Daredevil: Born Again Episode 7 Continues The Show's Trend Of Wasting Great Characters

This article contains spoilers for "Daredevil: Born Again" season 1, episode 7.

"Daredevil: Born Again" season 1 is infamously a salvage job that has undergone the kinds of extensive rewrites, reshoots, and creative changes that have been a staple of the Marvel Cinematic Universe's recent, turbulent years. While it doesn't suffer quite as much from the patchwork nature of its production as the safe and forgettable "Captain America: Brave New World," a viewer can't help but wonder just how much of the good stuff the revamps took away.

Nowhere is this more evident than in the way "Daredevil: Born Again" uses its most fascinating new characters, most pointedly Muse (Hunter Doohan). The show has already removed one of Muse's most terrifying abilities from the comics. Now, episode 7 has reduced the mysterious and dangerous serial killer artist who's able to terrorize the entirety of New York City into what amounts to a Dr. Heather Glenn (Margarita Levieva) fanboy with some tae kwon do lessons under his belt. Granted, he puts up a decent fight against Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox) when the hero confronts him as Daredevil in Heather's office — but at the end of the day, the much-hyped Muse ends up with a bullet in his head after very little meaningful screen time.

Throwing such an eye-popping villain out of the proverbial window this easily makes one wonder just how big Muse's role was in the show before the revisions, and in general, it leaves the impression that this fascinating character could have been so much more. What's worse, this is the second time "Born Again" has committed this exact faux pas.

Perhaps even more egregious than the show's treatment of Muse is the way it handles Hector "White Tiger" Ayala (Kamar de los Reyes) early in the season. Episodes 2 and 3 focus heavily on the character's trial after his clash with two dirty cops leaves one of them dead through no fault of his own. Much is made about Ayala's crime-fighting prowess, amulet superpowers, and previous good standing among the NYPD, but at the end of the day, the character doesn't even receive a single great superhero scene. Instead, the same night he first suits up after being found innocent, a Punisher (Jon Bernthal) impersonator shoots him in the head.

Muse seemed to have what it takes to carry a season as a properly major antagonist. Likewise, Hector was definitely a captivating character who deserved even more screen time than he got (which was more than Muse received). As such, it's genuinely disappointing to see them both exit the show so quickly — and in the same exact way, no less.

Granted, there are clearly forces at play beyond what we see in "Daredevil: Born Again" season 1. Muse is set to appear in the show's season 2, either in flashback form or otherwise, so his story isn't over quite yet. Meanwhile, Kamar de los Reyes' death in 2023 may have impacted the size of White Tiger's role. There's also the fact that Hector's niece Angela del Toro (Camila Rodriguez) takes up his role as White Tiger in Marvel's comic books, while the show's version of the character plays a prominent role in the Muse arc.

Take all that into account, and who knows? Versions of both Muse and White Tiger may very well still return in future episodes of "Daredevil: Born Again." In fact, since Muse abducts Angela in season 1, episode 6, the two have a history with each other, which implies that whichever version of Muse the sophomore season gives us might even become the new White Tiger's first major enemy. Still, for now, both Muse and White Tiger come across as characters who never got a chance to live up to their potential.

New episodes of "Daredevil: Born Again" drop Tuesdays at 9pm EST on Disney+.