Kingpin (character)

Not to be confused with Kingpin (Alexander Bont) or Kingpin (Matt Murdock).
Kingpin
Wilson Fisk as the Kingpin, as drawn by Juan Frigeri on a splash page of Invincible Iron Man #9 (August 2023).
Publication information
PublisherMarvel Comics
First appearanceThe Amazing Spider-Man #50 (July 1967)[1][2]
Created byStan Lee (writer)
John Romita Sr. (artist)
In-story information
Alter egoWilson Grant Fisk
SpeciesHuman
Place of originNew York City
Team affiliationsHYDRA
The Hand
Emissaries of Evil
Power Elite
Thunderbolts
PartnershipsVanessa Fisk (1st wife)
Typhoid Mary Fisk (2nd wife)
Butch Pharris (son; successor)
Notable aliasesThe Brainwasher[3]
Harold Howard[4]
The Undertaker[5]
Abilities
  • Criminal mastermind/tactician
  • Peak human strength and durability
  • Highly skilled martial artist and hand-to-hand combatant
  • Wears Kevlar armor
  • Use of a laser gun-equipped cane and a hollow ornamental diamond stick-pin filled with sleeping gas

The Kingpin (Wilson Grant Fisk) 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 (cover-dated July 1967).[6] 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 be the archenemy of Daredevil,[7] as well as 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 (like a sumo wrestler) and a formidable hand-to-hand combatant. Despite this, his size has been regularly mocked, especially by Spider-Man.

The character has been adapted from the comics into various forms of media, including feature films, television series, and video games. The Kingpin was portrayed by John Rhys-Davies in the 1989 television film The Trial of the Incredible Hulk, and by Michael Clarke Duncan in the 2003 feature film Daredevil, who also voiced the character in Spider-Man: The New Animated Series. Vincent D'Onofrio portrays Wilson Fisk in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) franchise, having appeared thus far in the Marvel Television Netflix series Daredevil (2015–2018) and the Marvel Studios Disney+ miniseries Hawkeye (2021) and Echo (2024), and will reprise his role in Daredevil: Born Again (2025). Liev Schreiber voiced the Kingpin in the animated film Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018). In 2009, the Kingpin was ranked as IGN's 10th Greatest Comic Book Villain of All Time.[8]

  1. ^ Misiroglu, Gina Renée; Eury, Michael (2006). The Supervillain Book: The Evil Side of Comics and Hollywood. Visible Ink Press. ISBN 9780780809772.
  2. ^ Conroy, Mike (2004). 500 Comicbook Villains. Collins & Brown. ISBN 1-84340-205-X.
  3. ^ The Amazing Spider-Man #59–61
  4. ^ Captain America #148 (April 1972) Marvel Comics.
  5. ^ Spider-Men II #3 (September 2017) Marvel Comics.
  6. ^ DeFalco, Tom; Sanderson, Peter; Brevoort, Tom; Teitelbaum, Michael; Wallace, Daniel; Darling, Andrew; Forbeck, Matt; Cowsill, Alan; Bray, Adam (2019). The Marvel Encyclopedia. DK Publishing. p. 206. ISBN 978-1-4654-7890-0.
  7. ^ Furious, Nick (January 25, 2011). "The Top 5 Enemies of Daredevil" Archived 2021-07-01 at the Wayback Machine. comicbooked.com
  8. ^ "Kingpin is Number 10". IGN. Retrieved 2015-04-20.