History
Early Life[]
At some point early on in his life, Benjamin "Dex" Poindexter's parents died. He was transferred to an orphanage where he lived until he turned 18 and was no longer a legal minor. During his childhood in the orphanage, Dex found solace in the sport of baseball. He adored his coach and developed the ability to throw the ball (among other objects) with uncanny accuracy. He would occasionally spend hours out in the field by the orphanage bouncing a baseball against the brick wall in the same exact spot over and over again, to the point that a significant chink had started to develop in the wall.
During one baseball game in his youth, however, Dex, after throwing perfect strikes for the better half of the game, was benched by his beloved coach in order to give the other team a chance to get some points and in order to give some other kids a chance to play the game. Dex protested this, insisting that he could do his parents proud if he could just pitch a perfect game. Despite this, his coach insisted upon removing him and Dex reluctantly sat out. In his anger, Dex proceeded to pick up a baseball and pitch it perfectly against the backstop post so that it ricocheted and hit his coach in the back of the head, killing him.
In the wake of this murder, Dex was placed into psychological therapy with a woman named Eileen Mercer. Dex formed an intense bond to Mercer, who he initially feared might abandon him, but ultimately proved to provide the stable and caring environment for Dex that he needed in order to function properly. During their sessions, Mercer would come to note that Dex had Borderline Personality Disorder and psychopathic tendencies. As Dex grew older, Mercer became ill with a terminal disease. Recognizing that he would lose his source of stability and comfort, Dex lashed out at her and threatened to "kill [her] for dying." She reassured him, however, that with a steady environment and another caring person to listen to his troubles, he would continue to function just as he had with her. She then gifted him a box with audio tapes of all the sessions they had had over the years as a reassurance that he would be okay later on in life.
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Dex went on to get a job with the Suicide Hotline where he had an active pathway to show empathy for people, one of the exercises Mercer used to perform with him to maintain his stability. During several of these calls, however, Dex would encourage potential suicide victims to take out their despair and rage on the person causing it rather than themselves, even almost prompting one caller to kill their abuser. It was at this Suicide Hotline center that Dex met Julie Barnes, who he viewed as a compassionate and stable individual like Mercer had been. He then began to stalk her.[6]
At some point later, Dex became an agent of the FBI, where his unnaturally accurate marksmanship became one of his greatest assets. He continued stalking Julie, pretending to himself to be in a relationship with her solely for the purpose of maintaining stability.[4]
Fisk[]
It was later Dex who single-handedly saved Wilson Fisk from a gang of Albanians who had managed to dispatch several armored FBI agents already. Dex mercilessly shot and killed every member except two who almost got away. He made a point to force the two remaining Albanians to get on their knees in surrender to him before shooting them both as well. He then proceeded to rescue Fisk and escort him to an FBI-seized hotel.[7]
In light of his solo victory against the Albanian syndicate and his rescue of Fisk, Dex was called in for a psychological examination to ensure his mental health. Here, he passed with flying colors, managing to talk about his support system and "girlfriend" Julie, whose schedule he had memorized enough to falsify a relationship between the two.[4] In spite of his seamless psych exam, Dex was still called in for questioning by his superiors, as they believed that he may have murdered the two final Albanians in cold blood rather than for reasons of self-defense. While under questioning, Dex watched a security tape of Fisk's penthouse room in the hotel, where the FBI questioned him as to Dex's motivations in killing the two Albanians. Fisk vouched for Dex, saying that Dex gave them a chance to surrender but that they still tried to shoot him, forcing Dex to kill them in self-defense. When Dex confronted him later, Fisk revealed that he sympathized with him, and that he was thankful to Dex for saving his life.[8]
Fisk later read Dex's psychological file retrieved by Fisk's lawyer Donovan and uncovered his past, learning of his disorders, tendencies, the tapes, and his uncanny accuracy with projectiles. He also learned of Dex's time with the suicide prevention hotline and his infatuation with Julie. Sometime not long after, Dex "met" Julie in a bar (in actuality, he had followed her there) where she had recently been hired. He asked her out on a date to try and solidify his connection to her, hoping to gain her as a real support system. Julie accepted but Dex later accidentally revealed too many details about her over dinner and she realized he had been stalking her, at which point she fled, much to Dex's dismay.[6]
The New Daredevil[]
Dex later realized the coincidence behind Julie's hiring in the bar and their date working out as being the work of Fisk and his connections. Dex confronted Fisk, who confirmed that he did indeed set Julie up with the bar job and intended for Dex to see that as a result of his instability, a relationship like the one he wanted could never work out. He instead offered him the chance to be in the spotlight as a new villain where he could take out his rage and psychopathy on anyone he wanted. Meanwhile, this plan would give Fisk, who had been highlighted by the news, a chance to get out of the spotlight and continue his operations covertly.[2]
Dex agreed to the plan and Fisk approached Melvin Potter, the same man who had designed some of Fisk's own armored clothing and the man who designed the Daredevil suit for Matt Murdock. He ordered Melvin to create a replica of the Daredevil suit and clubs which would fit Dex. Fisk threatened to harm Melvin's parole officer and closest friend Betsy should he choose not to comply and so Melvin created the replica suit.[9]
Fisk soon sends Dex on his first mission as the evil new Daredevil, which is to eliminate Jasper Evans, an inmate who Fisk had paid to stab him as part of an elaborate plot to be moved by the FBI to the hotel. Fisk feared that Evans, who had been captured by Matt Murdock and Karen Page and convinced into taping a legal confession at the New York Bulletin, would reveal his being paid off by Fisk to Matt, Karen, and the rest of the world and thereby foil Fisk's plot.
