The movie’s trailer and poster have promised the introduction of a multiverse and officially revealed that Alfred Molina’s Doc Ock and Willem Dafoe’s Green Goblin from Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man films will be invading the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Former Spider-Men Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield have fielded so many questions about returning to the franchise that the latter now appears to be craving the sweet release of death.
If the Netflix Defenders universe Matt Murdock is joining the MCU (which we should stress, is NOT confirmed), then why wouldn’t his big bad? Vincent D’Onofrio as imposing New York City crime boss Kingpin was hugely integral to Daredevil’s success. Not only that, but in comic lore, Kingpin is frequently tied to both Murdock and Peter Parker. If you have a friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, you need an equally unfriendly neighborhood mobster for him to tangle with.
Thankfully, D’Onofrio agrees. In speaking with Jake’s Takes on YouTube to promote The Unforgivable, the Kingpin actor discussed his character’s potential MCU return and revealed which other character he’d most like to act opposite of.
“It would definitely have to be Spider-Man one day, I’m hoping. We’ll see if they ask me to do it. Kingpin lived in a world of Punisher, Daredevil, and Spider-Man, so that would be the one.”
Kingpin is one of Marvel’s most iconic “ground-level” villains. While the Avengers are frequently tasked with confronting existential threats like Thanos, Galactus, and Kang the Conqueror, Kingpin occupies a more niche space in the criminal underworld. Even amid aliens, Eternals, and Blips, the world carries on as usual and it needs a crime boss to keep the seedy underbelly in line. Wilson Fisk is more than happy to be that man.
In fact, we already know that Kingpin can work conceptually within a multiversal story. Kingpin was the central villain in Sony animated feature Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. Voiced by Liev Schreiber, the mob boss was more than able to hold his own among all the Spider-Verse chaos. It certainly helped that this Kingpin was the size of an SUV. If we ever see Vincent D’Onofrio seriously carbo-loading, then it’s a safe bet Kingpin is coming back.
