Kingpin (character)
The Kingpin is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was created by Stan Lee and John Romita Sr., and first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #50. The "Kingpin" name is a reference to the crime lord title in Mafia slang nomenclature.
One of the most feared, dangerous, and powerful crime lords in the Marvel Universe, usually depicted as New York City's crime overlord, the Kingpin was introduced as an adversary of Spider-Man, but later went on to become one of Daredevil's two archenemies, alongside Bullseye. He is also a recurring foe of the Punisher and of his adoptive daughter Echo. He was married to Vanessa Fisk, who frequently expressed her disapproval of his criminal activities, and later to Typhoid Mary Fisk, and is the father of Richard Fisk and Butch Pharris, the latter of whom succeeded him as the Kingpin following his retirement. His traditional attire consists of his signature white suit jacket and cane, though his appearance has been changed over the years. Across all iterations, the Kingpin is depicted with an extraordinarily heavyset appearance and a bald head. The character is not simply obese, but also heavily muscled and a formidable hand-to-hand combatant. Despite this, his size has been regularly mocked, especially by Spider-Man.
The character has been adapted into various forms of media, including feature films, television series, and video games. The Kingpin was portrayed by John Rhys-Davies in the television film The Trial of the Incredible Hulk, and by Michael Clarke Duncan in the feature film Daredevil, the latter also voicing the character in Spider-Man: The New Animated Series. Vincent D'Onofrio portrays Wilson Fisk in television series of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, including Daredevil, Hawkeye, Echo, and Daredevil: Born Again. Liev Schreiber voiced the Kingpin in the animated film Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. In 2009, the Kingpin was ranked as IGN's 10th-Greatest Comic Book Villain of All Time.
Publication history
The Kingpin first appears in The Amazing Spider-Man #50, and was created by writer Stan Lee and artist John Romita Sr., who based his physical appearance on actors Sydney Greenstreet and Robert Middleton.In his debut story arc in The Amazing Spider-Man #50–52 titled "Spider-Man No More!", the Kingpin is portrayed purely as a crime lord, albeit one who tends to be unusually hands-on in his criminal dealings. In his subsequent appearances, also written by Lee, he becomes more of a typical supervillain, employing fantastic devices to further his criminal capers. In the early 1980s, the character evolved further. A series of appearances in Daredevil, starting with issue #170 by writer/penciler Frank Miller, depicted the Kingpin as a scheming, cold-blooded crime lord who consistently stayed beyond the reach of the law. This remained the character's dominant form for decades as the Kingpin became widely regarded as Daredevil's archenemy. He continues to be a recurring opponent of Spider-Man, Daredevil, Echo, and the Punisher.
Fictional character biography
Wilson Grant Fisk began his life as a poor child in New York City. Enduring bullying from his classmates because of his obesity, Fisk trained himself in physical combat and eventually used his new-found strength to form a gang of his former tormentors that terrorized the surrounding neighborhoods. He was soon discovered by mob boss Don Rigoletto, who hired his best friend and him as bodyguards, and Fisk worked his way up Rigoletto's ranks until he became the Don's right-hand man. He then turned on his mentor, eliminating him and taking control of his men and business interests, before expanding his new empire until he had become one of the most powerful figures in New York's criminal underworld, earning the name "Kingpin".While the Kingpin enjoyed a long tenure in his new position, he also garnered enemies in the form of the Maggia and the terrorist group Hydra. The two groups joined forces to attack Fisk's empire, causing him to flee to Japan after losing most of his assets. There, he started a legitimate spice-exporting business and used the profits to return to New York, organizing his old followers and starting a war to destroy the Maggia. The resulting chaos allowed Fisk to easily step back in and gain back everything he had lost.
Fisk attempted to form a coalition of New York's crime families after hearing that the vigilante Spider-Man had disappeared and ordered the abduction of J. Jonah Jameson to silence his reporting on the Kingpin's crimes, but Spider-Man returned and foiled his plans, in what became Fisk's first confrontation with Spider-Man.
To avoid public scrutiny of his criminal activities, Fisk cultivated an image of himself as a legitimate businessman and philanthropist. He eventually met a woman named Vanessa, whom he married, and they had a son named Richard. Vanessa did not know that her future husband was a criminal when they married. When she finally learned who he was, she threatened to leave him if he did not give up his life of crime. The Kingpin gave up his criminal empire, moving his family to Japan to protect them from his enemies. As time passed, however, he found himself unable to adjust to civilian life and became the Kingpin once more, this time with his wife's knowledge.
