Marvel Comics has provided CBR with an exclusive first look at fan-favorite artist Paolo Rivera's variant cover for "Daredevil" #26, plus a preview of the issue written by Mark Waid with interior art by Chris Samnee. The double-sized issue features a team-up with the Invincible Iron Man and follows the conclusion of "Daredevil" #25, which introduced a new nemesis for Daredevil with powers on par with his own.

"Matt needed a beatdown," Waid told CBR in the latest Axel-in-Charge column. "Matt has had 24 fairly casualty-free issues, and he needed to be taken down a bit. That's what happens with [issue #25]. What we've done is given him an opponent who has all his powers and abilities -- and then some. It's not so much the ninja stuff as it is us needing somebody who's the reverse Daredevil, if you will. We needed a player on the other side who could just smack him up and down."