Bullseye (Lester) (Earth-616)

Early Life[]

A mercenary of mystery, nothing was really known about the man called Bullseye. Once, he was captured and interrogated in a highly secure U.S. prison, and he related many details about his early life, such as the time his brother set fire to their home in an attempt to kill their father. However, much of this information is suspect, as Bullseye then escaped, taunting his interrogators that much of what he said was false -- especially the fact that it was not his brother who set fire to the house, it was himself. Bullseye proceeded to set fire to the prison, where his father was also held, and he left his father to die once more.^[11] In a previous account of his childhood, he painted a bull's-eye on the forehead of his abusive father when he was passed out from drinking and shot him.^[15]

Baseball Career[]

Before his mercenary career, it’s been suggested that Bullseye tried his formidable throwing skills to become a Major League baseball player, but he was too selfish and sadistic. After only three games, according to Bullseye himself, he grew bored and annoyed whilst pitching a no-hitter and for the last pitch of the game he threw the ball at the batter, killing him.^[10]

Instead, Bullseye found his true calling as a special operative of the United States National Security Agency.^[10]

Bullseye[]

He soon after he became a freelance assassin - a perfect career for someone who got so much pleasure from the killing of his enemies. He created his signature modus operandi of using thrown weapons during one of his first outings as a soldier - a Viet Cong fighter got the drop on him and Bullseye's weapon failed to shoot. He threw the gun instead, killing his assailant with his bayonet.^[16]

His early endeavours included time in Africa and Nicaragua, coming into conflict with the Punisher, and working alongside fellow mercenary Deadpool.^[17]

Daredevil[]

Bullseye first achieved notoriety with a series of extortion attempts and murder in New York City, publicizing his antics by agreeing to an interview with the Daily Bugle.^[16] Bullseye fought and defeated Daredevil, although the hero soon tracked him down and prevented Bullseye's extortion schemes.^[18]

Bullseye was then hired to murder the lawyer Matt Murdock, Daredevil's secret identity, but was defeated by Daredevil. In his own mind, Bullseye believed his formidable reputation was ruined and swore vengeance. Bullseye fought Daredevil at any opportunity, holding a TV studio hostage, kidnapping the Black Widow,^[19] or simply tracking him down. Each time, he was captured and given over to the police by Daredevil. At one point, Bullseye was declared insane due to a brain tumor and began hallucinating, believing random people were actually Daredevil, and trying to kill them all. The true Daredevil managed to defeat him, and the tumor was removed.^[20]

Killing Elektra[]

Later, while on assignment to kill the Kingpin, Bullseye simply received a better offer from the Kingpin and agreed to work for him instead.^[21] However, after returning from yet another imprisonment by Daredevil, Bullseye was furious to learn that the Kingpin had chosen Elektra as his assassin in the meantime. Bullseye killed her with nothing more than a playing card and her own sai, earning the enmity of Daredevil, Elektra's lover. Bullseye fought the enraged hero high over the New York City skyline, until at the climax of their battle Daredevil allowed Bullseye to fall, seemingly to his death. Bullseye managed to survive, but his spine had been shattered, paralyzing him.^[22] While recovering in the hospital, Daredevil sneaked into Bullseye's room armed with an unloaded .38 calibre revolver and began playing a false game of Russian roulette with him.^[23]

With the help of a Japanese crime lord, Lord Dark Wind, Bullseye's bones were laced with Adamantium in the hopes that Bullseye would freely serve Lord Dark Wind as his head assassin. Instead, Bullseye, now recovered, returned to New York to pursue his mercenary career. Before he could continue in the Kingpin’s employ however, he had to first prove himself by fighting his former mercenary friend, Deadpool. The fight was close, but Bullseye was triumphant.^[24]

At one point, Daredevil left New York for a prolonged period. Bullseye put on the Daredevil costume himself, gleefully playing the part of hero while robbing the rich and giving to the poor. However, never a man quite sane, Bullseye began to believe himself to be the true Daredevil, and Matt Murdock adopted the Bullseye’s costume to confront him. Murdock won, and the defeat allowed Bullseye to return to his senses (relatively speaking, of course).^[25]

