Kingpin's Return Will Fix The MCU's Long-Running Villain Imbalance

Vincent D'Onofrio's Kingpin is rumored to be returning to the MCU in Disney+'s Hawkeye, and this would bring in a type of villain that the MCU has had in relatively short supply. It's a big time for the MCU with the release of Spider-Man: No Way Home and the possibilities of the movie's Multiverse story. Additionally, Charlie Cox has been confirmed by Kevin Feige to return in the MCU as Matt Murdock from Netflix's Daredevil, which has definite implications for D'Onofrio's Wilson Fisk as the major villain of the show.

While Daredevil was heavily acclaimed throughout its three-season run, D'Onofrio's portrayal of Fisk was one of the elements singled out for particularly high praise. Since Daredevil's cancellation after season 3, questions have lingered about when and if the Kingpin, as one of the most well-known villains in Marvel Comics, might return in the MCU. However, looking at the question from the other side, bringing Fisk into the MCU has always been a wise move for the kind of villain he is.

Fisk was a mental and physical behemoth for Matt Murdock on Daredevil, and while the show went into much darker territory than the popcorn fun of MCU movies, D'Onofrio's Fisk stands out as one of the most unforgettable villains in modern superhero adaptations. Now that his return in the MCU is looking more and more likely, he can also add some quintessential Marvel elements that the MCU hasn't much explored with the majority of its villains. Here's how the Kingpin can balance out the villains of the MCU with his own brand of criminal activity.

MCU Movies Mostly Involve Super-Powered & Galactic-Level Villains

Thanos fights Captain America in Avengers Endgame

In the lead-up to Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, Thanos (Josh Brolin) was heavily pushed as the ultimate villain of the MCU. His plot to wipe out half of all life in the universe with the Infinity Stones naturally made him a bigger threat than anyone, but he was also far from the only MCU villain with superpowers or one whose plot had cosmic ramifications. In fact, looking over the MCU, there are actually surprisingly few villains who haven't fallen into one of those classifications.

Since Endgame, the villains of the MCU have largely continued this trend, either being of an alien origin, or possessing powers or some form of high-tech weaponry that makes them powerful enemies. While an emphasis on evildoers with powers and villains who pose a planetary or universal threat isn't a bad thing, it's also tilted MCU villains very heavily in one specific direction of villainy. This is where the return of the Kingpin could be a major asset for the kind of villain he embodies.

The Kingpin Can Bring Organized Crime Into The MCU

Daredevil stands behind Kingpin in a room in Daredevil.

True to his villainous name, Wilson Fisk is the kingpin of crime in New York City, a role he filled very well on Daredevil. As the arch-nemesis of Matt Murdock, Fisk has long been a very formidable enemy of The Man Without Fear, orchestrating criminal plots from behind-the-scenes while maintaining the public facade of a generous philanthropist. What stands out about this is that there are few MCU villains using comparable methods as Fisk did on Daredevil, while the MCU itself hasn't explored the organized crime side of the Marvel Universe all that heavily.

To some extent, the illicit dealings of Iron Man movie villains like Obadiah Stane (Jeff Bridges) and Aldrich Killian (Guy Pearce) tapped into criminal activity in their conflicts with Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), but neither was the kind of mob boss villain Fisk is known as. Spider-Man: Homecoming is the only recent MCU film to really emphasize street crime in the theft ring overseen by Adrian Toomes (Michael Keaton), but in general, organized crime has been a path not much traveled by the MCU. There's no better Marvel villain to bring renewed attention to shadowy criminal activity in the MCU than the Kingpin, and his return also brings with it another tool the MCU hasn't heavily utilized either.

The Kingpin Is A Very Scary Villain

Wilson Fisk may be a human villain with no powers on his side, but he's always been a truly frightening adversary. The Kingpin's intellect and shrewd business skills make him a challenge for even heroes with powers to keep up with, while his size and physical strength make him an opponent not to be scoffed at. On Daredevil, D'Onofrio's performance as Fisk was one that kept viewers on pins and needles, Fisk's erudite speaking style a contrast to his unpredictable and very savage temper. Fisk snapping and taking a life on Daredevil was never a less than shocking occurrence, and made him a villain of a very different from other MCU antagonists.

Villains like Thanos are scary for the scope of their powers and what their plots entail, and Kang the Conqueror has been set up to succeed the Mad Titan in this role by the ending of Loki. On the opposite side of the coin, Fisk brings a very humanized form of terror as a crime boss. He's also a deeply scarred man from his bitter upbringing, and one whose motivation is simply to stay on top. Fisk doesn't fight for what he believes in, because he believes only in power. That makes him a chilling Earth-level villain for any hero to face, and his MCU debut would integrate a form of fear that's relatable for how purely human Fisk's rage is.

Daredevil, like the rest of the Marvel-Netflix shows, had many elements that MCU movies have been reticent to incorporate into the franchise's crowd-pleasing tone. Finding a harmonious co-existence between the two approaches will be a question the MCU will need to address as the heroes of Marvel-Netflix, led by the return of Daredevil, are gradually phased into the main franchise. At the same time, Wilson Fisk is one of the strongest villains, physically and mentally, in the Marvel stable even without powers on his side, and he brings a human scale to the particular type of antagonist he is. The MCU doesn't have many crime bosses or villains whose temper is such that even their own henchmen walk on eggshells around them. The Kingpin is exactly all of that and more, and his MCU return offers a chance to show a side of being a villain that the franchise has largely neglected.

NEXT: Marvel May Have Already Given MCU Kingpin His Own Disney+ Show