One of Hawkeye's deleted Kingpin scenes would have fixed a fan complaint. Kingpin's portrayal in the Disney+ Hawkeye series upset some viewers, especially those who enjoyed the character in Netflix's Daredevil show and felt that Kingpin's few appearances in the Hawkeye finale were too different a characterization from his previous iteration. However, a deleted scene might've abated those complaints.

This deleted Hawkeye scene showed the first meeting between Eleanor Bishop and Kingpin, otherwise known as Wilson Fisk, during which they discussed the terms of their contract. The scene began with Eleanor sitting in her car, visibly frightened and trying to brace herself for the conversation, and then cut to Wilson laying out the terms of their arrangement while also offering his sympathy for the loss of her husband. Eleanor's fear, combined with Kingpin's supposed compassion toward her situation, fit much closer to his Daredevil persona.

Related: Daredevil In No Way Home Totally Beat Kingpin In Hawkeye

This Hawkeye deleted scene styled and characterized Kingpin much more like the version of him in Daredevil, which would have appeased the concerns of some that he'd strayed too far from his old self. In Daredevil, Vincent D'Onofrio played Kingpin with a frightening realism that the character seemed to lack in Hawkeye. Despite Clint Barton's repeated warnings about how dangerous he was, the MCU show never really committed to backing them up. Instead, Hawkeye portrayed Kingpin more accurately to the comics by adding color to his wardrobe and increasing his physical strength well beyond a normal human's, overall making him less intimidating and instead campier. The deleted scene would have gone a long way toward proving Kingpin's potential for ruthlessness, even as he expressed sympathy for Eleanor's late husband. The careful balance between empathetic and threatening, along with the more familiar visual style, hearkened back to how Kingpin was in Daredevil.

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It makes sense that this Hawkeye scene was deleted since Eleanor's motivations, and the exact nature of her relationship with Kingpin, were revealed in a different scene at the beginning of the finale. However, this one better showed Kingpin in his element. By first highlighting Eleanor's fear, and then showing this more restrained version of Wilson, the scene more closely resembled the kind of effortless control he had over his subordinates in Daredevil. The final cut of Hawkeye just showed Wilson after everything had started to fall apart. The audience only ever saw him try to deal with the fallout of Clint and Kate upsetting his empire and never properly witnessed him wield the kind of power that was far more impressive than Kingpin's physical strength.

Including this scene of Kingpin would have helped establish him as the threat Hawkeye tried to say he was without ever really proving it. Wilson's supposed death in the finale only worsened the underwhelming portrayal. Hopefully, Kingpin will return in future MCU projects that are not afraid to truly embrace such a dynamic character and will give him the screen time he deserves to show it.

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