Why Bullseye Saved Daredevil In 'Born Again' Season 2's Premiere Is Due To Poindexter's True Motives

Benjamin Poindexter, better known as Bullseye, is one of the most dangerous men in the MCU. A former FBI agent turned contract killer, Poindexter can use virtually any object as a lethal projectile with perfect accuracy. His introduction in the final season of Netflix's Daredevil made him an instant fan favorite, and Marvel Studios brought him back for Daredevil: Born Again. In that season, he was hired by Vanessa Fisk to assassinate Foggy Nelson and later escaped prison to try to kill Mayor Wilson Fisk, only for Matt Murdock to jump in front of the bullet. He was pursued by Fisk's men but slipped away, off the grid, a man burning with unfinished business.

The Season 2 premiere of Daredevil: Born Again dropped on Disney+ on Tuesday, and its closing moments delivered a shock. As Anti-Vigilante Task Force agents overwhelmed Daredevil inside Cherry's apartment, unmasked, and prepared to execute him, an unseen attacker took them out with precise, lethal shots from a distance. 

A knife then sailed into the room, bounced off the wall, and landed in front of Matt Murdock. Engraved on the blade were two words: "You're welcome." Alongside them, Bullseye's logo. Poindexter saved Daredevil's life, leaving audiences wondering about his true motives.

Dex might be a crazy son of a gun, but he's also intelligent and doesn’t act without reason. Fans would recall what happened to Dex at the end of Season 1. Vanessa Fisk recruited him from a psychiatric facility and promised him an early release in exchange for murdering Foggy Nelson and Benny Cafaro. After killing Foggy, Poindexter was arrested and sentenced to life in prison on eleven counts of first-degree murder. 

Once inside, Mayor Fisk had him moved from protective custody to General Population, a move meant to quietly get rid of him. Poindexter, as only Poindexter can, used a broken tooth to escape and go after the Fisks. However, his attempt to kill Wilson at the fundraising ball did not go as planned, thanks to Matt's self-righteous principles. 

Bullseye Has a Personal War Against the Fisks and AVTF 

Poindexter has been through the wringer from a young age. However, a big chunk of his worst moments can be traced back to the Fisks. They used, discarded, and then tried to have him quietly eliminated in prison. Then there's the AVTF, which serves as Fisk's enforcer on the streets, automatically making them his enemy.

So when Season 2's first episode shows AVTF agents closing in on Daredevil, Poindexter stepping in to eliminate them isn’t just to save Matt but also because he hates them even more than Matt does. At least Daredevil wouldn’t have killed those men; he'd only leave them with very permanent scars, dislocated jaw lines, and many broken bones.

Wilson Bethel, who plays Poindexter, addressed the character's motivations in the official press notes for Season 2. He described Dex as entering the new season with "a renewed sense of purpose" and a personal idea of what redemption looks like, though he acknowledged Dex is "a little misguided in his idea of what redemption looks like." From where Poindexter stands, redemption means going after the people who wronged him. The Fisks did him dirty, taking them apart, piece by piece, is the closest thing to justice his psychology will allow him.

Saving Daredevil fits well into his plan, so it's not necessarily out of love and brotherhood. Matt Murdock is the one man in New York actively dismantling Fisk's operation from the outside. Letting him die at the hands of the AVTF would hand Fisk a victory. There's also the fact that he killed Matt's best friend. There's a chance that guilt lingers in his mind as well. 

Daredevil: Born Again Season 2 Teases Bullseye and Daredevil Team Up

Born Again Season 2 could be teasing a Bullseye, Daredevil team-up with that epic knife-throwing scene. This is also backed by set photos that surfaced during production in April 2025, which were the first hard evidence that something had changed between Dex Poindexter and Matt Murdock. The images showed Wilson Bethel's Bullseye in upgraded combat armor standing alongside Charlie Cox's Daredevil, neither appearing to be fighting the other. For a pair whose history includes Poindexter murdering Matt's best friend, the sight of them side by side hinted at a temporal alliance.

The teaser trailer for Season 2 pushed that reading further, because at one point in the footage, Daredevil reaches his hand down toward a bloodied Bullseye to seemingly help him off the ground. For Daredevil, a team-up with a force like Bullseye makes sense as a necessary evil. 

The Season 1 finale ended with Matt expressing the need to assemble an army to push back against Fisk's grip on New York. This army will include retired cop Cherry, Detective Angie Kim, journalist BB Urich, Karen Page, Jessica Jones, and others willing to fight the corruption. Fisk's AVTF is a militarized, legally shielded force operating under martial law with no warrants and no accountability. Matt needs people who are crazy enough to match them with violence, and Dex is perfect for that. 

An alliance also works in Dex's favor, as he needs a purpose to stay sane. In the Netflix Daredevil show, it was established that Dex is a mess when he doesn’t have a fulfilling purpose. Helping to take down a sworn enemy is the perfect activity to keep his unstable mind from spiraling.