ScreenCrush: The Podcast! - Daredevil: Born Again Episode 7 BREAKDOWN - Marvel Easter Eggs You Missed!

Episode Date: April 2, 2025

Daredevil: Born Again Episode 7 features the final showdown between Muse and the Man Without Fear–as the Kingpin uses the conflict to bolster his own private police force. We break down all of the Marvel Cinematic Universe easter eggs you missed, and break down Fisk’s endgame.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Agent Nate Russo returns in Oracle 3, Murder at the Grandview, the latest installment of the gripping Audible Original series. When a reunion at an abandoned island hotel turns deadly, Russo must untangle accident from murder. But beware, something sinister lurks in the Grandview's shadows. Joshua Jackson delivers a bone-chilling performance in this supernatural thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat. Don't let your fears take hold of you as you dive into this addictive series.

Love thrillers with a paranormal twist? The entire Oracle trilogy is available on Audible. Listen now on Audible. He's back. Hey, welcome back Screen Crush. I'm Ryan Erie. And this is all of the Easter eggs references and little things you might have missed in episode 7 of Daredevil Born Again. Guys, we're going to break down the final fight with Mews, dive deep into Daredevil's return, and talk about other connections to the Marvel Cinematic Universe that you may have missed.

And as always, you can listen to Screen Crush on all of your favorite podcast platforms, today. Also, I want to mention an awesome Easter egg that we missed last week. The bank heist took place in the same bank where Spike Lee filmed the bank robber film Inside Man. Now, the episode opens with Fisk peering out of his window and asking Buck and Daniel... When you look out this window, what do you see? And Wilson answers with... Fear. Now, I was a little confused by this scene at first, because in the comics, Mews paints an enormous mural of Daredevil outside the mayor's office to taunt him.

In this opening scene, we had so many shots of Wilson from outside the window that I just assumed they were going to reveal a giant muse mural outside. But instead, the fear Fisk was referring to was only, I guess, metaphorical. Then Fisk hears that Daredevil is back, and he actually seems relieved. He's back. Because now, he's got somebody he can focus his rage onto. It seems like his goal is to have his own private police force who operate outside the law. And now he can use Daredevil as a scapegoat to achieve this goal.

And to underscore his joy as soon as he says he's back, listen to the hymns of the theme song start in the background. On the street, we see a bus ad for the New York Bulletin, the daily newspaper that Ben Urick and Karen Page worked for in the original series. And I like that the show has continued to give us these transition shots of just normal, everyday New York people. It helps keep the show grounded in a universe where some pretty outlandish stuff has happened in this city. In the hospital, Angela is flashing back to Muse in the Daredevil fight, as Matt also flashes back to it in the shower. And here you can just feel the Catholic guilt eating at him.

He broke a promise to foggy. caused Hector's death. Or maybe he thinks that becoming daredevil again is a way to atone for Hector's death. I mean, he actually seems sad when he remembers this. Yeah, I'm here. Maybe now he feels regret about saying that because he has to keep that promise and remain daredevil. One of the key parts of Matt Murdoch's character is that he is a superhero who loves being a superhero, but he hates that he loves being a superhero. He is always at war with himself.

So, when Heather tries to ask about his bruises, he distracts her with a kiss. kiss. Now notice how the Newton brother score starts like a low bass hum, like he's listening to Heather's heartbeat. But then this gradually expands into a more passionate score. And did you notice these shower tiles? They're hexagons. Now connecting the bruise with the kiss, the pain with the pleasure is a clever bit of writing. It relates back to how violence is a temptation for Matt. And Being Daredevil gives him an adrenaline rush like he's being intimate with someone. Now Heather calls him out on this in the next scene when she says, You put yourself in dangerous situations. Is this some sort of self-harm?

