Daredevil: Born Again features the return of Wilson Bethel as Bullseye and Jon Bernthal as The Punisher. Who would win in a battle between these two murderers?
Marvel Studios is going all-in on the Daredevil franchise throughout the Multiverse Saga. The Kingpin of Crime has been the villain of Hawkeye and Echo. Matt Murdock/Daredevil also appeared in Echo, following guest appearances in She-Hulk: Attorney at Law and Spider-Man: No Way Home. Kingpin and Daredevil will face off once again in Daredevil: Born Again, but they won’t be alone.
Daredevil: Born Again is a pseudo-sequel to the original Daredevil TV series, and many characters are returning for this new chapter in Hell’s Kitchen. Frank Castle/The Punisher was introduced to the MCU in Daredevil Season 2, and Benjamin Poindexter/Bullseye was introduced in Season 3. The Punisher and Bullseye will soon appear in the same live-action project for the first time, opening the door to an incredible and bloody showdown.
HISTORY OF BULLSEYE AND THE PUNISHER
The Punisher and Bullseye have a fairly extensive history in the source material. In the Punisher comic book storyline “Countdown”, Bullseye was hired to kill the Punisher. Bullseye failed to kill him, losing their fight when Punisher threw him off of a ledge. Bullseye did however succeed in murdering an innocent family and convincing Frank Castle that he was responsible for their death. When Bullseye boasted of his trickery in 1995’s Punisher #1, Castle beat the assassin in hand-to-hand combat before shooting both of his hands.
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In Bullseye: Greatest Hits, Bullseye tells the story of his first encounter with The Punisher. He claims that he was running an illegal cocaine operation overseas when Frank came to take him down. This was before he called himself Bullseye. During his fight, Bullseye dodged, weaved, and outmaneuvered Frank. Taunting his foe’s inability to put him down, the killer drew a bullseye on his forehead in mud – a design that would become his symbol. Punisher Vs. Bullseye is a 5-issue miniseries which indicates that the element of surprise is the deciding factor in a battle between these two.
PUNISHER MAX IS THE BEST BULLSEYE VS PUNISHER STORY
Punisher Vs. Bullseye shows a version of the supervillain who is motivated by profit more than anything, and this results in a stalemate. Bullseye doesn’t kill Punisher even when he has the chance because he makes too much money off of his war on crime. In a one-on-one fight, Punisher would have killed Bullseye were it not for the interruption of a teenager with a bazooka. The Punisher video game from 2005 features a boss fight with Bullseye. After destroying his health bar, Castle throws Bullseye out of a window, seemingly to his death. A post-credits scene reveals that Bullseye survived his fight with Castle, something very few criminals accomplish.
The most complex, disturbing, and engaging fight between these two lethal titans takes place in the pages of PunisherMax. This version of Bullseye becomes obsessed with his victims before taking their lives. Bullseye wanted to understand Frank Castle’s mind so badly that he kidnapped three families and had them murdered in Central Park. This was his sick attempt at recreating Punisher’s origin story to personally experience his emotional state. The Punisher and Bullseye come to blows in a spectacularly violent manner before they fall through a glass ceiling. Bullseye is put into a coma, and eventually, Punisher comes to finish the job and blows his brains out.
DAREDEVIL: BORN AGAIN COULD FEATURE PUNISHER VS. BULLSEYE
In the world of comic books and video games, Bullseye seldom defeats The Punisher. He has come close to killing Frank on multiple occasions, but their fights end in Castle’s favor or a tie more often than not. But what would a fight between Bullseye and Punisher look like in Daredevil: Born Again? The Punisher has killed 168 people in the MCU, while Bullseye has only killed 28. Punisher has much more screentime, but at the same time, he killed 45 individuals in Daredevil alone – 17 more casualties than Bullseye claimed in the same show.
Bullseye/Benjamin Poindexter has the same deadly accuracy in the MCU that his comic book counterpart is known for. He can use ricochet shots and ordinary items as deadly weapons to take down his targets. He was trained in the army and the FBI, while Frank Castle was trained as a marine. Frank Castle has more experience killing and is not as mentally unstable as the assassin with perfect aim. Bullseye may have been cybernetically enhanced at the end of Daredevil Season 3, which could lend him an edge in a hypothetical fight against Punisher.
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A fight between Bullseye and Punisher would ultimately be determined by prep time and the element of surprise. If either killer decided to hunt the other in secret, they could feasibly assassinate their opponent. However, if Bullseye found out that the Punisher was hunting him (or vice-versa), he could probably develop a plan to retaliate and even kill his attacker. Factors like location and experience gained since the events of Daredevil Season 3 would also play a big role in their battle. Truthfully, if they do fight, the winner will be the character whose survival best services the storyline of Daredevil: Born Again.
The roles of Punisher and Bullseye in Daredevil: Born Again are unknown at this time, and they may not even cross paths. Even if they do, it is unlikely that Marvel will kill off such iconic characters, so a fight could end up in another frustrating stalemate.
ABOUT – DAREDEVIL: BORN AGAIN
Directed By: Aaron Moorhead and Justin Benson
Showrunner: Dario Scardapane
Starring: Charlie Cox, Vincent D’Onofrio, Wilson Bethel, Jon Bernthal, Elden Henson, Deborah Ann Woll, Sandrine Holt
Release Date: 2025
Synopsis: Longtime rivals Matt Murdock/Daredevil and Wilson Fisk/Kingpin try to leave behind their darker alter-egos to serve the people of New York only to have their pasts catch up to them.
Would you like to see Bullseye fight Punisher in Daredevil: Born Again? Let us know your thoughts on social media and thanks for reading! We are always watching.
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