History Characters / MCUBenjaminPoindexter

* AdaptationalDyeJob: Comics Bullseye is actually blonde but it's not really paid attention to because he's bald. In the show, Dex is brown-haired.

* AdaptationalDumbass: He isn't the PragmaticVillain or GeniusBruiser his comics counterpart and is a lot easier to manipulate.

* SurrenderBackfire: During the assassination attempt on Fisk by the Albanians, two Albanians try to surrender after seeing Poindexter slaughter most of them but Poindexter guns them both down without hesitating.

!! Spoilers for all works set prior to ''Avengers: Infinity War'' and ''Avengers: Endgame'' are unmarked.

* InformedAbility: After their first fight, Matt states he is as fast, strong, and dangerous as him and that he couldn't beat him. While Matt did indeed lose the fight it was only thanks to Dex's superhuman accuracy and the Daredevil suit's great durability, that aside Matt is clearly the better fighter out of the two and outclasses him anytime they fight hand-to-hand.

* RevengeByProxy: After finding out that Fisk had [[spoiler:Julie assassinated, Dex tries to kill Vanessa As payback. During the final fight, Dex makes several attempts to kill Vanessa only to be intercepted by Matt every time.]]

* ComicBookMoviesDontUseCodeNames: While official Netflix promotional materials do refer to him as "Bullseye" now and again, Dex never goes by that alias in the series proper, but we do see it alluded to twice: his baseball cap had a bullseye monogrammed on it when he was a child, and we see a "bullseye" in Dex's iris when he is being experimented on at the very end of the series.

* AbusiveParents: It's heavily implied his parents were this. Then again, [[UnreliableNarrator from his point of view, the coach he killed was also abusive. Due to his disorder, his perception is skewed to say the least.]]

* AdaptationalHeroism: In the comics, Bullseye was a PsychoForHire from the off, never had any sort of career in law enforcement (though he [[MultipleChoicePast potentially]] was an NSA contractor) and showed zero inner conflict. Here, Dex is an FBI agent (albeit a CowboyCop) and while he's most certainly still psychotic, he has a desire to fix it and takes steps to deal with his disorder, which causes him no shortage of pain.

* AdaptationalNiceGuy: While he's also sadistic, unstable and sociopathic like in the comics, he is clearly tortured by his nature while his comics counterpart [[CardCarryingVillain fully embraced and enjoyed it]]. He's also capable of genuine kindness and loving others, however unhealthy, and even at his worst, he's able to show mercy and restraint by sparing people rather than kill them, all things he would never be able to do in the comics.

* AxCrazy: Not only does he have severe mental issues, he doesn't need much incentive to kill. Early on as a child, he's diagnosed with borderline personality disorder with psychopathic tendencies, which is just about the most professional and clinical way of describing "batshit crazy."

* BlueAndOrangeMorality: He has little or no empathy and doesn't follow regular morals, being driven by an intense need for personal relationships instead. As such, his therapist tells him to get a job that gives him rigid structure to keep him line and a person with a good moral compass to hold him to it.

-->'''Dex:''' If I was wearing a mask, the press would be calling me a hero. Instead I'm sitting in here with you having to justify defending myself!

** When finally joining Fisk, Dex becomes a complete contrast to James Wesley. Both served as a chief enforcer to Fisk, with Dex even telling Vanessa to consider him "the new James Wesley" when they meet. However, Fisk and Wesley's friendship was entirely genuine on both sides, with Fisk [[BerserkButton beating Francis to within an inch of his life]] for not being there to protect Wesley, and [[ItsPersonal ordering a hit on Karen when he finds out]], while Dex is merely a tool he is perfectly willing to manipulate and later discard. While Wesley is no physical threat and has others do Fisk's brute work, he is more mentally stable and competent with enforcing Fisk's demands, while Dex is more impulsive and becomes increasingly desperate and accident-prone as he struggles to gain Fisk's approval and avoid his wrath, which further leads to his downfall.

* CripplingOverspecialization: Dex's marksman skills are superb, as he can make any object, [[ImprobableWeaponUser regardless of how harmless it is]], into a lethal—or at the very least, ''painful''—thrown weapon. However, while his close range hand to hand fighting skills aren't horrible, and his durability is impressive enough to enable him to survive hits from Matt and later [[spoiler:Fisk]], his actual moveset is limited and he has to resort to either finding a surrounding object to throw or wield or he can use or block the barrage of blows thrown his way.

* DarkIsEvil: He's always wearing at least once piece of black clothing. Taken UpToEleven when he was given a replica of the Daredevil costume.

* EnfantTerrible: Had his first kill when he was a little boy, when he killed his coach with a baseball because he got benched by him.