Bullseye continued to perform several jobs for the Kingpin whilst also pursuing several other mercenary contacts, one of which brought him into conflict with the Punisher on behalf of Rosalie Carbone.^[26] Another saw Bullseye hired by Mysterio to kidnap a baby from Saint Maggie’s Church. During the contract Bullseye killed Karen Page, Daredevil's lover, further earning his vengeance.^[27] Later still, when the news of Daredevil’s secret identity leaked to the media, Bullseye hoped to capitalize on the information and kill Daredevil both for his own satisfaction and to help the Kingpin’s struggling criminal empire. He then targeted Murdock and his new girlfriend, Milla Donovan, but Daredevil snapped, beating Bullseye to a pulp and carving a bulls-eye pattern onto his forehead with a rock.^[28]

Thunderbolts[]

During the Civil War, Bullseye was forced to be a member of the Thunderbolts by Norman Osborn through intimidation and a promise for a chance to kill Daredevil. Under these auspices he and other villains, were sent to bring in unregistered heroes. Due to Bullseye's criminal past and his impulsive tendencies to kill, Bullseye was kept in a holding cell, chained to the floor or strapped to a chair while being watched by two security guards while not on a mission. During missions he was always escorted by two guards and/or wore a cloaking device so nobody could see him. Bullseye's involvement in the Thunderbolt's was kept secret at all times from the public. Norman Osborn usually used Bullseye in a mission when the other Thunderbolts failed to bring down an unregistered hero or he wanted Bullseye to do something else like injure a teammate or kill somebody.^[29]

During one mission, Bullseye was tricked by Songbird. She told him that his nanites were turned off and he was free. Believing this, Bullseye killed his two guards and decided to kill American Eagle before escaping. American Eagle was severely beating Bullseye and Bullseye's nanites turned on, shocking him, his neck was then broken by American Eagle. Bullseye was incapacitated within his own body once again not being able to move nor speak.^[30]

Four psychics imprisoned in holding cells at Thunderbolt Mountain drove the Thunderbolts insane, and turned them against each other while Bullseye was having surgery. Feeling that Bullseye was not important due to his injury, the psychics planned on killing him last. All the other Thunderbolts nearly killed each other and fell in battle. Bullseye emerged from surgery not showing any interest in the fight and walked to the holding cells to kill the four psychics as target practice, not knowing that he was ending the madness.^[31]

Bullseye was sent by Norman Osborn to take down Spider-Man. With a tracer on Spider-Man and guards armed with rifles that could home in on the tracer, he easily found Spider-Man and gained the upper-hand. Spider-Man tricked Bullseye by throwing a web ball at him that had the tracer hidden in it causing the guards to accidentally shoot at Bullseye, knocking him out and allowing Spider-Man to escape.^[32]

Bullseye also was involved in the Skrull Invasion, battling an army of Skrulls with the Thunderbolts in Washington DC. Killing Swordsman's sister Andrea von Strucker and almost killing Swordsman himself. Bullseye was stopped by Moonstone. Joining the battle with Norman Osborn and Venom, Bullseye had the chance to kill Daredevil and Spider-Man with a high powered rocket launcher, instead he killed the Skrull disguised as Yellowjacket.^[33][34]

Dark Reign[]

As a reward from Norman Osborn for his role during the Skrull invasion, Bullseye was placed on the Dark Avengers and given the costume and codename of Hawkeye.^[3] Osborn used Bullseye to eliminate his problem with Deadpool, from whom Norman stole data about 'how to kill a Skrull queen'. After the less than great success of new Thunderbolts, Bullseye in his new costume challenged the 'Merc with the Mouth'. On the Dark Avengers' first mission, he killed Morgan Le Fey (who had just died by the hands of Sentry and returned) only for her to return yet again with an army of demons.^[35]