I mean, she's not wrong. And then we see a couple on the street holding hands, leading to Matt and Heather having an argument. Matt has never really been in a relationship with the woman that he was living with where he had to actively hide his identity. Now we're starting to already see the the cracks form here. I mean, because of her profession, she can tell that there is some component of his trauma that he is keeping locked away. But she doesn't yet know that he's channeling

his trauma through violence. You have been tamping down trauma for so long. Now, this is also like in the comics, Matt never coped with Karen's death and he had a nervous breakdown. She says, at your old firm with your old friends. Which seems a little bit meta to me, like Daredevil Born Again is making a comment about the original Daredevil show and how it obviously is going to cast the shadow over this new series. Now she's actually talking about Karen here. She can probably still tell that Matt has feelings for her, but he has buried her loss along with all his other trauma. And one thing I love about Daredevil is that he's just such a human character. He has all of these flaws that ordinary people have. And for him, he's addicted

to being Daredevil. It's a compulsion that he wants to stop and he can. And I can relate. I may not dress up in body armor and meet up gangsters, but I do have a terrible twitch and other oral fixation habits that I struggle to quit. I used to think it was impossible to quit these bad oral fixation habits, and it turns out I was right. That's because I couldn't just quit, I had to replace, and that is where fume comes in. Fume has no vapor, no nicotine, just natural flavored air that actually satisfies. No stress, no withdraws, just a simple swap. Oh, what's fume?

Well, fume is an award-winning flavored air device that draws flavor into your mouth, not your lungs. It's a great way to satisfy your oral fixation with non-toxic flavors, and it's safe to use anywhere. So I just want to show you guys, there is no vapor here. This does not need batteries and it doesn't charge. It just has these flavor-based cores that you can personalize with delicious flavors like crisp mint or my favorite orange vanilla. Tastes like a dream sickle. Now with flavored air, you can satisfy your oral fixation

through this passive diffusion system that does not use electronics, vapor, or combustion. Also, it looks cool. I love how it's weighted. I love the wood design. And it just feels like premium in your hand. And it's also a great fidget tool that makes an incredibly satisfying sound. It's completely safe and they continue to. invest in third-party studies to ensure the safety of their products and it's backed by doctors here in the United States.

Fume has already helped more than 300,000 people to build better habits. So, try Fume today and if you order the Journey Pack now using My Code Screencrush, you'll get a free Fume Topper, an awesome accessory to level up your experience. Go to tryfume.com slash Screen Crush or scan the QR code on screen right now. Now, back to what I was saying. So back to Matt's argument with Heather. He hits her with this remark that comes off very cold. You know, and sometimes this, this all feels fake.

Now, this sounds worse than it is. He's talking about the new life that he built for himself, the new firm, the new clients. You know, the life without Daredevil. Matt has been living an emotionally distant lie for a year. And now Heather is the first real thing he's actually experienced since Foggy's death. I should also note that in the comics, Matt was like terrible to Heather. He ruined her career so she would have no distractions in her life, so she would have no choice but to marry him. and eventually she took her own life.

So this idea of living a fake life also applies to Fisk as he and Matt continue to mirror one another. For Wilson, the fake life is his new role as mayor in his unhappy marriage. Now, to the public, both Matt and Wilson are moving up in the world, but inside, they feel hollow. Matt talks about his trauma like it's a fight, like it's something he can battle with.

And I'm trying really hard to fight it. You see, Matt has always justified his nightlife with the belief that God made him this way so he could deliver that justice himself. He sees his trauma as a cross to bear or something that he can conquer with violence and fear. Now, when he called her... Talk to Glenn. Oh.

I thought back to last episode when he told Angela how he feels about therapy talk. I hate it, too. I mean, Matt is used to torturing himself. He finds comfort in it, and I don't know if he can handle somewhat in home who actually tries to heal his trauma rather than let him wallow in it. Now, when he wipes away her tears and touches her face, this is a callback of sorts to what foggy told Karen about Matt. On the plus side, he gets to touch a lot of pretty girls on their faces.