Richard did not find out that his father was a criminal until he attended college. After graduating, he told his parents that he intended to travel through Europe. Only months later, they received news that their son had died in a skiing accident. However, it turned out that Richard was still alive; he returned to New York, used a costume and mask to disguise himself as a mysterious new crime lord calling himself the "Schemer", and formed his own gang to destroy his father's empire. Fisk came back into conflict with Spider-Man as he worked to stop the Schemer.
At one point, he became the manager and director of a Las Vegas-based splinter of Hydra, despite their past opposition to his rule.
At his wife's behest, Fisk permanently divested himself of his criminal empire. He unsuccessfully attempted to kill Spider-Man once more, before stepping down as the Kingpin, swearing to never again return to crime.
1980s
To complete his reformation, the Kingpin agreed to turn over all of his records to the authorities so they could prosecute his former lieutenants. His wife Vanessa was subsequently kidnapped by the men he betrayed, who then put out a contract on his life. After witnessing Vanessa's apparent death, Fisk returned to a life of crime. He quickly regained control by taking advantage of his knowledge of the weaknesses of all of New York's criminal organizations, and made a promise to keep the East Coast stable to stop crime bosses from the Midwest from expanding into his territory. The Kingpin also gained the loyalty of infamous assassin Bullseye by promising him steady work. When Daredevil stole his records, the Kingpin did nothing to stop him, plotting to get his old allies arrested so he could select more compliant replacements. Daredevil realized this in time to stop himself from turning over the records, frustrating the Kingpin's plans. Kingpin maneuvered Daredevil into battling the Hand, hoping to get him killed. He secretly promoted corrupt mayoral candidate Randolph Cherryh, and hired the services of Elektra. Daredevil found Vanessa alive but amnesiac, and used her as leverage to force Kingpin to end his support for Cherryh. As retribution, he sent Elektra to kill Foggy Nelson, but Elektra failed and was killed by Bullseye.The Kingpin learned Daredevil's secret identity through information passed on from Karen Page, Daredevil's ex-girlfriend who was now a pornographic film actress addicted to drugs. The Kingpin used his influence to destroy Matt Murdock's civilian and professional life during the "Born Again" storyline. Enamored with the results of his own scheme, he became increasingly obsessed with ruining Daredevil's legacy. Though he avoided prison, his reputation was shattered and the image of respectability he had carefully built was ruined.
Kingpin was sought out by the Black Cat, and became concerned that her lack of powers would make the woman a liability to him. He therefore arranged to have scientists on his payroll provide her with defensive "bad luck" powers that cause mishap to befall anyone who attempts to harm her in combat but also hurt and eventually kill anyone who stays close to her for too long. The Kingpin hoped that this would lead to Spider-Man's death, but Spider-Man and the Black Cat ultimately broke up instead. Shortly after, Fisk was attacked by Spider-Man. Fisk later had his scientists create the supervillains the Answer, and the Spot, to battle Spider-Man and the Black Cat so they would not interfere further with his operations.
1990s
Fisk purchases his own cable television station, partnering with a wealthy millionaire from Texas that the Kingpin thinks can be easily manipulated. However, the "millionaire" is actually a spy planted by Hydra. Learning of this from Nick Fury, Daredevil spreads rumors among New York's criminal outfits that the Kingpin had become a stooge of Hydra, weakening his credibility and influence. Hydra operatives steal most of the Kingpin's fortune, deprive him of income by dismantling his businesses, and send a helicopter gunship to destroy his skyscraper offices. With his empire crumbling, the Kingpin is indicted on federal charges, and Daredevil tricks him into committing assault and battery when he tries to escape via Manhattan's Port Authority Bus Terminal. Bailed out of jail by a rival, Fisk finally snaps when he learns that his benefactor intends to use him as an "errand boy". He kills him, and becomes a fugitive.The Kingpin regains his sanity and has a small role in Marvel vs. DC when he purchases the Daily Planet, firing Perry White and replacing him with J. Jonah Jameson. He also bullies workers, especially Lois Lane, who threatens to expose him as the Kingpin. Eventually, he is confronted by his angry staff but is defeated when Spider-Man and Superboy arrive before he can do any significant damage. At the end of the crossover, the universes are restored and everyone is returned home.
Fisk returns to Japan and focuses on rebuilding his empire while fighting the X-Men and Shang-Chi. He becomes the leader of Zheng Zu's organization, Si-Fan, introducing a clan of cyborg ninjas named Cyber-Ninjas. He later returns to New York and resumes his criminal activities as Kingpin.