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There are countless lists out there, trying to figure out who the best villain in the MCU is. Sure, Thanos is probably the most successful and Loki is the most conflicted, but none of them can touch Kingpin. Vincent D’Onofrio, from the first moment he stepped on the screen in Daredevil, has given the most consistently excellent performance of any Marvel actor. More than any gods or mad Titans, Vincent D’Onofrio’s Kingpin is still the most intimidating villain in the MCU and I can’t to enjoy his work again weekly in Daredevil: Born Again.

Cast your mind back to the first season of Daredevil on Netflix. D’Onofrio was first introduced to us as a bit of an oddball Kingpin. He stood, staring at a painting in a gallery, as though it held the answers to all the mysteries of life. Within a few episodes, he’s crushing a man’s head in a car door for having the audacity to embarrass him in front of his beloved Vanessa. What we thought was a strange quirk was Wilson Fisk confronting his childhood trauma. The man is unstable and it makes him fascinating to watch.

Over that first season, we discover that this tightly wound man isn’t merely stressed – he is possessed by a barely contained rage that is aching to be released. One of the best moments in that season isn’t anything to do with Daredevil himself; it is watching Wilson Fisk escape police custody, walking out of his armored transport with a new swagger that tells the world that the gloves are off and he is ready to take the city by force rather than subterfuge. It is the moment when it is clear that he is, in fact, the Kingpin.

After that, there is never a moment when Vincent D’Onofrio’s Kingpin is on screen that my eyes aren’t glued to him, desperate to see what he does next. There are scenes where he isn’t being overtly threatening but carries a menace that you can’t quite put your finger on but also can’t ignore. As soon as he showed up in Hawkeye, they might as well have changed the name of the show to Kingpin because he was the star for me. 

Go back and rewatch the scene where he meets with Eleanor Bishop in Hawkeye. The tightness in his face. The gravel in his voice. The intensity in his stare. It is one of the most frightening moments in the show and nobody throws a punch. Kingpin doesn't even say anything that threatening - and yet I was on the edge of my seat the whole time. It is a masterclass in creating tension through body language that should not be ignored.

If there is a flaw to D’Onofrio’s performance, it is that he isn’t a confident on-screen fighter, something that was painfully clear in the first season of Daredevil. There were too many cuts and edits to accurately show the flow of movement. My biggest hope for Daredevil: Born Again is that they can bring some of the raw strength that Kingpin always had in the comics, the physical power that allowed him to go toe-to-toe with the likes of Spider-Man and Daredevil for years, into his on-screen portrayal.  If they can manage that, it has a chance to be the best thing Marvel has put on the screen – big or small – in years.

This is no shade to Charlie Cox, who has always been a standout as Matt Murdock, but knowing that D’Onofrio has come back for Daredevil: Born Again was the real selling point for me. No one in the MCU has the same terrifying gravitas, the same barely restrained rage that makes him the most intimidating villain in Marvel Studios history. In a universe where villains are either overly sympathetic or entirely forgettable, Vincent D’Onofrio’s Kingpin remains the best.

Consider this a meta post-credits scene for Marvel fans - the four key articles you need to read next to continue the thrills:

• How to watch the Marvel Cinematic Universe in release or chronological order
• The best Marvel Comics stories of all time
• All the MCU movies ranked from best to worst
• Our weekly Marvel insider's column, Marvel Matters