And that's, you know, how he tells what people look like. But here, it's a way for them to form a stronger emotional connection so he can see her face. Notice that he focuses on her heartbeat. Similar to the first time he kissed Karen in season two. Again, I think Matt is thinking back and remembering that moment with Karen because he's very, really not over her. At the law office, Matt brushes off his partner to talk to Cherry about helping him out as Daredevil. So we're already seeing him prioritize his life as Daredevil over his legal career. In season two, Matt allowed Elektra to distract him from the Frank Castle trial,

which led to Foggy leaving the firm. And now, Cherry has taken Foggy's place as the voice of moral reason. But Matt is right about one thing. Mews is in survival mode and is planning to murder his final victim. Now, I enjoyed this match cut from Matt to Fisk, as Wilson reminds Buck that Daredevil took down his operation in season one. But I loved how he uses alternative facts to frame those events. He talks about Daredevil like he's a monster who hurt the working people of his business. He took down my entire business, one that made hardworking people who believed in themselves and my enterprise richer than they ever dreamed of. And his weird, twisted new narrative, Wilson was just a simple businessman trying to provide jobs and make the city cleaner

while Daredevil was a rogue villain who was out to destroy his city. You can already see him starting to reframe this narrative for public consumption later in the episode. And I should note that his aide's name is Buck Cashman, which sounds like three kids in a trench coat pretending to be a banker, but in the comics he was a United States government ops agent who secretly worked for Fisk. Maybe that's what Wilson means when he refers to Their previous life.

Detective Angie Kim and a forensics team go into Muse's hideout, where they see victims hanging from hooks, like they did in the comics. She also sees syringes and sketches of his murals. And I could be wrong, but this particular sketch looks like it might have been done by one-time Daredevil artist David Mack. Now, there's a bit of a canvas here, which is conveniently rare and expensive, so the writers can expedite Muses capture. So this is intercut with Angela talking to Matt, when really, it should have been Angela talking to Detective Kim. But, you know, every scene in this show has to either have Matt or Kingpin in it. As our co-writer Ethaning pointed out, though, Angie is a cop, and Angela hates cops, so it would have made for

an interesting dynamic if the two of them would have spoken in this scene. But instead, Angela describes the sketches to Matt. Now, in the comics, Mews' artwork makes him a unique foil for Matt. See, Daredevil can't see the murals. He can't pick out clues that Mews may have included in his art. And furthermore, in the comics, Muse has the ability to create a sensory blindness around himself that Matt's senses can't detect. And also, cameras can't see Mews.

I mean, he literally makes Matt and the rest of the world blind. But the show decided to speed run through Mews' story, which I'll complain about in a review video coming out tomorrow. Seriously, I have thoughts. And I want to remind you guys that we have lots of Daredevil parody merch for sale at our merch store, screencrushmerch.com, where we design all the merch ourselves. We have the no fear hallway fight. Fisk will fix it, yard sign, and shirt. The Battle of New York newspaper. The classic Nelson and Murdoch logo and Law and Order tea. And recourse return of the king. You can find links for all of those down below. So Vanessa meets with Lucas saying,

If you're looking for attention, there are other ways. Now when Vanessa meets with him, she sounds like a mother scolding her child. She takes credit for upping the tribute to 2.8, giving Luca an opening to try to drive a wedge between her and her husband. The rules were worth it when you were running things. It was better than... Now, this reminded me of a story from the Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Malive run of the comics,

where a gangster named Silk manipulated Richard Fisk, Wilson's son, into helping him overthrow the kingpin. Luca asks, Why the hell does he want to be mayor? And I actually think that's a good question. See, I think he wanted to become mayor simply for revenge. He wanted to finally clear his name and change the narrative to make Daredevil the villain. In other words, Wilson Fisk wants to become the hero that his dad would

respect. You wonder, did Fiorella LaGuardia sit here? He was a hero of my father's. That's right, just like everything else in the MCU, this all comes back to daddy issues. What's with all the daddy issues? We got Tony Stark, daddy issues. Jen. Thor, daddy issues. Low key. Same daddy, same daddy, same issues. Oh boy. And in his monologue to Buck, he spells out exactly why he wants revenge against Daredevil, especially with the way he spits out the word righteousness. Because it's righteousness. And then Muse goes to see Heather.