The Dark Avengers fought a rogue Hulkbuster robot, and "Hawkeye" disabled the robot after killing its pilot. The robot fell, killing thirty-six civilians. When Osborn reprimanded Bullseye for his part in the deaths, Bullseye demanded credit for his kills. "Hawkeye" then went out and saved a woman from being attacked by three men. He killed them, and the woman as well. As he did so, a news crew in a helicopter happened to be filming the action.^[36] Feeling irritated, he silenced the news crew by shooting an arrow into the helicopter, blowing it up.^[37]

Bullseye attempted to take out his old partner, Deadpool, successfully incapacitating him and proving to be a worthy opponent. Deadpool eventually gained the upper hand and stabbed him through the chest with a meat hook. He later woke up in a hospital and went after Deadpool again, only to be hit by a car while shooting an RPG at him. Bullseye paid off Deadpool (under the pretense that his boss, Norman Osborn, told him to do so) to save himself from a death by chainsaw by Deadpool.^[38] Bullseye was also was taken out by Elektra when she stabbed him with his own arrow.^[39]

Bullseye was later given the order by Osborn to eliminate Daredevil, who had been discovered leading the Hand. Daredevil and Bullseye clashed. Lester lured Daredevil to the site of a tenement building, where the occupants were having a protest against OsCorp interests trying to force them out. Bullseye previously rigged the tenement to detonate, and he guided Daredevil onto the roof of the building before letting it blow. When the building exploded, over a hundred people inside died, and Bullseye escaped and left Daredevil to his grief.^[40]

Siege[]

While in the Avengers meeting room, he and Karla Sofen decided to show Osborn his lack of control of them by making love in front of the H.A.M.M.E.R. soldiers. Miss Hand stunned Miss Marvel (Karla Sofen) and sent Bullseye to cool off; later that night Osborn gave him an offer, to kill Lindy Reynolds. Later the next day Dr. Doom unleashed robotic insects into the Tower after an attack by the Void on his person allowing Bullseye to escape with Lindy and snap her neck while above the ocean, where he dumped her body, later the Void attacked him for this, until Osborn supported his claims and he calmed down. The Dark Avengers along with the Initiative then invaded Asgard, believing it had no right to be on Earth. After crumbling the foundation of Asgard, killing Ares, and with the super heroes intervening, the Dark Avengers were disassembled, and Bullseye captured.^[41]

Shadowland[]

On the way back to Ryker's Island in a S.H.I.E.L.D. plane, Bullseye was able to scare the guards watching him by making them believe that the Sentry (who died in Siege) would return for Bullseye. Bullseye was able to give himself a cardiac arrest, so the guards took him out of his straps and chains to perform CPR. Bullseye then woke up from unconsciousness and killed the guards with a defibrillator. Bullseye then killed the pilot and flew back into New York City, to Hell's Kitchen, where Daredevil had become the corrupt leader of the Hand, and established a base in the heart of Hell's Kitchen. Bullseye killed some of the Hand's guards, and called for Daredevil to come out of the fortress. Daredevil did come out, with dozens of the Hand's ninjas. Bullseye was able to kill every single ninja that he faced, and when he asked for more, he got a brutal Daredevil, who broke both his arms and then used a sai to stab Bullseye through the chest, much in the same way he had done to Elektra years before.^[12] Daredevil later attempted to dig up his body and resurrect him as a servant of the Hand, but was stopped by Elektra.^[42]

Mastermind[]

Shortly after his death, Lady Bullseye revived Lester using her vast knowledge of Hand resurrection rituals. However, the injuries he incurred were permanent, resulting in the loss of all of his senses except for sight. Lady Bullseye had him placed inside an iron lung through which he could communicate and his endless amount of time gave him the opportunity to plot his revenge on Daredevil.^[13] After Daredevil’s return to New York, Bullseye sent enemies like Klaw after him, stole his father’s remains in an effort to convince him he was going insane, and gave a mysterious man named Ikari Daredevil’s powers but with his sight intact. Ikari acted as a messenger for Bullseye, beating Daredevil half to death and making him fear for his life.^[43]

