Daredevil: Born Again's Bullseye, Explained (2024)

Following a massive internal reboot for the upcoming Daredevil: Born Again and Marvel's TV department, the Man Without Fear has exciting times ahead. The series is set to retain some of the material from filming before the production pause, but The Hollywood Reporter reports that it will be retooled otherwise to be more in line with the original Netflix show.

More recently, ComicBook uncovered that Wilson Bethel is set to return as the Daredevil nemesis Bullseye. Aside from Kingpin, the notorious hitman is the Man Without Fear's most iconic rogues gallery member in the comics. Bullseye has a long history of causing the hero's circle misery, and the original TV series introduced a new riveting version. Between the source material and the live-action rendition, Bethel's Bullseye can go in several directions in Daredevil: Born Again.

Bullseye is a Petty Assassin With a Vendetta Against Daredevil

Bullseye is easily one of Daredevil's most fearsome villains, and arguably in the Marvel universe regarding super-powerless rogues. Having a somewhat ominously ambiguous identity, he's taken on several aliases — including "Lester" and "Benjamin Poindexter" — and was the product of a broken home living with his brother and abusive father. Taking an interest in ranged weapons like rifles led to his uncannily elite marksmanship skills. Bullseye developed these skills to become a key figure in New York's criminal underworld, paving the way to cross paths with Daredevil. However, what snapped something inside the master hitman the Devil of Hell's Kitchen humiliated him after attempting to kidnap and kill Black Widow during a storyline by Roger McKenzie and Frank Miller in Daredevil #159 and #160.

This could be seen as the turning point in Bullseye's place in the hero's rogues gallery moving up. His vendetta became far bloodier with the hero, which defined a significant portion of Frank Miller's Daredevil run as a writer. He's taken on jobs to target Matt Murdock and his best friend and law partner Foggy Nelson before, but this event made the villain's characterization take a more sinister and personal direction. Bullseye finds genuine joy in making Daredevil's life miserable, becoming an even more compelling antagonist and acting as a "dark mirror" to Matt Murdock's personality and everything he stands for. He's the antithesis of every morally upstanding value Matt holds — somewhat similar to the Joker and Batman's dynamic — making their bouts feel sincerely high-stakes and visceral.

This indirectly inspired some other darker Daredevil storylines that would follow Miller and artist Klaus Janson's run. That includes Kevin Smith and Joe Quesada's Guardian Devil, when Bullseye assassinates Karen Page, or Brian Bendis and Alex Maleev's Hardcore, where Matt Murdock at his limit gives the mercenary one of the most cathartic and humbling beatings in their shared history. Outside of the comic book source material, however, many of these storylines — particularly Bendis and Smith's — inspired the thrilling and eerie live-action portrayal played by actor Wilson Bethel.

The Netflix Daredevil Series Introduced Bullseye in Season 3

Now on Disney+ and organized within the streaming platform's Marvel Cinematic Universe timeline, the original Netflix series was largely praised for its live-action reinvention of the Man Without Fear. Filled with compelling Daredevil storytelling that takes spiritual cues from the Frank Miller comics that revived the character and later runs like Brian Bendis' that elevated him further, Wilson Bethel would plant his flag on the show in Season 3. This continuity's Bullseye is named Benjamin "Dex" Poindexter, a deeply psychologically troubled FBI agent who lost his parents as a child and murdered his baseball coach.

During Wilson Fisk/Kingpin's grand scheme to orchestrate his release from prison by manipulating the FBI, the mob boss steadily enforces Dex's worst tendencies and makes him his hitman. Now having developed a dangerous dependence on Kingpin for his approval, he carries out a series of heinous crimes and murders while wearing an imposter Daredevil suit — including a mass murder at the New York Bulletin newspaper. But after the true Man Without Fear reveals that the mastermind Kingpin murdered the object of Bullseye's obsession, Season 3 culminates in a vitriolic free-for-all between the three characters.

While Daredevil managed to reclaim his mantle and deny Kingpin the chance to tear down what he stands for, the crimelord gives Bullseye a severe back injury, with the season's last scene showing him undergoing an experimental spinal surgery. Unfortunately, when Netflix unceremoniously canceled the series, this plot thread was left dangling. However, showrunner Dario Scardapane and the directing duo of Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead could bring this subplot back in motion in Marvel Studios and Disney+'s Daredevil: Born Again.

Wilson Bethel's Return as Bullseye in Born Again Will be For Three Episodes

The recent development that Wilson Bethel's Bullseye will return seems to bode well for the upcoming sequel series. More specifically, the ComicBook.com report notes that his character will feature in three episodes. While that may not seem like much, the first season's episode count is being scaled back from 18, and, if Disney+'s Star Wars series Andor is anything to go by and rumors of Born Again's production prove to be true, a 3-episode-long return could fill out a satisfying story arc. More importantly, his smaller role could be a stepping stone for something more in a potential second season. In Season 3 of the original series, the assassin fulfills a secondary antagonist role alongside Kingpin akin to Two-Face with the Joker in The Dark Knight, never undercutting the latter's significance while still having a fitting character arc.

While it might seem overdue for Bullseye to get his time to shine as a primary antagonist, it's important to note that these recent developments for Born Again are the results of an internal reboot of the project. The show certainly seems to be taking more direct continuity cues from the original show than it would have. Still, this is ultimately a sequel series rather than a literal "Season 4" of its predecessor. Three episodes could be a concise runtime for Bethel's version of Bullseye to make a meaningful appearance, but his inclusion could also become similar to Vincent D'Onofrio as Kingpin in Daredevil Season 2. While he was limited to two episodes, his presence was impactful and perfectly set the stage for his main role in Season 3.

The hypothetical three-episode storyline could pick up where he left off in the Season 3 finale, finally answering what happened after his spinal surgery and who ordered it. An intriguing direction Marvel Studios could go would be to connect this subplot with CIA director Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, played by Julia Louis-Dreyfus in Black Widow, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. The CIA figurehead is known to have worked with unsettling vigilantes, and she will play a role in Thunderbolts by recruiting the titular team, making Valentina's involvement in Dex's surgery feel organic in how it connects to the wider MCU.

So far, the creative overhaul has been promising for Daredevil: Born Again's production. Wilson Bethel's return as Bullseye also seems like a continued commitment to honoring the success of the previous TV series. Charlie Cox's take on the Man Without Fear looks poised to be a key figure in the MCU's street-level world, and including one of his most ruthless adversaries is a must. The frighteningly efficient assassin has more than enough compelling material in the comics to justify a main role in the future, and Bullseye's arc in the original Netflix series has already set up everything that he needs to elevate his character's prominence further in the MCU.

Daredevil: Born Again

Superhero

Crime

Action

Daredevil and Kingpin will face-off again, now inside the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The Punisher will also get a piece of the action.

Release Date

Creator

Dario Scardapane

Cast

Charlie Cox , Margarita Levieva , Jon Bernthal , Vincent D'Onofrio

Main Genre

Superhero

Seasons

1

Franchise

Marvel Cinematic Universe