Daredevil: Born Again Season 2 is Hiding Its Most Terrifying Villain in Plain Sight

Daredevil: Born Again Season 2 puts Matt Murdock in the Kingpin’s sights, as Wilson Fisk tightens his grip on the city. The Kingpin of crime has successfully become mayor of New York City, and he’s used the position as an opportunity to launch a brutal war on vigilantes. An Anti-Vigilante Task Force patrols the streets, there’s a curfew in place across New York, and Kingpin is marshaling evidence in preparation for his upcoming vigilante trials.

Matt is assembling something of an army to wage war on the Kingpin and his forces, including the likes of returning hero Jessica Jones. But while all attention is focused on the rivalry between Kingpin and Daredevil, other threats are growing in the shadows. Matt’s girlfriend Heather Glenn got caught up in the crossfire, and her story seems to be heading in a very dark direction indeed.

Heather Glenn Fell Foul of the Villainous Muse in Season 1

Daredevil: Born Again Season 1 introduced viewers to the serial killer Muse, a graffiti artist who used the blood of his targets for art. We gradually learned that Muse had become fascinated with Heather Glenn’s work, on her philosophy exploring why some individuals wear masks for power. He ultimately approached Heather, persuading her to take him on as a client, only to gradually reveal his true nature and leave her terrified. Heather was only saved by Daredevil’s intervention, although Heather herself was the one who finally shot Muse dead.

It was an act of self-defense. But it’s also clearly a deeply traumatic experience for Heather, who’s still experiencing PTSD visions of Muse six months later. It was unclear how much control Heather actually had during her confrontation with Muse; there were a few occasions where she banged her head, leading actress Margarita Levieva herself openly speculating the character had experienced a blackout of some kind. Compounding this, Born Again Season 2 revealed Heather is now compromising her morals in other ways, suggesting she’s sliding down a slippery slope.

Heather has always been opposed to vigilantes. Now, though, she’s working as part of the Fisk administration’s war on crimefighters, and she’s actually forging test results when interviewing subjects like Swordsman. The Born Again premiere revealed she was willing to change one specific answer to Swordsman’s tests, so as to indicate he may have psychological problems. It’s hard to see the Heather of Born Again Season 1 being willing to cross that line; she feels like something in her has broken.

Born Again’s Premiere Hints Heather is Taking a Dark Twist

Daredevil: Born Again Season 1 made significant changes to Muse, who has supernatural powers in the comics. But, concerningly, the Season 2 premiere placed Heather alongside mention of the supernatural and a vision of Muse; she asked Swordsman whether he sometimes felt as though something else, some dark spirit, was controlling his behaviors, even as she saw Muse in the background. This, combined with the fact Heather is clearly spiraling and has lost her ethical center, raises the possibility Marvel is preparing to introduce a new version of Muse – Heather herself.

In truth, Born Again Season 1 wasted Muse. The character was one of the more interesting in the entire show, and he had the potential to be a long-running antagonist. It would be smart for Marvel to redeem the mistake of killing him off by turning his death into an origin story for the next Muse replacement. As a psychologist with a deep understanding of the human mind, Heather would be perfectly positioned as a terrifying new incarnation of the villain. Her personal ties to Daredevil also make this twist very compelling indeed.

The interesting question is whether or not Heather is genuinely being haunted. The ninja group of villains known as the Hand are confirmed to be in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, and there have been strong rumors they’ll appear in Daredevil: Born Again Season 2 as well. The Hand typically bring a strong element of magic and the supernatural with them; if the MCU is headed in that direction, it’s not impossible to imagine a scenario where Muse’s actual spirit is haunting Heather, pushing her and twisting her.

Whatever the truth may be, the Heather Glenn plot feels like it has the potential to be one of the most exciting (and chilling) in Daredevil: Born Again Season 2. This is all the more remarkable given the entire story seems to be heading in a very different direction to the comics, proving fidelity to the source material isn’t necessary to tell a good story. We’ll have to wait and see what happens as Heather’s story continues.

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Daredevil: Born Again Season 2 Is Officially Doing the Last Villain Redemption Story I Expected