Remember, we saw this guy at her book signing just a few episodes ago. Again, I think that they completely rush this storyline and not giving more time to supporting characters as hurting this show. But I'm going to talk about that at Link tomorrow. Now, he talks about a dream he had of a childhood birthday party where he should have been the center of attention. I go outside and someone hands me this bouquet of red balloons. And then my parents, they wilt this giant birthday cake. Now, as we hear later, his parents also hired a live-in taekwondo coach for him. So, this kid grew up spoiled and rich.

But the main point of his dream was, and they call for me to come over, but when I join them, they don't see me. I mean, I mean, no one knows I'm there. So this is an interesting reinterpretation of his powers from the comics, where his ability is to not be. seen. But he's also echoing the sentiment of many struggling artists who just want the world to see and hear their message. Now, Sebastian's Taekwondo background does explain how he was able to go up against Daredevil. I mean, look, the guy's just an artist who wanted to express

himself, but his parents wouldn't let him, like Billy Elliott, but with murder. I just want to dance with the ballet. Now, I should also note that all of this stuff is new and invented for this show. In the comics, Muse was an inhuman and they never revealed his real name. He did die and he went to hell and came back. It's like a whole thing. So maybe, fingers crossed, he'll be resurrected in a future project with supernatural powers. So Angie pulls off some lightning fast detective work and for some reason Fisk narrates the rap sheet right back to her. Involuntary commitment when he was 15, expelled from Phillips Exeter, involuntary commitment when he was 17 and another one when he was 20.

My dude, she knows all that. Why are you reading that out loud? And his response, I'll take it from here. Is all you need to know about this mayor. He wants to always be seen as the person in command of every success and take no credit for the failures. So he's actually using this to prop up his task force to be the city's new heroes. Heroes he controls. Now, when Bastion's nosebleeds, he uses the blood to create a self-portrait, and this is what all artists, I guess, strive to do, to suffer and put their pain into their work. But it's also a reminder that he puts his victim's blood into his work. Now, he calls this his true self, because he believes that

Bastion is the mask and Muse is the real him. Similar to how Bruce Wayne sees Batman as his true self, and Bruce is the mask. But Daredevil, the character, adds an interesting twist to this. You see, Matt Murdoch is never sure which version of him is real. Is he a lawyer who dresses up as a devil or a devil who pretends to be civilized? And this is what Matt meant earlier when he said, Heather, you realize I used to have this whole other life. You know, and sometimes this all feels fake.

For Matt, Daredevil is his true self and Murdoch is the mask. In Muses' layer, we see an early draft of the Punisher's skull mural that we saw with triggered text that we saw back in episode two. But this looks like a unicorn, so maybe he's saying that the Punisher is a rare breed of person. Or maybe he just thinks unicorns are awesome. Unicorns are awesome. They pose majestically besides waterfalls and they impaled Nazis with their horns. High five. Matt drops in and begins to feel the drawing with his fingertips. Now he also does this in the comics. He read a prescription label with his fingertips, detecting the rising of the ink to be able to read what's on the paper. And this is how he finds Heather's sketch. And I love, love the moment where they

intercut between this and him feeling her face from earlier in the episode. The show has actually done a terrific job of using editing and camera techniques to immerse us inside Matt's senses. It's also clever that he misses her face in the first few sketches, but when he finds the one with thicker paint, he's able to detect her features. But then we see Heather with the target over her bleeding eyes. Now the moment is so distracting for Matt that he doesn't hear Powell coming. So he knows he's been spotted and that Fisk will soon come after him. Then we cut to Muse torturing Heather. He says, I read your books. I've watched you. You know. And remember, Heather is working on a book about projected personas, you know, people who wear masks.

