While Kingpin plays a relatively small role in Marvel's Spider-Man, elements of his backstory are revealed in a cleverly subtle way. The game opens with some combat between Spider-Man and Kingpin in the latter's headquarters, throwing players straight into the animosity between the two characters. Little is said about Kingpin or his motivations, but his history and backstory are implied through subtle elements of the background and gameplay.
Wilson Fisk, known as The Kingpin, is a character that has long been a part of Spider-Man's rogues' gallery. He is a classic Spider-Man villain, having first appeared in Amazing Spider-Man #50 in 1967. Luckily for him, he is not one of the Spider-Man villains that never appeared in games. However, the 2018 game does make little use of him as an adversary. Due to this lack of screen time, the game is unable to explore his deep lore but is able to express his history briefly and efficiently.
As Fisk is such a memorable villain, it is easy to leave much of his backstory to implication. Unlike Mr. Negative, he is not a new character, and most Spider-Man or Marvel fans will be aware of Kingpin's story and motivations. Knowing this, Insomniac used concise dialogue to convey the shared history between the hero and the villain. Marvel's Spider-Man implies Peter fought other villains before, which adds to the setting of the game featuring an older, more mature Spider-Man. The game also uses the décor of the combat arena with Fisk to convey features of his past, using the Japanese art collection to represent a crucial episode in Kingpin's history.
Kingpin's Backstory Is Shown Through World-Building
Straight away, the encounter between Spider-Man and Kingpin opens with an exchange of dialogue that describes the history between the two characters. Spider-Man asks Fisk if he is writing his memoir and preemptively references the often forgotten hyphen in his name. Fisk then mentions that he has suffered eight years of the hero's insolence, instantly implying the feud between them. Marvel's Spider-Man's hidden details, like Doc Ock's lab, are critical to its efficient world-building.
Without describing any events in detail or using flashbacks, the game establishes that Kingpin's villainous efforts had been thwarted since the beginning of Peter's career as a hero, making him one of Spider-Man's oldest adversaries. The fight at the start of the game seems to be Spider-Man's greatest victory over Fisk at this point. Kingpin proclaims that he had kept order in the city, showing that he had been a mastermind crime boss for many years, further establishing him as a strong character and a constant threat to Spider-Man. Dispatching this character so early on in the game shows that Insomniac's Spider-Man may be fighting the wrong villains.
The combat at the start of the game takes place in a large office space with several Japanese pieces of art and artifacts around the room. This provides a visually interesting area that also allows for better playability, but it also says a lot about Kingpin as a character. The décor is meticulous and minimal, showing Kingpin's focused nature and mindset. Avid fans will also link this to Fisk's retirement to Japan in the comics. In Amazing Spide-Man #197, Fisk's wife Vanessa forced him to choose between her or a life of crime. Choosing her, he retired and moved to Japan. It was during this period, however, when Vanessa was killed by one of Kingpin's former aides who sought to bring him back to his role as a crime boss. The Japanese decorations serve as a reminder to Fisk of the loss of his wife.
Marvel's Spider-Man efficiently establishes Kingpin's background through dialogue and artistic choices. In the final Black Cat side mission of the base game, the art stash includes a portrait of Fisk's wife, Vanessa. This adds to the completeness of the world-building and serves, at least for eagle-eyed players, as an Easter egg in Marvel's Spider-Man.