WARNING: The following article contains major spoilers for Daredevil #7, by Chip Zdarsky, Lalit Kumar Sharma, Jay Leisten, Java Tartaglia and VC's Clayton Cowles, on sale now.
In comics, supervillains never really retire. We've seen numerous villains such as Doctor Doom, Norman Osborn and Two-Face claim to be out the criminal life for good, they always fall back into their old habit.s Whether or not their intentions were genuine, these villains all succumbed to their shared thirst for power and defended their place on the ladder of comic book tyranny.
However, in the relaunched Daredevil, Wilson Fisk, the Kingpin, has decided to follow the light and dissolve his empire immediately in order to actually be a good mayor to New York City.
The second part of the "No Devils, Only God" arc focuses on Matt Murdock trying to move on, counseling at-risk youth after the recent 'death' of Daredevil. Matt believes that it was time to hang up hi smask, only for the ghost of a robber he killed to keep haunting him.
Now, a guilt-ridden Murdock is simply satisfied to listen in on the city's crimes using his super-hearing, acting as a connecting board by then calling the cops to alert them where these illegal activities are occurring. Without the horned vigilante around, Kingpin flips the NYC underworld on its head instead of exploiting this window of opportunity to consolidate his criminal empire,
Instead of taking advantage of weaker law enforcement, reduced vigilantism and a higher degree of unity due to less inter-gang fighting, Fisk tells his criminal cabal, which includes villains like the Owl and Hammerhead, that he's no longer going to be a villain. The crew struggles to take him seriously, but he insists that he isn't bluffing. While he'll still require them to send over payoffs and bribes to keep their businesses intact, but Fisk simply wants them to maintain peace.
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No longer wanting to be a crime lord, Fisk sees himself as the sheriff, warning the gangs to keep crime to a certain level to keep it from being something that he'll have to intervene in with police.
While this is a shocking development, Fisk says that he fells nothing without Daredevil. These impostors plaguing the city don't evoke any emotion from him and, as he tells his right-hand man Wesley later on, he's grown content with what he's accomplished. He broke the Devil and in doing so, he lost his hunger. As he puts it, the city is calm and he's "won the game," reaffirming that his criminal empire is shuttered.
This is similar to what happened with Luke Cage in Season 2 of his Netflix series. Although he wasn't officially the mayor, he was just overseeing Harlem. But the premise is the same: make sure all territories stay cool with each other and keep the drugs, guns and trafficking of all illicit material within a certain range.
While this isn't the first time Fisk has said he'll turn a new leaf, he's only done it in the past with ulterior motives. They usually involve playing the public against Daredevil, or to toy with Daredevil's private life when he suspected that Murdock was the crime-fighter. But after the conversation with Wesley, his closest confidant, Fisk seems to be coming from a genuine place and apparently wants to make the most of his retirement.
Fisk even divvied up all his enforcers among the rest of the cabal, so his troops would have jobs and a future if they wanted to remain in the criminal life. While Fisk is the only person who really knows how long this will last, a resurgent Daredevil will apparently surface in August, the Kingpin might not enjoy his retirement from crime for too long.