Daredevil soon discovered Bullseye’s whereabouts and went after him. After a fight with Ikari and Lady Bullseye, Daredevil destroyed a support beam a floor below Bullseye, sending him crashing into the chemicals he used to give Ikari his powers. Daredevil was able to keep him from drowning, but at the cost of his eyesight, leaving him a prisoner in his own body.^[44]

Return[]

Following his fight with Daredevil, Bullseye was detained by S.H.I.E.L.D. Seeking information on the leader of the Assassins Guild, Elektra attempted to take him from the facility. Bullseye was taken by the Hand and was healed of his blindness and paralysis. He was recaptured by Elektra, who invaded Bullseye's mind. With the help of the Hand, a fully restored Bullseye battled Elektra in Jakarta, killed the leader of the Assassins Guild, and escaped with his life.^[45]

Lockdown[]

Bullseye was part of a platoon of super villains that was ordered to burn down Hell's Kitchen by the Stromwyn siblings. After killing a man that was dressed as Daredevil during the attack, Bullseye soon faced the real one.^[46] While he and the other villains were defeated, Bullseye was captured and held in an underground wing of the Ravencroft Institute by Mayor Wilson Fisk, who made Doctor Rajput and his staff clone him in order to get a Bullseye they could control.^[47] Upon being awakened from his drugged state, Bullseye escaped his confinements and murdered the whole staff of doctors that were on the wing, he also freed his clones.^[48]

He soon started to hallucinate with a divine figure that convinced him to kill everyone on Manhattan to prove that he was the world's greatest assassin.^[49] For the next eight days, Bullseye continued his killing spree until he and his clones faced Elektra, who had taken up the mantle of Daredevil.^[50] He and his clones managed to defeat Elektra but she was rescued by Iron Man before they could kill her.^[51] The Bullseyes faced Elektra again, who had teamed up with Typhoid Mary, while the original kidnapped a couple and had them morbidly re-enact his murder of Elektra on a theater. When confronted with Elektra, Bullseye made his clones kill each other to prove that he was the real one before running away, though he was later captured by the original Daredevil, leading to his arrest.^[52]

Enhanced Durability: Bullseye has had parts of adamantium fused to his skeleton like his spine, skull, and fist making his bones virtually indestructible.^[53][54] He once withstood a fall from several stories and landed on a car with no injury.^[55]

