We knew Daredevil: Born Again was going to be dark, both in the sense of its gritty nature and in terms of having to ratchet up your screen brightness to see what’s going on, but we had no idea it was going to be dark dark. It turns out that bone-breaking violence isn’t the only thing fans can expect from the incoming Defenders Saga revival, as Marvel is now warning us it will go to some deeply unsettling places.
Although the marketing has hardly featured him, it’s known that Born Again‘s main villain will be Muse, a masked serial killer whose role in the show is so shrouded in mystery that we still don’t officially know who’s playing him. We’ve seen Charlie Cox’s hornhead battle brutal villains before, those you wouldn’t want to meet in a dark alley, but now it seems we should prepare for a particularly disturbing villain more likely to chase you into a dark alley.
Born Again‘s most mysterious character will make it the most disturbing Daredevil season yet
Ahead of the show’s imminent arrival, Born Again exec producer Sana Amanat has offered an important warning to fans: Muse’s storyline is so “creepy” that it may be very triggering for some people, so they should go into the new show only if they’re sure they can handle it.
“He is a darker character. Those are some dark episodes for sure. I would warn people to be very mindful of any kind of triggers there because Muse is a serial killer,” Amanat told Entertainment Weekly. “He is not a good guy by any means, but some of the sequences with him are pretty compelling and creepy.”
For those who have been afraid Marvel is going to sanitize the Man Without Fear to make him Disney Plus-able, this may just be music to their ears. Featuring a serial killer so creepy he could come from Criminal Minds is a classic Defenders Saga play — remember Foolkiller from Jessica Jones season 3? — so this is yet another sign that the studio did the right thing in revamping the series to make it more like the Netflix seasons.
On the other hand, those who stumble onto Born Again after watching more family-friendly Marvel content — maybe even with their families — might be alarmed by how dark Born Again will apparently get. For those of us willing to be weirded out, it sounds like Muse could be the next great antagonist Matt Murdock has faced. Luckily, his two best enemies before this are likewise back — namely, Vincent D’onofrio’s Kingpin (aka Mayor Fisk) and Wilson Bethel’s Bullseye.
In the comics, Muse is a twisted artist (nicknamed Vincent Van Gore), who uses the human blood of his victims to create his ghoulish graffiti art. By the sounds of it, that element of the character is going to be faithfully recreated for the screen. So maybe don’t watch Daredevil: Born Again with food when its 9-part first season finally premieres on Disney Plus come March 4.
Published: Feb 20, 2025 03:10 pm