* EstablishingCharacterMoment: When Fisk's armored convoy transporting him to a safehouse is ambushed by an Albanian hit squad that incapacitates and/or kills the rest of the FBI agents in the transport, Dex manages to singlehandedly dispatch every assassin with quick and meticulous accuracy, which is what ultimately leads Fisk to take interest in his skills. He also murders a couple of surrendering gunmen using pieces of a disassembled gun, showing off his ability to use improvised weapons.

* EvilCounterpart: To Matt Murdock. Both lost their parents at a young age albeit through different circumstances, both of them work for law enforcement, and they constantly suffer life crisis'. However, Matt found other parental figures in [[GoodShepherd Father Lantom]] and [[GoodIsNotNice Stick]], whom while none of them were perfect, did care for Matt in their own ways. Whereas Dex lost both his parents, killed his own mentor in a fit of rage, and everyone else he cared about died off, [[TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth none of whom were nearly as sketchy as Matt's familial ties]]. Matt is also a respected lawyer and despite defending a few questionable clients, stays true to his morals, is mostly well liked by the authorities, and does the right thing for the most part. Dex however is an FBI agent who is constantly looked down upon by his superiors for his brutality [[spoiler:until they are all either killed off or turned dirty by Fisk]] and [[GreenEyedMonster expresses fierce jealousy towards vigilantes]], which ultimately turns him dirty and corrupts him into Fisk's [[ProfessionalKiller personal hitman.]] However, their fighting styles are completely different: Matt [[CloseRangeCombatant focuses on his fists]], specializing in close quarters combat and [[BoxingBattler uses boxing]] [[LikeFatherLikeSon just like his late father]], and even though he does show he have some long-range skills, it's more of an improvised backup and even then, it's limited and he's only decent at it. Dex meanwhile [[LongRangeFighter is more of a marksman]] and unlike Matt, can use pretty much anything he grabs his hands on as a weapon, and while he is more than capable of holding his own during a brawl, [[CripplingOverspecialization he is at a significant disadvantage]] and has to resort to more defensive measures via constant blocking or find something he can throw. In many ways, Dex is what Matt Murdock would have become if he wasn't able to control his bloodlust and became a sociopathic killer instead of a fighter for justice.
** Also to Wilson Fisk. Dex and Fisk each have some AmbiguousDisorder, but Fisk is absolutely a loving member of his family and devoted to the ideal of helping his community while Dex is TheSociopath who enjoys bullying people and has no qualms about killing people, even doing so for the pettiest reasons. However, Fisk has embraced his role as the villain and declared ThenLetMeBeEvil, while Dex has spent his life desperately trying to find a MoralityPet to help him be a good person. Hell, Dex's apartment is entirely decked out in black, white, and gray, just like Fisk's.

* EvilIsPetty: Dex takes a lot of pleasure in bullying others, including Fisk. He takes a bite out of the big man's burger just so he can watch how he reacts. He's openly disappointed when Fisk just cuts away the bite and eats the burger without emotional response.

* EvilOrphan: As a child, he lived in an orphanage because his parents died and was already mentally unstable, killing animals such as cats and birds and eventually killed his coach after he benched him during a baseball game.

* FlechetteStorm: Is capable of doing this, as seen when he picks up a punch of knives and sharp utensils to kill [[spoiler:other FBI agents during the final battle.]]
* FriendshipMoment: Despite his utter lack of empathy and sadism, Dex genuinely seems to appreciate people who are there for him. He's moved when his fellow FBI agents have his back in the face of the agency throwing him under the bus, and gets visibly choked up when Nadeem hires a lawyer to sue the agency and have him reinstated. [[VillainousBSOD He's devastated]] upon finding out it was all a manipulation by Nadeem just to break into his apartment, [[SanitySlippage and doesn't take it very well to say the least.]]
* GlassCannon: Downplayed. Dex is by all means a skilled hand-to-hand fighter who can hold his own against Matt in close quarters combat, but it's clear his specialty lies in ranged weaponry.

* HellIsThatNoise: His head is literally like a buzzing hornet's nest, becoming louder and louder the more unstable he becomes, even appearing to cause him actual physical pain. Doubtless an effect of him no longer taking his medication halfway through the season. [[note]]There's a very, very good reason stuff like olanzapine has to be carefully, gradually weaned off of instead of abruptly stopped.[[/note]]

* IJustWantToBeLoved: At his core, Dex is truly desperate to any kind of affection and love and clings desperately to anyone who makes him feel cared for but his unstable nature often ends up driving them away or leads him to do serious damage.
* InformedAbility: After their first fight, Matt states he is as fast, strong and dangerous as him and that he couldn't beat him. While Matt did indeed lose the fight it was only thanks to Dex's superhuman accuracy and the Daredevil suit's great durability, that aside Matt is clearly the better fighter out of the two and outclasses him anytime they fight hand-to-hand.

