Daredevil has fought many villains in Hell's Kitchen, but perhaps none have been as deadly or persistent as Kingpin and Bullseye. Showcasing different sides of villainy, these two are synonymous with an iconic era of the Hornhead's career. While Daredevil's comic line provided some of his best stories, the best incarnations of his best villains didn't involve Matt Murdock at all.

PunisherMAX puts Frank Castle in realistic stories -- succeeding namely due to having no superheroes running around. Nevertheless, two of Daredevil's foes made their way into the series' continuity, and the result was a story that dug at the heart of what made them both tick. Even with Daredevil absent, Kingpin and Bullseye were both threats that sent everyone around them straight to Hell.

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PunisherMAX Featured Daredevil's Greatest Rivals, But Not Daredevil Himself

In the universe of PunisherMAX, Wilson Fisk is very similar but also quite different from his typical portrayal. Instead of being a man of great wealth, power and influence, this Wilson was merely hired muscle for Don Rigoletto. The latter had realized that the mafia's days were numbered, as an aged Frank Castle was still whittling them down with ease. Thus, he concocted a plan to send the Punisher on a wild goose chase by creating a fictional "Kingpin of Crime". Fisk became the face of this idea to the many mafia families after he had survived the moribund Italian mafia that he once worked for and achieved the power he had craved. He also hired Sheldon Pendergrass, a demented killer with the codename Bullseye. Together, they tried to take down Castle, both displaying key elements of their Earth-616 counterparts.

Daredevil never shows up in any capacity, even his alter ego, Matt Murdock, was absent. This is because the PunisherMAX continuity was completely separate from mainstream Marvel titles and was meant to be more realistic and grounded in nature. Gone were the superpowered heroes and villains, even the killing machine Frank Castle was showing real signs of aging. Nevertheless, Kingpin and Bullseye were remodeled to fit these parameters. Fisk didn't automatically start wearing his gaudy white suit and Bullseye eschewed a costume for a scar.

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PunisherMAX's Kingpin and Bullseye Were Deconstructed to Their Raw Essence

Like in the main Marvel Universe, Kingpin has a wife and son (Vanessa and Richard). At the end of the day, however, they're both merely pawns in his game for power, with Wilson ultimately caring little for them. In a way, this reflects Kingpin's relationship with his son, the Rose, in the main universe. While their relationship was even harsher than it's usually portrayed, it shows exactly how a kid could grow up to become someone like Kingpin.

Likewise, Bullseye was even more insane in PunisherMAX. Obsessed with killing and the inventive ways to do it, he grew equally focused on the Punisher. This saw him pretend to be a family man and promptly have his fake family killed just to try to "understand" Frank. In ripping so much of these villains' iconic traits apart, the book ended up creating versions of them that were even purer, perfectly encapsulating what made them so great. Ripped from the confines of an outright superhero universe, these two were able to easily become part of a normal crime comic book. For as over the top as some of PunisherMAX's events were, it still portrayed realistic and even nuanced versions of the greatest villains in Hell's Kitchen.