So something in this work must have really helped him justify living his life this way. This is why Muse looks at her is an inspiration. In her words, he finally found an outlet for his murderous artistic self. But then she undercuts this parisocial connection by saying, Anybody who needs a mask is a coward. At her book signing, we saw that her book was called Live Without Fear. And you can see how this message would have resonated with Bastion. For years, he was afraid of his actual self.

But Heather's words helped him to live without fear, to embrace his other identity as Muse. And the fact that he's motivated by fear is fitting because now he shares that fear by spreading it across the city. As Wilson tells us with this clumsy exposition. What do you see, sir? Fear, a city turning to a stop. So for Muse, this is devastating to hear. The woman who shaped his identity is rejecting him,

just like his parents rejected him. I mean, he likely chose the name Muse because Heather was his actual muse, his inspiration for his artwork. He signs his name on her body to show that she is going to be his last masterpiece, which is why he brought along the canvas to arrange and display her dead body,

just like he displayed these bodies of inhumans in the comics. Also, Heather's sudden hatred of people wearing masks is going to be a wedge between her and Matt, reminiscent of the comics, where, for instance, Gwen Stacey resented Spider-Man for her father's death. She says, Don't you care about all the people you killed?

Do you feel nothing? And in the comics, the answer is that Mews thinks he is honoring his victims by making them a part of something greater than themselves. And then, as the choral music crescendos, I love the whip pan they used to make it look like he threw his club. It's a great camera trick. And then they replace it with a digital version that actually hits Mews on the head. But it does really annoy me how many hits to the face Mews can take

when he is not actually a superhuman. He should have been knocked out, like, on the first blow. Matt drives him away from Heather with a knee to the chest and then blocks a blow with his arm. And I just want to shout out how this show, and the show Echo, finally show Daredevil using his billy clubs like we see them in the comics. Like in the Netflix shows, he barely used the clubs, maybe to keep the show like more grounded and realistic. But in this show, it really does feel like it's translated from the page to the screen.

Just like with Angela last episode, Muse is laser-focused on killing his victim, you know, finishing his next piece of art. Then Matt fires his grappling hook into Muse's shoulder, splattering his own blood on the canvas, which is a metaphor for artistic expression, if I've ever seen one. Now, just as the task force breaches the building, we got the shocker of a moment where Heather shoots Mews. This was foreshadowed, though. When they start to struggle, the first thing Heather does is try to reach the gun on her desk. So she immediately crosses a line that Matt has drawn for himself.

But Heather was acting in self-defense, while if Matt were to kill Mews, then he would be usurping the justice system with his abilities. You see, Matt has great power that he has to use responsibly, and Heather was just trying to survive. But moments like this are going to be important for the show's key theme about vigilante justice. I mean, what makes someone a vigilante? Is it putting on a mask and hurting somebody? Is it acting in self-defense? In her own way, Heather did act as a vigilante in this moment.

But this show, hopefully, is going to draw that line between what we consider a masked vigilante and what we consider just a person who's doing what they think is the right thing. But now, Heather is still going to be haunted by this murder. like Matt was haunted by his attempted murder of Bullseye. When he checks on her, he removes his glove to feel her face. Now, it's a sweet moment because he already knows she's alive. He can hear her heartbeat, so he only does this so he can see her. Now, as Muse lays on the floor, notice how the blood is covering the paint splatter on his chest. In other words, in death, he has finally become his own work of art. Now, as for whether or not Muse is actually dead,

season two is filming right now. And fans who went to the film location saw a trailer for Stunt Muse. Bartapain told TV line recently that Muse would play a role in season one and beyond. So maybe Muse will come back in season two with powers, or maybe the story of Muse will be adapted into a film or a TV miniseries that will exist within the world of Daredevil. Or maybe Muse will inspire copycat killers around the city. So when North reports to Fisk that Daredevil stopped Muse, he replies... Are you sure positive? Instead, Fisk, like a good dictator, rewrites history.

