Posted in: Disney+, Marvel, TV | Tagged: daredevil, daredevil: born again

Daredevil: Born Again: Wilson Bethel on Bullseye's Epic Diner Brawl

Wilson Bethel breaks down that epic Bullseye diner fight sequence against Kingpin's henchmen during Daredevil: Born Again Season 2.

At a moment's notice, Daredevil: Born Again can turn one of its most hated antagonists into one of its most charismatic anti-heroes, as was the case of Wilson Bethel's Benjamin Poindexter, aka Bullseye, a mercenary for hire who started as a disgraced federal agent, repurposed by Wilson Fisk (Vicent D'Onofrio) to frame his archnemesis Matt Murdock's (Charlie Cox) alter ego, Daredevil by stealing his red costume and committing crimes in the Drew Goddard Netflix series season three. When he returned for Born Again under former The Punisher writer-turned-showrunner Dario Scardapane, he escalated his rivalry with Murdock by assassinating his best friend Foggy Nelson (Elden Henson) in the season one premiere, revealed to have been hired by Wilson's wife, Vanessa Fisk (Ayelet Zurer). Foggy had an informant who risked exposing their operation before the hit was called. Upon his return, the Fisks turned on him, with the mayor sending his Anti-Vigilante Task Force against him, and Bullseye looking for revenge. Speaking with Entertainment Weekly, Bethel opened up about his run-in with the AVTF at a local diner that ended badly…for Fisk's goons in the episode "Gloves Off."

Daredevil: Born Again Star Wilson Bethel Breaks Down Diner Massacre Against Fisk's Forces

"I knew pretty much from the outset of shooting season 2 that I was gonna have a lot more to do," Bethel told EW of what he knew going in before filming. "Obviously, you never know what that means. Dario sketched out a few things for me, but nothing could've prepared me for the diner scene, nothing could've prepared me for some of the great work I got to do with Charlie [Cox] in the church." At the beginning of "Gloves Off," Dex sets out for the day and enjoys the comforts of his local diner along with a milkshake, and lures the AVTF to his location before using a mix of his blades and the diner's offerings of utensils and food, including a lobster claw, to kill them all.

Bethel recalled Scardapane's season two pitch, "Dex has a guiding principle," he said. "He sort of has his north star back, that he had in the past with Julie and with his therapist, and that gives him a sense of purpose and a little bit of a sense of lightness." In addition to what Bethel describes as "being a lethal motherfucker and a total apex predator," he adds, "That's what we get to see in Born Again season 2 for the whole season. Dex has this guiding principle; he feels good about it, doesn't matter that the rest of the world doesn't see it remotely his way. So it means that he's got this pep in his step, and when he's murdering 100 people in a room, he couldn't feel better about it."

The phrase that triggered Bethel knowing the diner sequence was going to stand out was his line to the police, "No, I'm one of the good guys," as a dinner bell to sound for the AVTF to come, "That's the whole beauty of this fucking character," he said. "This whole season is him thinking he's one of the good guys," killing with purpose with his knives as improvised weapons. Just as Cox's Daredevil is more about acrobatics, Bullseye is about precision, "A lot of what I do is just throwing shit in cool ways," Bethel said. "And I work on that a lot. It's something I talk to the stunt team a lot about, figuring out how to embody this dude with as much murderous swagger as possible."

For more on Bethel, describing the "80 different set-ups" of the diner fight, and bringing authenticity to every shot in the sequence, you can check out the whole interview. New episodes of Daredevil: Born Again stream Tuesdays on Disney+.

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