Origin

Cole North was a cop in Chicago. While chasing a drug dealer, he drew his weapon and accidentally shot a teenager who heard a commotion and was recording with his phone. The teen lived, but Cole had to go through investigations and accountability. He ended up accepting a transfer to the NYPD for a fresh start. While there, he demanded the least dirty cop as a partner. He got Fred Higgins, who wasn’t perfect but the best the NYPD could give him.

Creation

Cole North debuted Daredevil (2019) #1 by Chip Zdarsky and Marco Checchetto

Major Story Arcs

Wanted: Daredevil

Cole’s first assignment was to bring in Daredevil after he accidentally killed a low level crook. Cole bested Daredevil when he arrested him after a public fight in the streets of New York, but his big flashy arrest was interrupted by The Punisher, who rescued Daredevil. Soon after, Daredevil took a break. This got Cole a lot of unwanted attention.

After being called out by a superior officer for having a video of him fighting a mentally unstable person go viral, he received a call from Mayor Wilson Fisk, ensuring that he was going to cover for him. Cole was uncomfortable with this knowing Fisk was as much a criminal as Daredevil. Fisk put pressure on the cops to investigate costumed crime-fighters with many of those cases going to Cole. Meanwhile, his colleagues soured on him, seeing the likes of Daredevil and Spider-Man as help.

It finally went too far when the crooked cops in his precinct attacked his partner, Higgins, because the Owl and Fisk both liked Cole. Higgins ended up suffering a stroke and dying from his injuries. Upon hearing this, the other cops knew there was no going back and opened fire on Cole in the police station. Cole did his best to fight him off, but ultimately he needed help from Daredevil, who volunteered to take the heat for the attack.

Between that and a pep talk from Spider-Man, Cole started considering the difference between saving people and “upholding the law.” After some soul searching, he quit the superhero cases and focused on The Owl and the mayhem he was causing in Hell's Kitchen.

Into Hell’s Kitchen

This whole time Cole has been on the force, the cops wouldn't go into Hell’s Kitchen. This was a crooked policy to stay out of The Owl’s way. Cole was sick of pretending it wasn’t a crooked policy and inspired the rest of the good cops who were sick of being bad cops by association to join him on a Hell’s Kitchen raid to save a little girl kidnapped by Owl’s men. She was the granddaughter of Izzy Labris, another New York City crime boss, and she was taken to antagonize a gang war. While checking out multiple Owl hideouts, Cole was eventually pulled away from the search by Daredevil. He knew they were headed to Harlem in a white van, and Daredevil needed Cole to drive so he could catch up, eventually recovering the girl and delaying the gang war.

Unfortunately, this police raid broke the policy set up by the Stromwyn crime family. As punishment, they hired a number of mercenaries: including Bullseye and Crossbones to purge the borough. Cole tries to get himself and Daredevil back to help the cops that are now stranded thanks to the cops outside of Hell’s Kitchen respecting the crooked policy. He blew through the police barriers and ran right into the fight, squaring up against Bullet.

As the dust settles, Daredevil and the cops prove victorious, but Fisk calls out Daredevil in front of reporters for his crimes. Daredevil agrees and lets Cole, and only Cole, take him in so that he can finally take responsibility for the man he killed.

Re-Cid

After the raid on Hell’s Kitchen, Cole got himself a transfer to Internal Affairs.

While Daredevil was locked up as his alter ego, he uncovered an illegal drug ring run by the prison administrators that had killed a number of the prisoners. The drug was called Re-Cid, a behavior-altering stimulant that increased recidivism and increased the chances of the inmates returning to the for-profit prison. When fumes were released into the prison causing a riot, Daredevil took the opportunity to band the prisoners together and take over the prison. The only cop he was willing to negotiate with was Cole.

Daredevil handed over all the evidence he had compiled to Cole so that he could take action on it, however, because Daredevil was still under the influence of a concentrated dose of Re-Cid, any concern Cole expressed for Daredevil only antagonized him more, resulting in a fight between the two, which was eventually interrupted by police tear gas.

The Red Fist Saga

Daredevil and Elektra move to Makanrushi, an uninhabited volcanic island in the Pacific, to start training their version of a prophesized team, The Fist. Cole was one of the few confidants recruit by Daredevil to keep The Fist honest, while Elektra was recruiting more violent members. One of those violent members was Bullet, who was kidnapped along with his young son, Lance, by The Hand. It was the last in a long line of slights against The Fist that convinced Daredevil to finally mobilize for their first confrontation. Cole was given a Captain America shield and tasked with rescuing Lance from the battlefield. He succeeded despite The Fist suffering enough other losses to retreat.

Soon after, the island was attacked by both the Stromwyn crime family and the Avengers. Cole was able to avoid capture and returned to his life in New York City. For a short time, he harbored Daredevil until he had the strength to leave and clean up the mess he made. Six months later, with Daredevil seemingly gone, Cole partnered with Foggy Nelson as his investigator.

Law Office of Nelson and North

The law office that he started with Foggy was off to a good start until Matt Murdock seemingly rematerialized in New York City from Hell. Daredevil had brought with him seven demons that were manifestations of his own sins. Many of them possessed people close to Matt. When Pride possessed Foggy, it instructed Wrath to attack and keep Cole prisoner in order to put pressure on Matt.