MCU Kingpin as Compared To Daredevil’s Violent Take by Vincent D’Onofrio
Kingpin star Vincent D’Onofrio made his official MCU debut in the final episodes of the Hawkeye series on Disney+ – much to the delight of many Marvel fans. Vincent D’Onofrio’s Kingpin was the fan-favorite villain of the now-canceled Marvel Netflix Daredevil series and remains the best Marvel villain ever in live-action. What that established, some fans have been really worried that having Kingpin into Disney’s MCU would come to affect Daredevil’s terrifying and violent take on the villain.
Vincent D’onofrio on the future of Kingpin on MCU
When Vincent D’onofrio sat down with ComicBook Nation Podcast to talk about his future in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, one of the most intriguing topics was how MCUs’ Kingpin compares to Marvel Netflix’s take on the character:
“Well I think the [difference in] tones are obvious: it’s less bloody. But you know we talked a lot about it – for me it’s not a worry, because if I ever get the chance to take it further with the MCU, then I’m going to do the same work on Daredevil like I did on Hawkeye. You know [Kingpin’s] about emotional brutality. And he is just a mess. He’s a broken monster. And he is capable of many different kinds of brutality. Because he just is a brutal monster. So none of that worried me during Hawkeye.”
“I did notice – obviously – that there’s less blood, and there’s less torture. The thing you have to do is you have to stay away from torture,” D’Onorio continued. “And that really cuts things out. Like a lot of baddies that you play, they’re not just baddies, they actually torture people: they take control of them and torture them. And that’s too hardcore. So that’s out for them [Disney]. That was out for Hawkeye and hopefully, something will happen after that.”
The host Kofi Outlaw took this answer in stride, describing to Vincent D’Onofrio how even when knowing the limits of violence in the Disney+ series, Kingpin still carries the R-rated menace that we are aware of from Netflix Daredevil:
“Best case scenario for me is that that [menace] does exist, no matter what he’s doing,” D’Onofrio explained. He quickly interjected with “But that’s up to me to carry in [the menace]. When you see Wilson Fisk, it needs to make you uneasy – no matter what’s happening. Whether he’s dressed in that ‘Family Business’ (comics) costume I was in.
Indeed, even within the new rules of the Disney world – and sporting a Hawaiian shirt – Vincent D’Onofrio’s Kingpin is still every bit the villain so many fans would love to fear. Kingpin is so menacing, in fact, that no one believes that Wilson Fisk has taken a bullet to the face from Maya Lopez will have any dire effect.
