Daredevil: Born Again is back before cameras and better than ever. In January 2024, filming resumed on the much-anticipated Disney Plus revival of the Netflix phenomenon after a period of creative redevelopment saw Marvel go back to the drawing board.
The result is a series that looks to be delivering much of what the fans wanted all along. Deborah Ann Woll and Elden Henson are back as Karen Page and Foggy Nelson, and the show appears stacked with supervillains. Vincent D’Onofrio’s Wilson Fisk is back, natch, as he makes his bid for political power, but so is Wilson Bethel’s Bullseye, to finally close the chapter on that big Daredevil season 3 cliffhanger.
And yet neither of these felons will be the main villain of Born Again. That (dis)honor falls to a brand-new character to the screen by the name of Muse. But who is Muse and what are his powers? Allow me to paint a picture…
Who is Muse in Marvel Comics?
Simply put, Muse is a deranged artist, a serial killer who turns his victims into twisted works of art. A relatively recent addition to the comics lore, he first entered the scene in 2016’s Daredevil #11 when he directed the vigilante Blindspot to a warehouse in Washington Heights, where a mural painted with the blood of over a hundred missing people was discovered. Weeks later, Muse painted over the mural with a new message, “You’re only as good as your last performance,” alongside a different address.
This time, Matt Murdock investigated the scene and discovered six slain Inhumans, with their bodies arranged as if performing domestic tasks. Next time, Daredevil and Blindspot were able to catch Muse in the act when he kidnapped a judge, a councilwoman, and two police officers and brought them to the sewers to “star” in his next work. Although the pair managed to free the hostages, Muse got the better of Blindspot, gouging the poor hero’s eyes out.
When Mayor Fisk rose to power, Muse’s artworks got more intense, something that was a gift to Kingpin as it allowed him to use his crimes to add further flames to his anti-vigilante agenda. It was ultimately Blindspot who brought Muse down, however. With his sight restored by the Hand, Blindspot agreed to become the latest avatar for the Hand’s Beast, but his heroic nature won out and he refused to kill the murderer. Disappointed, the insane Muse complained that this story was supposed to belong to him not Blindspot and so willingly walked into a fire, apparently killing himself.
What are Muse’s powers?
Muse’s origins are shrouded in mystery, so the exact nature of his powers are unknown. However, he displays enough enhanced abilities that make it clear he is some kind of superhuman.
First of all, Muse — real name: unknown — possesses super-strength, as he tears apart his victims with his bare hands. He also has super-speed, as he’s sometimes depicted as moving swifter than the human eye can see. What’s more, he also seems to have a similar extra-sensory perception to Daredevil as when unmasked by Murdock, he’s revealed to be blind, with his own eyes entirely missing.
The most notable power Muse has in his arsenal, though, is his imperceptibility. Muse acts as a sensory vortex, a black hole that sucks in all kinds of sensory information that allows people to detect his presence. This even fools Daredevil’s own enhanced senses which is what makes Muse such a difficult foe for the Man Without Fear to fight.
Who is playing Muse in Daredevil: Born Again?
To date, there’s been no official confirmation on who could be playing Muse in Daredevil: Born Again. However, reports claim that Wednesday star Hunter Doohan was in talks for the role prior to the strikes shutting down production in summer 2023. Muse is certainly still a major part of the series even after its subsequent creative overhaul, however, as confirmed by set pics teasingly featuring a piece of his graffiti art.
With his brutal crimes and game of cat-and-mouse with Daredevil, Muse’s storyline could easily give Born Again its own version of The Batman, with the villain in place of the Riddler. In other words, this really could be the darkest season of Daredevil we’ve had yet, so that should put to rest those fears that your favorite hornhead is about to be Disney-fied.
