Bullseye
Real Name: Even Bullseye doesn't have a clue!
AKA: Ben Pondexter.
First Appearance: DareDevil 131
What's His Problem? Bullseye started out insane. Then he developed an unhealthy obsession with DareDevil and got worse! His disdain for The Horned One only increased after DareDevil dropped Bullseye in front of a train, not because DareDevil tried to kill him, but because DareDevil didn't succeed in killing him. Although not fatal, the fall did break almost every bone in the assassin's body, leaving him paralyzed.
Abilities: Bullseye is an uncanny marksman, not only with guns or knives, but with literally anything he can get his hands on. He is a natural athlete and has great physical stamina -- one can only imagine how much longer he'd last in a fight if he'd quit smoking! After DareDevil paralyzed him, Bullseye underwent an adamantium bonding process that not only granted him mobility, but made his skeleton virtually unbreakable. Although developed by Dark Wind, the same man who perfected the process that replaced Wolverine's skeleton with adamantium, this procedure appears to only lace the bones with adamantium, not completely replace the bone. For a time (DareDevil 196-200), Bullseye and DareDevil actually shared a pyschic link so that one could feel when the other was near; this link appears to have been broken by the drubbing Bullseye got in DareDevil 200.
Favorite Quote: "You're resourceful, Widow ... I'll give you that ... but there's no one alive as resourceful as Bullseye! No one!" (DareDevil 160, after defeating the Black Widow in a brutal hand-to-hand fight)
Heroes He Keeps Running Into: Despite a run-in with Captain America and another with the Punisher that eventually led Castle to the electric chair and S.H.I.E.L.D., DareDevil remains Bullseye's favorite moving target. The person Bullseye needs to keep an eye out for, however, is Dark Wind's daughter, Lady Deathstrike. Deathstrike was tracking Bullseye when she discovered Wolverine's adamantium skeleton; now that Wolvie's back to plain ol' calcite, she might remember her original target...
People Who Think He's Not So Bad: Bullseye is a psychotic mass murderer who can't recall his own name. You think he'd remember any friends even if he had any?
Most Despicable Act: Bullseye has repeatedly killed innocent bystanders, sometimes without even noticing what he's doing as he's doing it, making him as repulsive as he is ruthless.
Who Was That Bullseye I Saw You With Last Night? Confused over price-guide claims that Bullseye showed up in Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. years before he started annoying DareDevil? Do the Powers That Be at Marvel consider the two bad guys to be one really bad guy? Here's writer Kurt Busiek on the subject (posted in rec.arts.comics.marvel.universe on 5/13/98): "They're not -- that's just a price guide trick to sell more NICK FURY back issues. If I recall correctly, Bulls-Eye, from NF 15, not only dies in that issue, but his power of uncanny aim is a part of his gun, not himself. Bullseye, from DD 131, has never been connected to that earlier Bulls-Eye, and his ability is his own, not a technological advantage. If it makes a difference, in his original run of Marvel Indexes, George Olshevsky identifies the two characters as different guys -- and he's got less of a conflict of interest than the retailers and price-guide folks who benefit from prices going up on NF 15."
Recommended Reading: The DareDevil novel "Predator's Smile" by Chris Golden. Excellent grasp of Bullseye's character and motivations.
