Following a major internal overhaul of the upcoming Daredevil: Born Again — and the entire TV production department at Marvel Studios — the spiritual sequel is now set to have more connections to the original show. Elden Henson and Deborah Ann Woll return as the hero’s best friends and legal partners Foggy Nelson and Karen Page, and Wilson Bethel returns as the vengeful hitman Bullseye.
However, while the connecting threads to the first TV show are more than welcome, Born Again has the opportunity to have the best of both worlds. By taking loose inspiration from two of the more recent Daredevil comic book runs — Charles Soule’s and Chip Zdarsky’s — Matt Murdock’s corner of New York can organically expand, namely on the criminal side. Between the sinister Muse and Kingpin’s rising political ambitions, these two runs can elevate the Man Without Fear’s greatest threats.
The most recent development of Wilson Bethel returning as Bullseye to wreak mayhem on Charlie Cox’s Daredevil is among the most exciting, with the villain poised to feature in three episodes in Born Again season 1. It was the major loose end left at the end of the original series’ third season, with Bullseye/Benjamin Poindexter recovering from a severe spinal injury after clashing with Kingpin in the finale. Still, and especially since the series is a new show, writer Charles Soule and artist Ron Garney’s villain Muse is an inspired way to introduce a fresh threat into the live-action space. The rogue is heavily rumored to be a key antagonist of Daredevil: Born Again, and his inclusion combined with the show being internally retooled to be more tonally in line with the Netflix series is encouraging.
This signals Marvel Studio’s potential attempt to retain the grittier, street-level atmosphere the original show was praised for, while Muse could introduce Daredevil’s world to more of the supernatural. Muse was introduced in Charles Soule and Ron Garney’s Dark Arc story arc early in their run on the comic book, and he was given a mysterious past and a gruesome motivation. An extremely violent serial killer whose true identity is unknown, Muse uses the corpses of his victims as canvases to express his morbid idea of art. Aside from being a street-level murderer, he also has a unique set of powers that makes it difficult for even Matt Murdock’s radar sense to keep track of. Along with some degree of superhuman strength and speed, Muse’s body can absorb overwhelming amounts of sensory information from the environment around him, which throws off Daredevil’s enhanced senses.
While the villain was rumored to have been a part of former creators Matt Corman and Chris Ord’s original idea for Daredevil: Born Again, it’s still ambitious for the character to be adapted, given his inherently gory premise. Current showrunner Dario Scardapane may be giving him a more consistent and significant presence for the series’ debut season. This will hopefully result in a plot with sincere new stakes to complement the story, as even the original series creatives knew to supplement the return of Vincent D’Onofrio as Kingpin in Daredevil season 3 with the then-fresh addition of Bethel’s Bullseye. Muse potentially being part of Born Again’s principal cast could fill a similar role as Bullseye, as the latter was a thrilling new antagonist while not taking away from the core Daredevil/Kingpin storyline. Other classic Daredevil villains, like the pyrokinetic mutant Typhoid Mary, could accomplish something similar in the MCU. Nonetheless, Muse would push the boundaries of the Man Without Fear’s adversaries into metahuman directions.
Charlie Cox and Vincent D’Onofrio’s adaptations of Daredevil and Kingpin for the Netflix series have become one of the most gripping hero/villain dynamics in live-action superhero media. This rivalry has been equally convincing in Marvel’s comic books, especially since writer and industry veteran Frank Miller reinvented and resuscitated Daredevil in the early ’80s with The Kingpin Must Die. But while the upcoming TV show has named itself as an homage to one of Miller’s most iconic story arcs, showrunner Dario Scardapane can reflect on other source material featuring Kingpin for Daredevil: Born Again. Charles Soule and Chip Zdarsky’s respective runs, in particular, arguably provide the blueprint for where the Kingpin of Crime can move forward due to his rising political aspirations.
The rumored overarching plot for Born Again seems like it’s heading in the right direction, as Wilson Fisk looks to be aiming his sights on New York’s mayoral office. Charles Soule and Ron Garney’s Mayor Fisk story arc set the table for this event in the comics, with the newly elected politician using his position to grow his villainous power and weaponize it against the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen. Chip Zdarsky and artist Marco Checchetto later expanded on this plot point to gradually feed into Fisk’s crusade and outlawing of vigilantism for the Devil’s Reign crossover arc. It’s a particularly fitting storyline to loosely adapt for Born Again on Disney+ as well, considering the ground that D’Onofrio’s version of Kingpin has already covered across the first show’s three seasons.