Dex arrived at the Bulletin and cut power to the building, causing a brief panic in the offices. He proceeded to brutally murder four people in cold blood and incapacitate the remainder of them before being confronted by the real Daredevil, Matt Murdock. Dex was almost able to defeat Matt, however, due to his own unnatural marksmanship, impaling his opponent with a pair of scissors from across the office. Matt was unable to stop Dex as he broke into the room where Evans was being interviewed and incapacitated everyone there except Karen and Evans, the latter of whom he killed using Karen's gun. Before he left the room, he implicated Karen by greeting her as though he knew her closely. Dex fled the room and almost made it out of the building without a run-in with the FBI, from whom Matt had already escaped. Dex was not so lucky, however, and was forced to fight off a few agents in the stairwell, including Special Agent Ray Nadeem, his co-worker.[2]
At some point later, Dex pursued Julie again on her morning run, finally catching up to her and managing to convince her to talk to him for a little while. He reconciled his actions with her, explaining that he just wanted her in his life as a source of stability and consistency like Dr. Mercer and his baseball coach had been for him. She reluctantly but understandingly began to talk with him on a more regular basis, but unbeknownst to Dex, Fisk ordered her to be killed. Dex instead began to believe that Julie may have left to get away him, manifesting one of his worst fears, that of being abandoned. His mental state continued to deteriorate after this, causing fits of rage and paranoia.
Dex arrived home one night soon after and heard people inside his apartment while standing just outside the door. He proceeded to grab decorative shards of glass off of a hanging chandelier in the hallway and burst into the apartment, seeing the invaders as who he correctly perceived to be Matt Murdock and Ray Nadeem. He managed to injure Ray and almost shot Matt, but could not stop the two from escaping. This only increased his paranoia, especially around the FBI office.[10]
Not long after, however, Ray was blackmailed into working with Dex under Fisk, as was much of the FBI. Fisk ordered Dex and Ray, now partners, to discreetly eliminate crime bosses around the city by exposing their hideouts and operations. Fisk then assembled a meeting of these crime bosses and offered them protection from federal persecution if they paid him. Dex then had Ray call Matt and tell him about the meeting in hopes of getting him to show up, but Matt, unbeknownst to them, refused and instead went to Fisk's hotel to run reconnaissance, where he overheard the Fisk-tainted FBI determining that Karen was hiding out in Saint Agnes Church.[11]
Dex ordered Ray to drive him to the church to kill Karen on Fisk's orders. Dex entered the church as Daredevil, searching for Karen. He managed to find her but was also confronted by Matt, who had abandoned his reconnaissance post at the hotel to save Karen. Matt managed to fight Dex off, but was not able to stop him from killing Matt's priest and guiding light Father Lantom out of spite.[12]
Dex fled the scene and returned in his FBI gear, ordering Ray to take control of the crime scene from the NYPD. Upon doing so, the FBI entered the church and scoured the building for Karen and Matt, who managed to stay hidden in a coffin under the church. Foggy Nelson soon arrived and surrendered Karen to the NYPD but not to the FBI, which was within her legal rights to do. The ensuing commotion caused by Dex in protest was then enough to allow Matt to escape the church unnoticed.[13]
Later, knowing that Fisk would be angered by his failure to find and kill Karen or Matt, Dex went to forcibly retrieve a painting which had previously belonged to Fisk but had been sold off upon his arrest. Dex was unaware, however, that Fisk had already tried to attain the painting earlier on, but had decided against doing so after realizing that it was where it truly belonged, and not with him. Vanessa subsequently noticed a blood stain on the frame from when Dex had gone to acquire the painting, signaling that he likely did so by killing the previous owner. This clued Vanessa into Dex's violent tendencies.
