Not Everyone Knows Colin Farrell Was in a Seriously Underrated Marvel Movie Before He Became the Penguin

Colin Farrell is quite literally one of the finest talents in Hollywood’s entertainment industry and his outstanding performance in The Penguin perfectly proves it. A leading man in blockbusters and independent masterpieces since the 2000s, he has even been at the receiving end of major accolades thanks to the same, including 3 Golden Globes and an Oscar nod.

Over the years, the actor has delivered epic performances as a part of numerous star-studded franchises, including both the greatest superhero franchises of all time, i.e. Marvel and the DC Universe. Not to mention, his role as Percival Graves in the magical world of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them stands out as well.

Colin Farrell. | Credits: The Banshees of Inisherin / Searchlight Pictures.

In the DCU, Farrell gained global recognition for playing Oswald Cobblestone aka Oz Cobbs in 2022’s The Batman before progressing to cover the character’s storyline and transformation from a disfigured nobody to a noted Gotham gangster in his recently released smash-hit series The Penguin. As for Marvel? Well, that one saw him in a villainous role too.

Thanks to his iconic transformation, many fans must be unaware that the actor was actually in one of the most underrated Marvel movies to date almost two decades before he could even get close to the role of Oz Cobbs. This movie was 2003’s Daredevil, which was deemed a disaster by critics but still served as a first for Farrell for one thing, who embodied Bullseye for the project.

Colin Farrell played Bullseye in 2003’s Daredevil

Colin Farrell as Bullseye. | Credits: Daredevil / 20th Century Studios.

It’s no news that 2003’s Daredevil turned out to be a critically panned project, even though it has evolved over the years to be one that is now regarded among Marvel’s most critically underrated pieces to date. But what actually might be news to many is that the film featured Colin Farrell as well as one of the titular hero’s most iconic nemeses of all time: Bullseye.

Tamed by Mark Steven Johnson, the movie featured Farrell embracing the ludicrous nature of his role, adding a comic sense of absurdity to the critically underrated piece that pretty much didn’t take itself very seriously. Driven by ego in a way that set him apart from Matt Murdock, Farrell’s Poindexter reveled in his marksmanship and enjoyed showing off his skills in the film.

A hitman with a preternatural aim, Farrell played a rather hooligan version of the character as he wreaked havoc in the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen’s life before going forward to take Elektra’s life under Kingpin’s orders right before his eyes as he watched helplessly. To say the least, even with the little room he got to bring a new innovative flair to his character, Farrell’s performance was iconic, even if it brought him ridicule due to the way the Bullseye was written.

But either way, the film turned out to be a disappointment for one too many reasons. For one, while Farrell’s ridiculous performance as the hotshot assassin Bullseye earned a lot of attention, the flick got scrutinized for ostensibly misusing its most important characters, including Ben Affleck‘s lead and Jennifer Garner‘s Elektra, who were pretty much wrongly chosen for a melodramatic, downbeat romance between their respective characters.

Still, the film continues to be recalled among the more underrated pieces from Marvel, largely due to the plotline it incorporated. It currently holds a 43% critical and 35% general audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, and its box office performance had it making $179 million on a budget of $78 million (via Box Office Mojo). On a brighter note, it still has fans reveling over Farrell’s performance as Bullseye in it, so that’s that as well.

Daredevil also marked a weird first for Colin Farrell

Colin Farrell as Bullseye. | Credits: Daredevil / 20th Century Studios.

While many have their own concerns about just why the 2003 flick isn’t really a masterpiece and just why it is, it doesn’t change the fact that it turned out to mark a weird first for Colin Farrell: He got to speak in his normal Irish accent as Bullseye’s origins were altered as the filmmaker, apparently, felt it would be cool to make the character Irish.

This served as a first for Farrell since this was the first time he was allowed to speak in his original accent since his transition to American films. In an interview with CBR in 2003, the actor talked about the same, explaining how “nice” it felt to be able to do that.

Revealing it was Johnson’s idea as it was never revealed in the comics where Poindexter was from, he said:

That was that, and since then, the actor has had more than one instance where he was free to use his original accent instead of preparing with a dialect coach for his pieces. Just like that, Daredevil served as a weird first for him, with Farrell using his natural speaking voice without any further explanation from the given story in pieces like Seven Psychopaths and The Beguiled.

Colin Farrell is currently riding high tides of success with The Penguin

Colin Farrell as Oz Cobbs. | Credits: The Penguin / HBO.

Although his performance in the Marvel Universe will forever continue to be regarded among his most famous ones, Colin Farrell has since gone on to perform rather epically in numerous other projects, making an even bigger name for himself in the DC Universe. As fans already know and love, he is Oswald Cobblestone, and the global fandom wouldn’t want it otherwise.

After playing the respective character in Matt Reeves‘ The Batman in 2022, the actor went on to embody the character for his respective solo series The Penguin as well, which concluded its first season recently with tremendously raving reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes alone, the series holds a star-studded 95% critical and 91% general audience score.

Then there are all the reviews, a majority of which have already established Farrell as the perfect actor to be cast as Oswald Cobblestone in the DC Universe. Additionally, the series has already won him the Best Actor Golden Globe in a Miniseries or Television Film and has lined him up in nominations for numerous other awards.

All of this being said, it’s inevitable that Colin Farrell has indeed come a long way since he performed in Daredevil, and that he would be regarded among the finest versions of the Penguin for ages to come. But that would never change the fact that he once embodied a rather wild hooligan version of Bullseye, making it one of the finer aspects of the 2003 action flick.

Daredevil (2003) can currently be watched on Disney+ while The Penguin season 1 is available to be streamed on Prime Video.