* ItsAllAboutMe: Much of his instability seems to stem from being so narcissistic, even as a child, that he becomes violent to the point of homicidal if the world cannot live up to his self-entered expectations of it.

* {{Jerkass}}: Aside from being a remorseless psychopath, Dex is a huge scumbag. He frequently bullies and belittles other people, is very smug around people he dislikes, and is incredibly abrasive towards people who threaten him or get in his way.

* LongRangeFighter: Dex can hold his own mostly, but even when not in top shape Matt still has the edge over him in hand-to-hand. However, Dex absolutely dominates at long range, whether with firearms or improvised weaponry.

* TheMentallyDisturbed: Dex is severely unstable with his violent tendencies, attachment issues and constant noises in his head which even seem to cause him physical pain. His childhood therapist diagnosed him with Borderline Personality Disorder (which causes him to invest far too heavily in individual relationships) and psychopathic tendencies (such that he has little to no empathy for others).

* MoralityChain: Dr. Mercer told him that he needed a constant "North Star" to keep him morally on-balance and guide him. After her death, he spends much of his adulthood fixating on finding another north star, which leads to him stalking an old work acquaintance. It almost works, until Fisk has the new MC killed.

** His apartment number is 131, a reference to the issue of his his first appearance in Daredevil comics.

* OneManArmy: Dex takes down a dozen well-armed Albanian gangsters with advanced weaponry and body armour, entirely by himself. This is after the Albanians just murdered most of the FBI envoy transporting Fisk. If he has a gun, or [[ImprobableWeaponUser office supplies handy]], he's basically unstoppable.

** Even while obviously threatening Nadeem upon turning up at his house, he acts very polite and cordial in the presence of Nadeem's wife and kids. [[spoiler:He later seemed reluctant to assassinate Nadeem, though Ray forced him to go through with it.]]

** When he arrives at Fisk's hotel with Julie's frozen corpse, he encounters his former surveillance room partner Agent Lim, declares him one of the "good ones" and spares his life by telling him to leave the building immediately.

* PsychopathicManchild: He was already a psychopathic ''child'' after murdering his baseball coach purely out of spite. He's no better as an adult, being very insecure, frequently bullying others, and still seeing nothing wrong with killing people. Kingpin even acts like his father figure when Dex becomes his new mercenary.

* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: [[spoiler:When Matt tips him off that Fisk had Julie murdered, he dons the Daredevil armor and makes a one man assault on Fisk's heavily defended hotel, with the intent to kill him and Vanessa at their wedding.]]
* RogueAgent: In the finale, [[spoiler:he is fully willing to take down any FBI agent who gets in his way to kill Fisk, though he at least doesn't kill any of honest FBI agents, even giving one of them (Agent Lim) a chance to walk away because he was good friends with him.]]

* TheSociopath: One of the most comprehensive ''clinical'' examples on the show. He's diagnosed at an early age with borderline personality disorder with psychopathic tendencies, which is the textbook definition of a sociopath (this begs the question of exactly how he got a job with the FBI in the first place, as his background check and psych evaluation should have thrown up more red flags than a Soviet parade). He needs to ''fake empathy'' when confronted with the feelings of others, repeatedly falling back on "It's hard, real hard." as a mundane platitude because he doesn't know what else to say. He shows no remorse for killing people, always finding a way to [[NeverMyFault shift the blame]] to them for angering him, or getting in his way, or simply inconveniencing him. [[spoiler:Once Fisk corrupts him and he embraces his role as Fisk's executioner, he ''relishes'' any chance to flaunt his power over others with impunity, killing and maiming almost at will, and with no regrets.]] However, he's not a ''complete'' monster. He's capable of forming attachments (such as with his therapist, Julie, and Nadeem), even if they're twisted, and he's reluctant to kill ''sometimes'' (as when he has to be pushed to kill Nadeem at his home).