Elsewhere, Ray was convinced by Matt and Foggy to testify in front of a grand jury while Karen announced his intention to a public press conference to legally seal the testimony. Ray's hearing was tainted, however, because Fisk controlled the jury members. Following this, Fisk decided not to kill Ray even though it would bolster his legal security, because Ray was now a public figure after his hearing. Vanessa managed to convince him otherwise, however, and the two sent Dex to go murder Ray, which he did after an emotional conversation during which Ray knew he was going to be killed.[3]
After some time, Dex was contacted by Matt after Matt found evidence that Fisk had ordered Julie's death. Despite his initial state of denial, Dex investigated the evidence and ultimately managed to track down Julie's body in a meat locker. Driven to insanity and filled with rage, Dex suited up as Daredevil once more and drove with Julie's body in the car to Fisk's wedding, where he killed any of Fisk's guards who tried to stop him. He then violently interrupted the reception, immediately trying to kill the newly wedded Fisk and Vanessa. The couple managed to escape to their room while guards detained Dex, but Dex did not take long to kill or incapacitate all of them before charging into Fisk's penthouse and joining the already-ongoing fight between Matt and Fisk, both of whom he tried to kill while Matt protected Vanessa and fought Fisk at the same time. Fisk ultimately picked up Dex and slammed his back into the corner of a brick wall, snapping his spine in half and paralyzing him for the authorities to find.
Later on, Dex was seen on an operating table having his spine repaired. One surgeon commented that the spine was likely hopelessly broken and that Dex would be rendered paralyzed while the other disagreed, stating that the use of Cogmium steel to reinforce the vertebrae would allow for functional mending.[5]
Personality[]
Dex was diagnosed early on in his childhood with Borderline Personality Disorder, a psychological disorder that is generally characterized by dissociation, anger, anxiety, paranoia, extreme fear of and reaction to abandonment, and a disturbed sense of identity.[6] These traits are also the hallmarks of Dex's personality, evident in his search for a source of calm and stability and his regular anger, anxiety, and paranoia when found without one. He is generally shown to bear a negative outlook on life, feeling as though all those who have cared for him in the past have either let him down or abandoned him, leaving him with little sense of purpose, which is likely why he so gladly took up the role of a villainous Daredevil. This also allowed human outlet for his psychopathic tendencies, which drove him to kill people out of rage, spite, or sometimes for no reason at all.Attributes
Abilities
Uncanny Accuracy: Sometime during his youth, Dex acquired the ability to throw almost any object with unwavering accuracy, allowing him to turn even a baseball into a deadly weapon.
FBI Training: Dex is a graduate of Quantico, meaning that he has accrued the physical and mental skills to be a special agent of the FBI.
Expert Tracker: Dex has also demonstrated an excellent ability to track individuals and gain information on them unnoticed, though he most frequently utilized this skill to stalk people who he believed to represent a stable lifestyle.Weaknesses
Mental Illness: Dex was diagnosed at a young age with Borderline Personality Disorder and psychopathic tendencies, which constantly affect his attitude and make his mood and actions unpredictable and often dangerous.
Anger: When provoked or under extreme stress, Dex loses control of his rage, making him act recklessly and stop thinking clearly, which can have dangerous consequences for those present.Paraphernalia
Equipment
- Daredevil's Suit: Wilson Fisk had a replica of Matt Murdock's black and red suit made for Dex which offers full body protection against moderate abrasions and impacts trauma without trading away flexibility.[2]
Weapons
- Billy Club: Dex also utilizes replicas of Matt's billy clubs which go with the Daredevil suit and which he often uses as projectiles.[2]
Notes
- Wilson Bethel portrays Benjamin "Dex" Poindexter as a main character in the Netflix series Marvel's Daredevil. Cameron Mann portrays a younger Poindexter and Conor Proft portrays the teenaged Poindexter in Marvel's Daredevil. He will reprise the role in the Disney+ series Daredevil: Born Again.
Trivia
- While Dex is never referred to as Bullseye, his moniker is referenced in the target symbol on the baseball cap he wears as a kid, and in the last scene of Season 3, which has him reveal a target pattern in his eye.
See Also
- 11 appearance(s) of Benjamin Poindexter (Earth-199999)
- 1 minor appearance(s) of Benjamin Poindexter (Earth-199999)
- 4 image(s) of Benjamin Poindexter (Earth-199999)
- 2 quotation(s) by or about Benjamin Poindexter (Earth-199999)
- 4 victim(s) killed by Benjamin Poindexter (Earth-199999)
- 1 item(s) used/owned by Benjamin Poindexter (Earth-199999)
Links and References
References
- ā Marvelās Daredevil: Season 3 Featurette: Inside the Church Fight.
- ā 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 Marvel's Daredevil S3E06
- ā 3.0 3.1 Marvel's Daredevil S3E12
- ā 4.0 4.1 4.2 Marvel's Daredevil S3E03
- ā 5.0 5.1 Marvel's Daredevil S3E13
- ā 6.0 6.1 6.2 Marvel's Daredevil S3E05
- ā Marvel's Daredevil S3E02
- ā Marvel's Daredevil S3E04
- ā Marvel's Daredevil S3E07
- ā Marvel's Daredevil S3E08
- ā Marvel's Daredevil S3E09
- ā Marvel's Daredevil S3E10
- ā Marvel's Daredevil S3E11