‘Daredevil’ Season 3’s Big Bullseye Fights Are Based on These Iconic Marvel Comics Stories

Daredevil season 3 has been generating buzz since its premiere – especially ever since Marvel fans learned that it would feature the Marvel Cinematic Universe debut of Daredevil’s nemesis, Bullseye!

The early trailers for Daredevil season 3 revealed several big fight sequences in which Daredevil and Bullseye (aka Agent “Dex”), would trade blows – but now that we’ve seen these sequences in full, we can breakdown in full how two of Daredevil season 3’s big Bullseye battles are directly adapted from two iconic Marvel Comics storylines: “Born Again” and “Guardian Devil”.

Obviously, so MASSIVE SPOILERS follow…

#NotMyDaredevil

Episode 6 of Daredevil season 3 is called “The Devil You Know”, but ironically it introduces the devil we don’t know. The climatic battle of the episode sees Agent Dex taken under the wing of The Kingpin, Wilson Fisk, and given a dark mission to prove himself: kill the former inmate that helped Fisk escape prison, after the inmate became an informant for Karen Page and the New York Bulletin. Agent Dex is given an exact replica of Daredevil’s costume, and sent to attack the New York Bulletin offices, killing several staff members, as well as the witness against Fisk. Matt Murdock shows up in time to save Foggy, Karen and a few others, but ultimately loses the fight, as Fisk and Dex successfully create the illusion that “Daredevil” has gone rogue, and is now a threat to society.

This major sequence that marked Agent Dex’s official turn to the darkside of “Bullseye” is a nice little twist on the classic Daredevil “Born Again” storyline by Frank Miller – which is, in fact, the inspiration for much of this third season storyline. In the “Born Again” comics, The Kingpin figures out that Matt Murdock is Daredevil (like in the show), and launches an insidious scheme to attack Matt on both sides of his mask, with the goal of driving his nemesis insane. As part of that plan, Kingpin releases a mental patient from an asylum, and dresses him up like Daredevil, with the mission to kill Foggy Nelson. Both Foggy and Karen Page nearly die, until Matt shows up to beat down the impostor and save his friends.

As stated, Daredevil season 3 has quite a few story elements that are based on remixed elements of Miller’s “Born Again” storyline. Instead of a random mental patient as a Daredevil impostor we get Bullseye in that role – and it works. The mimicry is more effective in the show, as Bullseye actually has the skill set to effectively imitate Daredevil’s powers – and actually beat Matt Murdock when they face-off.

Father Forgive Me

The second big Daredevil vs. Bullseye (or “Faux Daredevil”) battle took place in episode 10, “Karen”. Karen is placed in hiding at the church where Sister Maggie has been hiding Matt, after Kingpin green-lights Karen for execution at Bullseye’s hands. Eventually Fisk learns Karen is at the church, and sends Agent Dex to terminate her. Dex arrives as Daredevil, and begins slaughtering the church goers at evening mass, until Karen gives herself up. Dex is set to kill her when Matt Murdock once again intervenes, and a huge fight ensues – one that results in a tragic death, as Matt’s mentor Father Lantom is killed, when he throws himself in front of a baton Bullseye has hurled at Karen, with the intent to impale her. Matt and Karen eventually fight Bullseye off, as the fight ends with a shot of Karen cradling an unconscious Matt on the church alter.

This Daredevil vs. Bullseye church fight sequence is an adaptation of Kevin Smith’s famous late-90s storyline, “Guardian Devil”. In that storyline Matt Murdock and Karen Page are hiding a baby with sister Maggie at the church, when Bullseye is hired to steal the infant. Bullseye gets to the church first, where Bullseye has killed several nuns and is targeting Sister Maggie. During that fight in the comics, it is Karen who jumps in front of a fatal baton meant to impale Matt, and sacrifices her own life to save his.

Indeed, the “Guardian Devil” association had a lot of Marvel fans thinking that Deborah Ann Woll’s Karen Page or Joanne Whalley’s Sister Maggie was going to die. Instead, we got a big twist on expectation, with both ladies standing up to help end the threat of Bullseye, while their male counterparts taking the hard beating.

What did you think about how Daredevil season 3 used these famous Marvel Comics storyline? Let us now in the comments!

Daredevil season 3 is now streaming on Netflix.