• Peak Physical Conditioning: Lester is an Olympic-level athlete and weightlifter. He is in overall exceptional physical condition, with the agility, reflexes, stamina, and speed of a professional or Olympic athlete.^[54]
• Expert Acrobat: He is a skilled acrobat capable of performing many difficult feats and matching the feats of the finest human acrobats.^[54]
• Master Marksman: Lester's innate ability to throw any projectile with great unerring accuracy and deadliness borders on superhuman. His uncanny ability to use virtually any common object as a lethal projectile actually makes him more dangerous than many characters who do have superhuman powers. Although he is not technically superhuman, Bullseye can accomplish many feats with thrown projectiles that is at a degree of superhuman. He has demonstrated the ability to lacerate a person's throat with a thrown playing card, spit his own tooth through a human skull, toss a paper airplane to a distant rooftop, and kill a person with a toothpick thrown through a window from a hundred yards away. He is also a dangerous sharpshooter, and his accuracy when wielding an object, the size and mass of a baseball is about 100 feet and even can hurl such objects at around 105 miles per hour.^[54]
• Master Assassin: He knows every pressure point and vulnerable spot on the human body and is able to turn virtually any object into a deadly weapon capable of incapacitating or killing an enemy. Lester is a deadly assassin often hired by the likes of the Kingpin for covert assassinations.^[54]
• Master Martial Artist: Aside from his ability to throw projectiles with lethal accuracy, Bullseye is also proficient in many martial arts disciplines and is extremely talented in the use of edged weapons and conventional firearms. Often, his outspoken attitude during combat about using his abilities seems to have become one of his favorite weapons - intimidation. As such, he believes that his attention in the media grants him more effectiveness in combat with a near flawless reputation, rather than an assassin who often uses fear of the unknown.^[54]
• Weapons Proficiency: As a result of his naturally perfect athletic gift for hand-eye coordination, Lester can quickly learn how to wield most weapons even if he's never seen them before. Aside from throwing projectiles, he has used the following items: knives, whips, shurikens, darts, sais, a saber, nunchakus, the specialized weapons of others such as a bat-shaped edged weapon, bows and Trick Arrows, and Daredevil's billy club. He has also used projectile weapons such as assorted handguns (thrown or fired), a rocket launcher, a shotgun, sniper rifle, and a cartridge-gun that held various types of ammunition such as a pronged harpoon and a sonic-beam-generating cartridge. Occasionally, he has used cable guns for swinging to safety. He has also carried explosive devices such as grenades and plastic-explosive charges in the compartments of his gloves. Common items he has turned into weapons include an apple, ashtray, bolts, books, bricks, CDs, change, a coffeepot, cross, flashlight, food trays, forks, garbage, glass shards, golf balls, hairbrushes, a hubcap, lamp, lid, menu, microphone/boom, paper airplanes, paper clips, pencils, pens, a pill, pipes, playing cards, a plastic baby, potted plant, purse strap, rope, rosary beads, rosin-filled bag, scalpel, shovel, straw, syringe, toothpick, ten pins, vases, and his own teeth.^[54]
• Gifted Intellect: Lester is intellectually gifted.^[54] His obsessive focus and monomania has served him in the past when he fixates on a particular target. He memorized enormous amounts of data about Elektra Natchios and her life, throwing her off-balance and letting him predict her actions.^[15] When he was paralyzed, Bullseye's mind evolved to the point where he could hit "conceptual targets", operating as a master planner able to predict chains of events and anticipate opponents' strategies well beyond mere physical aim or accuracy.^[56]

• Insanity: Bullseye is a man with a considerably tenuous grasp on his sanity and has been described as a notorious psychopath, which makes him susceptible to psychopathic outbursts when rattled.^[22] He also is prone to schizophrenic delusions as he once became so immersed in his Daredevil impersonation that he believed himself to truly be Daredevil, which the actual Daredevil used to defeat him.^[57]

Adamantium-laced Bones: Bullseye has had strips of adamantium fused to portions of his skeleton, including his spine.^[54] For all intents and purposes, it is virtually indestructible.^[54] Hence, Bullseye's adamantium-laced bones are virtually unbreakable.^[54] The presence of adamantium does not interfere with his bone's normal functions.^[53]

Any object in Bullseye's hands is a potential weapon. However, he will often use guns and knives as well as a number of throwing weapons such as shuriken. Before Elektra's resurrection, he would often carry one of her sais and use it simply to spite Daredevil.^[54]

Dragonfang (formerly): For a time, Lester took up the blade of the fallen Valkyrie; Brunnhilde.^[58] Accommodating all that entails with already having skill in every form of weaponry imaginable, Dragonfang further magnified Bullseye's fighting skills to a godly level.^[59]

Thunderbolts vehicles.^[54]

• While being part of H.A.M.M.E.R., he was granted Security Clearance Level 5.^[60]
• Bullseye's email was hitthetarget@hit.com.^[61]
• Lady Bullseye is faster than him.^[62]

• Some of the more unusual objects Bullseye has thrown include paper airplanes, a poodle, and a tooth knocked loose from his mouth.^[63][64]
• Before killing Lindy Reynolds, she asked his name to which he said 'Benjamin' a possible reference to the Ultimate Universe Bullseye.^[65]
• In Deadpool (Vol. 4) #11, Bullseye made a guest appearance, in which he and Deadpool were having flashbacks, Deadpool said in his flashback "I wanna make a meat suit and fight in it!" Deadpool then proceeded to make armor out of pork carcass in order to fight Bullseye. Bullseye said in his "I wanna be the bad guy." Then, they both appeared in a flashback where they killed a teacher, blew up a school, and left to go hit the candy store.