Marvel Studios’ Hawkeye is set in post-blip New York City where former Avenger Clint Barton aka Hawkeye has a seemingly simple mission: get back to his family for Christmas. But when a threat from his past shows up, Hawkeye reluctantly teams up with Kate Bishop, a 22-year-old skilled archer and his biggest fan, to unravel a criminal conspiracy involving a villain fans have waited over three years to return to the small screen.
Earlier this month, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige announced actor Charlie Cox would reprise his role as Murdock at some point. It wasn’t until the 15th of December fans literally jumped out of their seat when Daredevil’s Charlie Cox (Matt Murdock) made his debut in the Marvel Cinematic Universe in Spider-Man: No Way Home as Peter Parker’s lawyer.
Days later during the Hawkeye finale, Christmas came early for lovers of the Marvel Netflix series Daredevil as Vincent D’Onofrio’s Wilson “Kingpin” Fisk also made his debut; giving fans hope for a potential rematch and reigniting the flames of Daredevil and Kingpin’s eternal struggle that has raged since the first time their paths crossed in the pages of Marvel Comics.
In the season finale (please let there be a season 2), the truth is finally revealed that Kingpin is the person Hawkeye has worried about the entire time and now, he and Kate must find a way to bring him, the Tracksuits, and Yelena down.
As the mastermind behind the events in the first season, Kingpin is indisputably, Eleanor Bishop’s boss, the head of the Tracksuit Mafia, the watcher in the wing and the man who ordered the death of Maya Lopez’ father.
Despite, his celebrated appearance what does it mean to the MCU at large and why does his introduction is just as threatening compared to the days when he decapitated a man simply for embarrassing him in front of his former flame Vanessa.
After taken a literal beating and an arrow to the chest, Kingpin seems broken both emotionally, physically and at the end of the episode he is last seen staring down the end of Maya’s gun before proclaiming “Sometimes family doesn’t see eye to eye;” a scene that nearly mirrors the Echo/Kingpin showdown from the comics.
In celebration of the show’s finale, The Koalition spoke to Vincent D’Onofrio about his debut, what his ending means for his future, comics that inspired his new look and more.
“…When I was boy.”
– Wilson Fisk
“[The Kingpin we see in the finale is] obviously physically stronger and can take more physical abuse but emotionally, as far as canon he is definitely the same wonderful guy. [But mentally] when we see him now in the Hawkeye series, the blip has happened, and he is less in control than he wants to be or that he was. So, in Hawkeye you get the feeling he does have a little less power and he wants his city back.”
While D’Onofrio refused to spill the beans on the fate of his character or if Kingpin will appear in the upcoming Disney+ Echo series. Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige has constantly stated MCU characters are heavily inspired by the comics. Stating during the Hawkeye press conference in November. “The Matt Fraction comics was a big tonal inspiration for us.”
If this is the case, Kingpin who took an arrow to the chest, was hit by the full force of a car, and was then able to survive a plethora of highly dangerous trick arrows, is still alive and functional after being shot by Maya (if she did shoot him).
Daredevil (Vol. 2) #15 had Echo shoot Kingpin in the head but he somehow survived the attack only losing his vision. Readers of the comics would also know Fisk’s handy cane is referred to as the Disintegrator Cane, a device that’s also a laser beam weapon that can fire a short pulse of 300 watts, which is enough energy to vaporize a handgun. So, Echo could have been disabled by Kingpin causing the bullet to miss him completely.
Furthermore, asD’Onofrio pointed out Kingpin is far extremely powerful, ripping off a car door with his bare hands like a banana peel. Could this be a callback to the Daredevil series when Wilson Fisk’s clothes were made by Melvin Potter (Matt Gerald), the ex-con / weapons designer for the criminal underworld? After all, he was hired to make all of Kingpin’s suits, which Hawkeye connects to Fisk’s Hawaiian shirt (an outfit D’Onofrio suggested he wear).
WhileD’Onofrio is staying mum on how this episode and Kingpin’s future with Maya impacts him emotionally, he is excited to return to the role again, if asked. “I don’t know what’s going to happen with that. I hope we continue [and] Kingpin continues in the MCU; that would be awesome. That’s what I want but I don’t know what’s actually going to happen.”
“I can only say this about it, when I was doing the research for Daredevil, I read and looked at as much as I could of the old comics and the runs and the newer ones about Kingpin too and one of the things that I liked a lot was the relationship between Maya and how he took her under his wing [after] he had killed her father. That to me is an interesting emotional life to explore. [What] happens between the two of them? You know her life and Kingpin’s life; so that seems like a really cool thing [to explore]. Whether that’s going to happen or not or when that could happen [or] if it’s going to be me? I have no idea, but I can only hope.”
Whether Kingpin appears again in the Echo series or has another confrontation with Maya Lopez or Daredevil, there wasn’t any doubt in D’Onofrio’s mind Wilson Fisk doesn’t regret any of his life decisions that may have led to his ultimate demise. When asked if Kingpin regrets killing Maya’s father, he answered with a resounding “no.”
To learn more about Kingpin and D’Onofrio’s return to the character, check out our full interview in the video above.
