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With his percussive whisper-shout dialogue and Hannibal-esque idiosyncrasies, Vincent D’Onofrio’s Wilson Fisk is temptingly easy to parody; an expertly pitched supervillain performance from a character actor who understood the assignment. 10 years on from his debut in Netflix’s Daredevil, he’s now firmly established as one of the MCU’s most interesting bad guys. It’s hard to underestimate just how much of this is down to D’Onofrio’s bold screen presence, reinventing a decades-old comic book character with newfound depth and eccentricity.

Casting has always been a strength for the MCU. Starting big with Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man, the franchise’s hit rate is incredibly high, introducing a roster of actors so well-chosen they often end up becoming synonymous with their roles. When the time came to launch adult-rated spinoffs on Netflix, Daredevil started equally strong with Charlie Cox’s charming yet intense Matt Murdock; a version of Daredevil whose tearful breakdowns and fraught relationships were as compelling as his fight scenes.

Of course, the show wasn’t exactly perfect. Its crime-fighting storylines could be pretty generic, and some of the ninja stuff was carelessly racist. But Daredevil’s well-drawn characters carried it through three seasons - including its refreshing spin on Daredevil’s nemesis Wilson Fisk, aka Kingpin. Crucially, time was on his side. Netflix’s serialized format allowed for more character development than Marvel’s big-screen villains ever received, digging into Fisk’s motives and backstory with a performer who always seemed genuinely invested in the role.

How Vincent D'Onofrio became Marvel's Kingpin

Daredevil comics are full of images where Fisk looks as big as the Hulk, symbolizing his overwhelming presence in the city’s criminal underworld. The 6’4” D’Onofrio reportedly gained 40lbs for Daredevil, but equally important is the way he moves, and the way he’s framed onscreen. He’s a brilliant physical performer, a fact you’ll understand with vivid clarity if you ever read this wild interview about the creative process behind his alien bug role in Men in Black.

In a show that’s so often praised for its action scenes, Wilson Fisk’s fight choreography honestly feels underrated. When he faces off against the highly trained Daredevil, we suddenly realize that he isn’t just a middle-aged businessman who lets other people do his dirty work. The guy hits like a sledgehammer, and could personally beat Matt Murdock to a pulp.

How Vincent D'Onofrio became the adversary Charlie Cox needed in Daredevil

Like so many great supervillains, Fisk acts as a dark mirror for the story’s hero. He and Daredevil both come from working-class backgrounds in Hell’s Kitchen, and both were shaped by losing their fathers at an early age. In Fisk’s case that’s due to an act of patricide, murdering his abusive dad to protect his mother.

As adults, these two men follow different paths in their attempts to improve Hell’s Kitchen - Matt as a lawyer who helps vulnerable citizens, and Fisk as a crime lord with an obsessive desire for control. Disney’s upcoming revival Daredevil: Born Again will add a new dimension to their conflict, positioning Fisk as a mayoral candidate for the entire city. Echoing Matt’s double life as a vigilante and lawyer, Fisk wants to craft a new public persona as a politician, separate from his criminal past. If anything, this feels more relevant than the distinctly 20th-century vibe of Daredevil’s mob drama storylines. What could be more familiar than an unstable, corrupt megalomaniac who believes he deserves excess power over other people’s lives?

How Vincent D'Onofrio became the MCU's most prominent villain

Appearing in three other spinoffs (Hawkeye, Echo, and the animated Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man), D’Onofrio’s Kingpin is now the MCU’s longest-running villain in terms of screentime. This longevity has provided ample space to explore his relationships; another area where for logistical reasons, movie villains don’t get much action. Back in Daredevil’s first season, the most impactful figure was his love-interest Vanessa (Ayelet Zurer): A chic, middle-aged art curator who eventually becomes his wife. Their courtship is tender and quietly romantic, with Vanessa giving Fisk an opportunity to explore his vulnerabilities as they bond over art. 

Transferring Fisk from the Netflix universe to Disney+’s more official MCU canon, Hawkeye introduced another important side-character in Fisk’s life: His protégé/enforcer Maya Lopez (Alaqua Cox), who went on to star in her own miniseries, Echo. This show revealed that Fisk adopted Maya after her father’s death, encouraging her to channel her rage into violence for his criminal organization. It’s an insidiously toxic relationship, not just because Fisk personally arranged her father’s murder, but because Maya is Native American and Fisk, her white adoptive uncle, actively alienates her from her heritage. Unlike her birth family, he also refuses to learn ASL - a major red flag, because Maya is Deaf and all of their conversations resultingly have to occur through an interpreter. He’d rather give orders via a third party than form an authentic paternal bond. 

Vincent D'Onofrio's growth as Kingpin leading into Daredevil: Born Again

Echo’s finale sets things up for Fisk’s future political career, with Maya using her superpowers to make Fisk confront his spiritual childhood trauma (just go with it; it’s a comic book show). But really the earlier stuff is more interesting. While Fisk may be manipulative and cruel, his controlling behavior isn’t the act of a cold-blooded strategist. At least in part, he genuinely wants Maya to be a kind of daughter-figure, tying into his longstanding desire for family ties. He just doesn’t know how to build that kind of relationship without traumatizing and isolating Maya from a young age, consciously trying to mold her in his own image. 

It's increasingly clear that Marvel really lucked out when they cast Vincent D'Onofrio. As we draw closer to the MCU's 20th anniversary, the franchise is embracing the vibe of long-running superhero comics, reinventing established characters as they skip between different spinoffs and crossover events. Daredevil recently weathered an abrupt tonal shift when he appeared in the She-Hulk sitcom. In the latest Captain America movie, the Winter Soldier is running for congress. Even more inexplicably, the trickster god Loki became a time-travel cop.

It really speaks to Wilson Fisk's impact and staying power that he's basically played the same role in three separate shows now, and is still as fascinatingly watchable as ever. His upcoming mayoral run is obviously an intriguing move, but I think we can safely assume he hasn't really turned over a new leaf. We all know a temporary heel-face turn when we see one.

Fear not, we have the essentials when it comes to Marvel's Daredevil. From the best Daredevil stories of all time, to a guide to watching Daredevil, a comprehensive guide to Marvel Studios' Daredevil: Born Again on Disney+, Marvel's Daredevil actors, ranked from Charlie Cox to Ben Affleck and even Rex Smith, how Frank Miller accidentally killed a Daredevil cartoon (and Marvel killed a book to avoid pissing him off), and even that time we caught Daredevil actor Charlie Cox sneaking into New York Comic Con as Bluey.