* StalkerWithACrush: [[spoiler:He tells his FBI therapist that he has a girlfriend, Julie. He doesn't, but Julie Barnes is indeed real. He worked with her at a suicide hotline for a year, and has been stalking her ever since. When he finally gets the chance for a real date with it, he's far too excited, easily insulted and unhinged to keep things together. He winds up ruining any actual chance with her, falling deeper into his insanity as a result. Although he is able later to win her over a bit, convince her to try to help him with his issues. Before she can, Fisk has her killed and pretends that she has rejected him again in order to make Dex reliant upon him. When Matt reveals the truth to him, he goes on the warpath against Fisk.]]
* StartOfDarkness: He's been a murderous psychopath since he was a child. He tortured and killed animals. He killed his baseball coach, and showed no remorse for it, because the man benched him so other kids could play.
* SuperOCD: The first episode to focus on him, "The Perfect Game", opens on him eating breakfast. The scene varies between a very subtle {{Undercrank}} to make his movements seem alien, and showing him perfectly stacking his finished newspapers, making sure his cleaned coffee cup is parallel to its neighbor, and going back into his apartment to fix a photo thrown off-kilter by him closing his front door.

* ThrowingYourGunAtTheEnemy: Naturally he can get away with it. He can even turns clips into daggers.
* TragicVillain: Ultimately, and unfortunately, Dex's issues are not his fault; he was dealt a shit biological hand and he knows it. His apathy and utter lack of morals breeds an intense self-loathing. He began working at a suicide-hotline to ''try'' and foster some empathy and do some good, to no success, and later joined the army and the FBI to at least only target bad people to satisfy his violent urges and establish some structure in his life, but [[TheCorrupter Wilson Fisk's]] influence causes him to snap, transforming him into a fully insane killer willing to target innocent and guilty alike.

* WeCanRebuildHim: [[spoiler:After his spine is broken during a three-way battle with Matt and Fisk, he undergoes an experimental surgery to upgrade his body.]]
* WhamShot: (turns to the passenger seat) “Don’t worry Julie. He’s one of the good ones.” [[spoiler:By this point Julie is a corpse that’s been sitting in one of Fisk’s freezers for most of the season. Now, Dex is driving around NYC with her thawing corpse in the passenger’s seat. Also, Dex is in his Daredevil costume. Even Matt, who is aware of Dex’s crazy, has to do a double-take on that one.]]
* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: Dex is a psychopath with limited empathy for others, but not ''no'' empathy. He wants love and connection and has absolutely no ability to find it. He wanted to be part of the baseball team and couldn't. He wanted his therapist to stay with him, but she couldn't. He fixated on Julie not out of any weird sexual thing as would normally be portrayed, but because he recognized her as a good and beloved person and wanted her to keep him good. He knows he's broken, and takes active steps to try and fix it. [[spoiler:Fisk manages to undo all of his efforts and push him beyond his breaking-point.]]

* ContrastingSequelAntagonist: When finally joining Fisk, Dex becomes a complete contrast to James Wesley. Both served as a chief enforcer to Fisk, with Dex even telling Vanessa to consider him "the new James Wesley" when they meet. However, Fisk and Wesley's friendship was entirely genuine on both sides, with Fisk [[BerserkButton beating Francis to within an inch of his life]] for not being there to protect Wesley, and [[ItsPersonal ordering a hit on Karen when he finds out]], while Dex is merely a tool he is perfectly willing to manipulate and later discard. While Wesley is no physical threat and has others do Fisk's brute work, he is more mentally stable and competent with enforcing Fisk's demands, while Dex is more impulsive and becomes increasingly desperate and accident-prone as he struggles to gain Fisk's approval and avoid his wrath, which further leads to his downfall.

* TantrumThrowing: He does this when things don't go his way and his uncanny accuracy just makes it way worse.

* MummiesAtTheDinnerTable: He brings [[spoiler:Julie's frozen corpse with him on his way to get revenge on Fisk for having her killed, showing just how psychopathic he's become because of Fisk's manipulations.]]

[[caption-width-right:300:[[labelnote:Click here to see his phony Daredevil costume]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/daredevil3phonydaredevil.png[[/labelnote]]]]

A SWAT sniper on the detail protecting Wilson Fisk. He' the MCU counterpart of Bullseye.

A SWAT sniper on the detail protecting Wilson Fisk.

* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: Dex is a psychopath with limited empathy for others, but not ''no'' empathy. He wants love and connection and has absolutely no ability to find it. He wanted to be part of the baseball team and couldn't. He wanted his therapist to stay with him, but she couldn't. He fixated on Julie not out of any weird sexual thing as would normally be portrayed, but because he recognized her as a good and beloved person and wanted her to keep him good. He knows he's broken, and takes active steps to try and fix it. [[spoiler:Fisk manages to undo all of his efforts and push beyond his breaking-point.]]

* WeCanRebuildHim: [[spoiler:After his spine is broken during a three way battle with Matt and Fisk, he undergoes an experimental surgery to upgrade his body.]]

* WouldHitAGirl: He has no problem harming and killing women like he would men.