What we do know is that you and your men did your job, that you stop. Mewes. You are heroes. There was no one else up here. Fisk knows that he could reveal Matt's secret identity and take him down, but he wants him to suffer. He would rather see the public turn on Matt, turn on the vigilante justice that at one point put him out of business. So the Kingpin's real plan here is to rewrite the narrative so the city understands that he was the real hero all along. Now, North agrees to lie, but I should note that in the comics, North has a slightly similar story.

He is a cop from Chicago who is charged with hunting down daredevil. and he succeeds. But then he eventually decides that Daredevil is one of the good ones and they end up working together. But notice the music in this scene. As they talk about Daredevil, we hear choral music. He was here. But as Fisk discusses the task force,

we start to hear a marching snare drum because he's speaking to his soldiers. There was no one else up here. Isn't that right, Sergeant North? Yes, it is, Mr. Mayor. And we see him continuing to rewrite the narrative, even leveraging Beebe to keep quiet about Daredevil's involvement. Maybe, after this episode, BB could be an actual character on the show.

That'd be great. It is nice in this scene to see Daniel finally learn from the kingpin and manipulate people just like his idol does. Yep, these two were best gangster buds, just like Oz and Vic. They're going to be together till the end. Why would you say that? Why would you say that? So it seems like BB caves.

Just like at first, her uncle Ben Eurek tried to walk away from the Fisk investigation back in season one. But I hope as the season goes along, we see her learn who really killed her uncle. And then she'll decide to help Daredevil go after Fisk. In the hospital, Matt tells her, You killed him, Matt. You didn't have a choice? Now, I think we're going to see Heather grapple with this guilt for a while.

Maybe her recollection of events won't actually be clear. So I think Matt will eventually reveal his identity to her just to make her feel better, but that is going to ultimately cause them to split up. Although, she's already starting to suspect. You think he said my name? Who? Daredevil. And behind them, Spectrum News is broadcasting the story of the task force capturing Muse.

But they're making it sound like Muse is just another mass vigilante, grouping him in with people like Daredevil and The Punisher. And then we cut to Vanessa setting up Luca. And this is like a nice bit of suspense. I genuinely thought that they might have her turn on her husband. Now, the restaurant here, Beaumontes, is actually at this address, 32 Wither Street in Brooklyn. And there was like an extra detail in here that hinted that Vanessa could have been in on this. The last time we saw Wilson Fisk rent out an entire restaurant, it was for his second date with Vanessa.

And the final song here is Don't Go, Please Stay, originally by the drifters, and it starts as diagetic music playing within the restaurant, which means that Wilson was choosing to listen to it. So this is important because it means that Fisk chose this music because it reminds him of Vanessa. The lyrics go, if I called out your name like a prayer in the night, would you leave me alone with my tears? Or would this time be different in some way? Right, the song is a question, which fits the scene perfectly. We don't really know if Vanessa is with her husband or if she's planning a coup. Is she going to stay or go?

And finally, Fisk casually orders... Could you call Vanessa and ask her? She'd like me to bring her home some... Stole one there. Now, that is a good husband. Somebody who goes out for the night, but still thinks to bring home dinner for his wife. So, guys, that's all the Easter eggs we found. If I'm being honest, I hate how fast they did away with Muse's story,

and I've got some negative things to say in our review video coming out tomorrow. I want to shout out Ethan Ink for co-writing this video with me. You can find his socials down in the description. And let us know what you thought of the episode on my Twitter, Blue Sky, in the comments, or on our free-to-join Discord server, links for everything are below. And if it's your first time here, please subscribe, smash that bell for alerts. For Screen Crush, I'm Ryan Erie. Thank you.