Summary
The premiere ofDaredevil: Born Againon March 4 is the culmination of seven years of fan speculation and demand.Daredevilfirst ran for three seasons on Netflix, where its combination of brutal fight scenes and outstanding performances by Charlie Cox and Vincent D’Onofrio made it one of the most exciting Marvel live-action entries of all time.
The success of the Netflix series is all the more impressive when one considers theDaredevilmovie that preceded it. Despite a cast that included Ben Affleck in the title and future Oscar winner Colin Farrell as the killer Bullseye, 2003’sDaredevilwas a flop. The movie burned all the goodwill toward Marvel movies that 2002’sSpider-Manbuilt up and, despite getting an even worse spin-off with 2005’sElektra, killed any hopes of a proper sequel. Yet despite the movie’s ignoble history,Daredevil: Born Againpays tribute to its predecessor with one memorable kill.
What Happened in 2003’s Daredevil?
On the surface, the 2003 movie does everything one would expect of aDaredevilfilm. Writer and director Mark Steven Johnson draws not just from classic 1980s storylines by writer Frank Miller and artist Klaus Janson, but also builds on recent (at the time) and well-received runs by Kevin Smith and Brian Michael Bendis. Johnson directly recreated moments from the comics, including an image of Daredevil hanging off a stone cross or his initials written in flame.
Furthermore, the movie understood the tone of the character.Ben Affleck played Matt Murdock, a lawyer who gained enhanced senses after losing his sight as a child. The character was perpetually tired and guilty, a man who felt every one of the blows he took when he fought crime. At the same time, Affleck could inject levity and charm into his character, as seen when he banters with best friend Foggy Nelson (Jon Favreau, who would recreate superhero movies just five years later by directing Iron Man) and flirts with Elektra Natchios (Jennifer Garner).
Matt’s nighttime activities as Daredevil draw the ire of Wilson Fisk (Michael Clarke Duncan), the Kingpin of Crime, but neither truly face one another. That is, until Fisk decides to punish Nikolas Natchios (Erick Avari) for crossing him and hires the nervy Irish killer Bullseye (Farrell) to murder Elektra. Elektra holds her own, but Bullseye prevails, sending Daredevil into a rage. Daredevil first paralyzes Bullseye and then sets his sights on Fisk, leading to a knockdown, drag out fight with the massive Kingpin. The film ends with the hero broken but triumphant, lost in sorrow but hopeful that Elektra may return.
In a post-credits sequence,Daredevilalso suggests thatBullseye may return. The sequence focuses on Bullseye in traction, unable to move anything but his eyes and the ends of his fingers. He watches with frustration as a fly buzzes around him, unable to do anything about it. That is, until the fly lands on the wall, pausing for a moment. That’s when Bullseye flicks a syringe toward the fly, which of course nails it onto the wall, allowing him to finally get some rest.
What Does Bullseye Do in Daredevil: Born Again?
The Bullseye ofDaredevil: Born Againisn’t Bullseye, at least at first. The show’s version of Bullseye comes from the third season of the Netflix series, in which Wilson Bethel played a troubled FBI agent called Benjamin “Dex” Pointdexter. Despite his perfect aim, Dex failed to secure a career in baseball and instead became an agent, which brought him into contact with Wilson Fisk (portrayed in the show by D’Onofrio).
Fisk was able to manipulate Dex, eventually driving him to attack Karen Page (Deborah Ann Woll), a close friend of Matt Murdock (Cox). By the end of the season, Daredevil defeats Dex and sends him to prison, potentially for good. But in the first episode ofDaredevil: Born Again, Dex returns to wreak havoc.
Dex arrives at what seems like a happy moment, as Matt goes out to celebrate with Karen and his best friend Foggy (Elden Henson). Amidst the reverie, Foggy receives a panicked phone call from a key witness, claiming that someone scary came looking for him. That’s when Matt realizes that someone is coming: Dex has returned.
DirectorsJustin Benson and Aaron Moorheadshot the scene for maximum tension, contrasting Matt’s helpless realization of what’s about to happen with Dex’s determination and planning. It builds to a heartbreaking climax, after Daredevil and Dex fight it out with a level of brutality never before seen in the MCU.
And yet, one moment threatens to take viewers out of the scene. Before Dex makes his grand appearance, he takes a toothpick from his mouth and throws it at a nearby fly, pinning it to the wall — just like Farrell’s character did before him.
How Does Dex Connect to Bullseye?
Some might object that the fly-killing scene doesn’t work inDaredevil: Born Again. After all, while the 2003 movie certainly had its violent moments, it was far more arch and silly thanBorn Again. The newer show treats the material with greater care and respect. Furthermore, Dex does something unthinkable inBorn Again, an action that forever changes Matt Murdock’s life and sets off the events in the rest of the series. Why make reference to a joke from an unrelated movie?
However, the reference works for the very reason that Dex is not Bullseye — at least not yet. For whatever reason, the producers of the NetflixDaredevilshow decided that Bullseye was too extreme a character for a relatively realistic television series. The character from the comic books is an unrepentant killer who doesn’t even have a name. He seems too cartoonishly evil to fit into the grounded world they made. So, instead of having Daredevil fight a super assassin called Bullseye, the makers of the TV show pit Daredevil against a guy named Dex with great aim.
Daredevil: Born Againshares the sober attitude of the series that preceded it. However, it does take place in the MCU, which means that it isn’t nearly as realistic as the Netflix show. InBorn Again,Matt Murdocklives alongside Spider-Man and the Avengers. In this world, it wouldn’t make sense for an assassin with perfect aim to not have a codename or a costume.
When Dex kills the fly in the same way as Bullseye from the movie, he’s making a point to the viewers. He is Bullseye, even if the show itself won’t say that. And once the audience knows that Dex is Bullseye, they get scared, because he’s now in a much more serious setting, one where he can do some real damage.
