Foggy personally counsels superheroes on diverse occasions, such as when he takes the case of the telekinetic superhero Vance Astrovik, who has ended up killing his abusive father in a fit of rage. Foggy loses the case, as his opposition convinces the jury that Vance could have stopped his father without killing him. Other clients he has personally represented are Carol Danvers and the Fantastic Four, to whom he -wisely- recommended not to accept a buy offer for the FF estate by the Gideon Corporation (although Reed Richards ultimately decided to sell).

Nelson & Murdock ride again together

In the aftermath of the gruelling attack of Mysterio to Daredevil's life, in the course of which Karen Page, Matt's longtime girlfriend, is murdered, Foggy and Matt find themselves without their women and without their jobs. Murdock then finds out that he's the sole beneficiary of Karen's wealthy life. Murdock then proposes to Nelson to resume their partnership, using the money to build the new premises where Matt's old house -blown up by the Kingpin- had once been. Nelson responds with enthusiasm and the two partners stride towards a new future. About this time, Rosalynd Sharpe tries to contact Foggy to offer him work again, without success, as Nelson knows now where his real family is.

Recently, Matt is revealed to the world as Daredevil by the media and is eventually arrested. After Foggy goes to visit Matt in prison with private investigator Dakota North, he is stabbed and seriously injured by several inmates. Matt hears his friend's heartbeat slowly cease, and Foggy is declared dead sometime after the ambulance takes him away. Murdock later attends Foggy's funeral only for Foggy's grieving mother, Rosalynd Sharpe, to blame him for her son's death.

Later it is revealed that Foggy is not dead, but was rather placed in the witness protection program, where he is recovering from his wounds and beginning to assume a new identity. He attempts to escape in an effort to reunite with Matt, only to be captured by the Mafia, who in turn are slaughtered by ninjas. They return him to his former captors, after informing him that they would be watching. Meanwhile, his friend Murdock -unaware of all this- goes to Europe following the track of the man who ordered Foggy's murder, and ultimately discovers that an ailing Vanessa Fisk is behind everything. Vanessa reveals to Murdock that she is about to die, and had planned all that to take revenge on what she believes the real source behind her illness: the misery that the war between Daredevil and her husband has brought to her life. She offers Murdock a deal to give him his life back, but Daredevil refuses and leaves, whithout allowing Vanessa to tell him that Foggy is still alive.

Matt finds out that Vanessa has carried her part of the deal anyway, as the former director of the FBI is found -apparently- having committed suicide and leaving papers which point that Murdock was framed on purpose. Matt returns to New York and declares to have been a hostage of the Punisher since the prison break that got him free. At that point, Foggy, fleeing from his life in protected custody, reaches Matt's home and both are reunited. Along with Becky Blake, Foggy successfully clears all of Matts troubles with the Law and the Bar. After that, Murdock and Nelson ask Becky to join their firm as a new partner and move to new quarters, taking only referrals to avoid being easily located by Daredevil stalkers.

Nelson, Blake and Murdock

Melvin Potter, a.k.a. The Gladiator is accused of committing murder in the Mental institution where he is enclosed. Becky Blake takes his defence, with the opposition of Murdock, who thinks it wise not to have the firm associated to a supervillain case. After Becky gets Foggy's support and successfully argues with Murdock, They visit Potter, where Matt realizes that Potter is not lying. Yet Potter commits another murder and escapes the institution, re-appearing in the streets with his Gladiator costume and going on a killing spree. When Potter ransoms Matt's wife Milla Donovan and Daredevil goes to her rescue, he realizes that Potter is under some kind of mind-control, and after his detention he completely looses his mind. This is all part of a plot masterminded by an old enemy of Daredevil, Mr. Fear, who is also promoting a gang war to take Hell's Kitchen by supplying lowlifes with a drug that makes them fearless.

Mr. Fear wants to destroy Murdock's life, and this could mean the end of the Nelson, Blake & Murdock firm as well.

Other versions

1602

In "Marvel 1602", Foggy is a seaship captain who regularly ferries the Daredevil of 1602 across the English Channel. He is suspicious of the blind minstrel, who suggests, with a smile, that he should keep his thoughts to himself.

MC2

In the alternate future known as MC2, Foggy Nelson marries Liz Allen and is the stepfather to Norman "Normie" Osborn III. He has outlived Murdock, who has been murdered. (though his soul lives on in Darkdevil.) At one point, Foggy is shown to be acting as counsel to Wilson Fisk, but he quits as Fisk's attorney when he learns that Fisk was responsible for Murdock's death.

Foggy also outlives Liz. After his wife's death, he buries himself in his work and he blames himself when Normie goes temporarily insane, taking the mantle of the Green Goblin again. After Normie reforms, the two finally bond.

When Normie gets engaged to the former supervillain Raptor, Foggy does not really approve — and Foggy again feels guilty when Normie is once again temporarily transformed into a supervillain.

Darkdevil works as an intern at Nelson's law firm and is shown giving legal advice to Normie and Raptor. Foggy is unaware of Darkdevil's ties to Murdock and Spider-Man, though Normie has noticed Reilly Tyne's resemblance to Peter Parker.

'Ultimate' Foggy

In the Marvel Ultimate universe, Foggy is Matthew Murdock's college roommate. Recently, in "Ultimate Spider-Man Annual" #2, an adult Foggy Nelson talks with Spider-Man. He made a brief appearance in "Ultimates 2" as part of a legal team, with Murdock, representing Bruce Banner in a case against him for his actions as the Hulk.

Other media

In the 2003 film adaptation of "Daredevil", Foggy is played by Jon Favreau. The character's background and relationship with Matt Murdock are faithful to the comics, but differ in relation to the other chief characters. The Director's Cut DVD version includes many additional scenes rounding out the two characters and their friendship.