Although it was largely rumored, Marvel fans were ultimately surprised to see Kingpin as played by Vincent D’Onofrio in the Disney Plus series Hawkeye. The buildup to his reveal created a lot of chatter amidst fans for weeks, many of which were unsure if Marvel really brought back Kingpin after Daredevil and its related shows were canceled on Netflix. But the fan-favorite villain did indeed return, and now it’s been explained why.
During the Hawkeye episode of Marvel Studios: Assembled, via The Direct, the crew behind the series discussed Kingpin and why they decided to bring the character back. As it turns out, it was as natural for them as it was for fans to want him back. Thankfully, it looks like everything worked out as intended.
As explained by Hawkeye executive producer Brad Winderbaum:
“We were all on a call, me and Kevin and Trinh, and we were talking about the Tracksuit Mafia and the criminal organization behind this story, and we needed a really big threat, like something that, you know, would make Eleanor Bishop shake in her boots and Hawkeye, you know, get a little bit afraid. It had to be someone powerful.”
Furthermore, Marvel’s own Kevin Feige explained the following:
“When you talk about organized crime in the Marvel universe and you talk about the seedy underbelly of New York City, there is one primary character that comes to mind.”
Then, Hawkeye producer Trinh Tran gave Kevin Feige the credit for reintroducing Kingpin to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
“Kevin threw out the idea that ‘What if this could be Kingpin?’ And I think all of our jaws just kind of dropping our Zoom meetings, and we’re kinda like, ‘Wait, you’re joking, right? This can’t be serious. Are you serious? This is… You really think that there’s a chance that we can actually get Vincent D’Onofrio, who plays Kingpin in Daredevil in the series, as a cameo for a couple of scenes? Like, he is our big boss?’ And Kevin made a call to Vincent.”
Finally, Vincent D’Onofrio shared just how onboard he was with the idea himself.
“He said ‘I want to bring you into the MCU’ and I’m not gonna say no to that. That’s pretty awesome.”
This is a great story, and it goes to show how much Kevin Feige cares to bring all things Marvel together. While they could’ve probably recast the role if they really wanted to, Kevin Feige obviously wanted Vincent D’Onofrio to come back and thus the rest was history. Hopefully Hawkeye is far from the last time we’ll get to see Vincent D’Onofrio’s Kingpin in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.