Daredevil: Born Again – How Muse Accidentally Predicted Episode 7’s Big Death

The Marvel Cinematic Universe has gone in a bold and bloody new direction with Daredevil: Born Again, and while the Netflix-era Daredevil was known for its gritty nature, that’s nothing compared to the violence already displayed in this Disney+ effort. Seven episodes in, and the freshman season’s nine-episode run has already seen the murders of Foggy Nelson (Elden Henson), the OG White Tiger (Kamar de los Reyes), and many a crooked cop. Now, Born Again’s ever-shrinking cast list has killed off another Marvel heavy-hitter.

It was a short but memorable stint in the MCU for the villainous Muse, who was teased at the very start of Born Again and tipped to be the season’s main antagonistic anatomist. Instead, the morbid artist has bowed out in gruesome style just after a big reveal of his true identity. With Wednesday’s Hunter Doohan named in the credits of episodes he wasn’t even in, it didn’t take the intellect of Pedro Pascal’s Reed Richards to figure out he was probably Muse. Things came to a head in April 1’s “Art for Art’s Sake,” when the violent vigilante tried to complete his masterpiece. 

Viewers clocked that Doohan’s Bastian Cooper was a little shifty when he met Heather Glenn (Margarita Levieva) back in episode 2, but it turns out he was seeking the therapist’s help simply to turn into one of his pieces of “art.” With Muse being pitched as the “perfect” antagonist for the MCU, it would’ve been great for him to have some more screen time, but ultimately, it doesn’t take away from the twist. 

A tense final showdown between Glenn, Muse, and Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox) goes down in her office, and after Daredevil turns up just at the right time, he pulls off a gnarly grappling hook move that wouldn’t look out of place in a Mortal Kombat game. This gives Heather a chance to fire a gun into Muse’s chest. He’s dragged across his canvas and becomes his own final work of art. What’s even more interesting is that Muse seemed to ironically predict his own demise, with his death pose looking like one of his earlier murals where he depicted himself as a blood-stained Statue of Liberty – complete with what looked like bullet holes in his chest.

The MCU’s Bastian Cooper is a major contrast to the comic book version of Muse who was introduced in 2016’s Daredevil (Vol. 5) #11. While comic book Muse was also a macabre artist who liked to make murals with the blood of his victims, we never found out his real identity before he was killed during 2018’s Daredevil #600. Daredevil wasn’t involved in Muse’s comic book death at all, with the latter walking into a burning pile of debris following a fight with Blindspot, lamenting his defeat because he had “so much beauty left.”

Comic book Muse is a much more mythical creation, later being confined to Hell to continue creating artwork and then haunting Morgan Whittier. There’s further confusion about whether Muse can be considered an Inhuman, especially as the comics sometimes referred to as “the Inhuman artist” and others as “the Inhuman serial killer.” This was addressed by co-creator Charles Soule, who said on X, “He seems like the kind of character it’s better not to explain too much.”

It makes sense that Born Again gave us a more grounded version of Muse in-keeping with the street-level nature of the series, but with no sign of Muse’s “vortex” abilities from the comics, superhuman strength, speed, and endurance, he ended up being a pretty feeble foe that was easily defeated by the Man Without Fear. For those hoping there will be a reprieve for Muse, there could be more to the story thanks to apparent Daredevil: Born Again season 2 set photos potentially spoiling his return. Given the death of Foggy but confirmation that Henson is also coming back for more, there are questions about whether the pair will appear via flashback. 

The van names I saw passing by include:

Mr. Charles (Charlie Cox presumably)
BB Urich
Heather
Stunt Muse

Also just saw Sana Amanat pass by