Originally inspired to become a trained assassin when she witnessedBullseye easily kill a number of people, she would later become a member of theHand, although she did not hold their traditions in high esteem. Her alter ego works as a lawyer, opposing Matt Murdock in the courtroom, thereby attacking Daredevil on two fronts. Lady Bullseye's true intentions were to take control of the Hand clan, but instead Daredevil becomes their leader.
Born inJapan, the young girl (it has not been revealed whether Maki Matsumoto is her birth name or an assumed one) who would become Lady Bullseye was imprisoned by theYakuza, who planned to sell her and many others into sexual slavery. However,Bullseye, on an unrelated errand, arrived to slaughter the mobsters. The sight of Bullseye effortlessly killing her captors inspired the girl to escape and become a killer.[2]
Years later in the employ of the famous ninja orderThe Hand, she arrives in New York City to spearhead The Hand ninja-lord Hiroshi's plan. However, she has demonstrated little tolerance for The Hand's ritual, interrupting some (who are used to those traditions) off-guard in order to kill her enemies. She kills and resurrects bothWhite Tiger andBlack Tarantula to assist her.[3]
At the same time, it has been revealed that in her civilian guise she is a lawyer, targetingDaredevil by assisting the parents of Murdock's mentally-ill wifeMilla Donovan in gaining custody of her. When one of her associates discovers this, she kills him to prevent the Hand from learning the truth. Hiroshi claims that all she has done has been according to his will. Lady Bullseye offers Daredevil the leadership of the Hand, which he refuses. The organization regroups toSpain, preparing to initiate "Plan B". There, she findsKingpin, trying to live a normal civilian life, and kills his new girlfriend and her kids, and brutally stabbing Kingpin, telling him that this is a message for Matt Murdock.[4]
It turns out that Matsumoto's real goal was to take the leadership of the Hand herself, something she had been promised by Daredevil's allyMaster Izo, who was revealed to have trained her. However, Izo was lying, and instead intended for Daredevil himself to take that post and reform the Hand. This occurring, Daredevil had Lady Bullseye cast out of the Hand for being untrustworthy. Angry, she vowed to kill Izo.[5]
Lady Bullseye is shown to now be allied with the Kingpin against Daredevil, instigating a conflict between Daredevil andNorman Osborn, which ultimately leads to Daredevil declaring Hell's Kitchen the territory of the Hand.[6][7]
Lady Bullseye was hired by an as yet unknown party to injurePepper Potts with a compressed air rifle.[8]
Doctor Tramma hires Lady Bullseye on her boss' behalf to find out howSpider-Girl is copying abilities like she did withVermin. She follows Makawalu Akana to her family's apartment and draws her out. While trying to figure out if Lady Bullseye has any connections with Bullseye, Spider-Girl copies her fighting skills which gets disrupted by some people committing a robbery. When more thugs show up to confront the robberrs, Lady Bullseye gets away as Spider-Girl is confronted by the thugs.[12]
Lady Bullseye has no apparent superhuman powers, but is a master of several martial arts and a proficient hand-to-hand combatant, and specializes in usingkatana andshuriken.[13] She is faster than Bullseye and less powerful than the Kingpin. Regardless, she has defeated Daredevil andBlack Widow on separate occasions, and nearly defeated Daredevil on another occasion. Daredevil has commented that in her costumed form she has little scent and a very low pulse, akin to one performingyoga. She is also skilled in legal matters, being a lawyer in her civilian guise.[14]
In 2009, IGN included Lady Bullseye in their "Marvel's Femme Fatales" list.[15]
In 2017,CBR.com ranked Lady Bullseye 10th in their "Daredevil's 15 Deadliest Villains" list[16] and 12th in their "Marvel's 15 Best Martial Artists" list.[17]
In 2021,Screen Rant included Lady Bullseye in their "10 Most Powerful Villains Of Kate Bishop's Hawkeye" list.[18]
In 2022,WhatCulture ranked Lady Bullseye 2nd in their "10 Villains We Hope To See In Daredevil: Born Again" list.[19]
In 2022,Screen Rant included Lady Bullseye in their "Daredevil's Main Comic Book Villains, Ranked Lamest To Coolest" list,[20] in their "10 Best Street Level Villains That Need To Debut In The MCU" list[21] and in their "10 Best Daredevil Comics Characters Not In The MCU" list.[22]
The Maki Matsumoto incarnation of Lady Bullseye appears inHit-Monkey, voiced byReiko Aylesworth.[23][24] In the series' 2021 first season, she is hired by Bonsai Master on Shinji Yokohama's behalf to kill the eponymousHit-Monkey (Monkey) after he decimates theYakuza while seeking vengeance for his tribe's slaughter. Initially dismissive of the job, she develops a vendetta against Monkey after he slices her cheek. Upon learning he is being assisted by the ghost of Bryce Fowler, a former associate of hers, she attempts to use salt to hurt him, but inadvertently grants him temporary corporeality, allowing him to help police officer Haruka kill her. In the series' 2024 second season, she returns as a ghost to guide the second Lady Bullseye in killing Monkey, on the condition of also avenging her own death. On training Akiko, Lady Bullseye's ghost joins her in taking on Bryce and Haruka, Lady Bullseye beating up the former ghost and attempting to drown him in salt water. Following this, deeming herself beyond her predecessor, Akiko annihilates the original Lady Bullseye's ghost by diving into the saltwater sea, banishing her soul from the living plane.
After Monkey kills Yokohama, the latter's niece and the former's ex-friendAkiko Yokohama (voiced byOlivia Munn) takes Matsumoto's mask and mantle, declaring herself Monkey's nemesis. In the 2024 second season, Akiko unsuccessfully attempts to kill Monkey, mentored by the ghost of her predecessor in doing so. In "Chapter Five: Akiko", Akiko is revealed to have been mentally unstable since a young child, when after parents were killed in a fire, Akiko had drowned and beaten to death several other orphans at the orphanage she had been sent to, before being sent to a sanitarium and freed by her uncle, who had over seen her education, with his later death at Monkey's hands leading her to unleash her psychopathy. In the second season finale, after banishing the First Lady Bullseye's ghost and embracing violence completely, Akiko returns to attempt to kill Monkey's friends, and in an act of self-sacrifice, Monkey tackles Akiko off a bridge to their deaths, withMephisto confirming both to now be inHell (Monkey later leaving to become a ghost on Earth, with Akiko remaining in Hell).
The Maki Matsumoto incarnation of Lady Bullseye appears inMoon Girl and Devil Dinosaur,[25] voiced by Miki Yamashita.[26] This version is older, more pompous, and passive-aggressive than her comics counterpart and leads a group called the Diabolical Darts.
