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
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	The Amazing Spider-Man #50 (July 1967)
Created by	Stan Lee (writer) John Romita Sr. (artist)
In-story information
Alter ego	Wilson Grant Fisk
Species	Human
Place of origin	New York City
Team affiliations	Hydra The Hand Emissaries of Evil Power Elite Thunderbolts Sinister Six
Partnerships	Vanessa Fisk (1st wife) Typhoid Mary Fisk (2nd wife) Butch Pharris (son; successor)
Notable aliases	The Brainwasher Harold Howard The Undertaker
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). 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, 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 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 (1989), and by Michael Clarke Duncan in the feature film Daredevil (2003), the latter also voicing the character in Spider-Man: The New Animated Series (2003). Vincent D'Onofrio portrays Wilson Fisk in television series of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, including Daredevil (2015–2018), Hawkeye (2021), Echo (2024), and Daredevil: Born Again (2025–present). 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.

Publication history

The Kingpin first appears in The Amazing Spider-Man #50 (July 1967), 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, 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 (May 1981) 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 (Daredevil's friend), 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 (who was dating Spider-Man at the time), 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 (Ben Reilly) and Superboy (Conner Kent) 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.

2000s

While in Japan, Fisk manipulates his adoptive daughter Maya Lopez (Echo) into thinking that Daredevil killed her biological father (although Fisk was actually responsible) to incite Daredevil's death. However, his plan backfires when Daredevil convinces Maya of the truth, and Lopez shoots the Kingpin in the eyes in retaliation, rendering him blind. Fisk eventually loses his criminal empire to Samuel Silke (one of his employees who works with Richard) in a bloody assassination bid, using the Kingpin's new status as a blind man to rally supporters. In the aftermath, Vanessa kills Richard and flees the country with Fisk's remaining wealth while the Kingpin recuperates in an unnamed East European country, broken and alone. He is given an eye transplant which restores his eyesight. He eventually confronts Silke and fatally crushes the man's head, almost manages to regain his empire through sheer will, but is defeated by Daredevil (who declares himself the new Kingpin). Fisk is imprisoned as a result.

He later hatches a scheme to be freed and regain his wealth by giving the FBI nonexistent proof that Matt Murdock is Daredevil. Having made so many enemies in prison, Fisk is constantly under attack from the Hand, Hydra, and other criminal organizations with which he had had dealings. The U.S. government is hard-pressed to get rid of Fisk, who manipulates the FBI into gravely wounding Daredevil and providing them a sample of his DNA. He tells Ben Urich to give the federal government the location of the Night Nurse, the only medic for injured superheroes, or go to jail.

Kingpin finally succeeds in getting Matt Murdock arrested, but the FBI betrays him at the last minute and arrests him as well, placing him in the same jail as Murdock in the hopes that the two will kill each other; instead, the two enemies team up to survive a prison riot directed at them. Finally, Murdock sacrifices the deal, refusing to let Bullseye (who was also incarcerated) leave the prison as the Kingpin had planned. The fight ends with the Kingpin shot in the knee by gunfire from Bullseye intended for Murdock, while Murdock escapes; a dying Vanessa is revealed to have manipulated events to attempt to have them both killed, while mourning her son's death.

Fisk appears in the 2006 Civil War: War Crimes one-shot issue, in which he offers information about Captain America's Resistance base to Iron Man, the leader of the pro-Registration forces in exchange for a reduced sentence. But as his status in prison is threatened for collaborating with Iron Man, he betrays Iron Man. He then puts out a hit on Spider-Man's loved ones after Iron Man convinced Peter Parker to publicly reveal himself as a means of demonstrating support for the Superhuman Registration Act. This results in May Parker being gravely wounded by a sniper's attempt to kill Spider-Man. After tracing the event back to Kingpin, Spider-Man confronts the Kingpin in prison and badly beats him in front of his fellow inmates. Spider-Man decides to let the Kingpin live with the humiliation of his defeat, news of which will quickly spread. Parker vows, however, to kill the Kingpin if May dies.

Murdock returns to the United States with a cleared name and completes Vanessa's last wish and takes on Fisk's case, getting all charges dropped in exchange for Fisk leaving the country, giving up his American citizenship and his agreement to end his vendetta with Daredevil. Although the charges were dropped due to the evidence being deemed inadmissible in court, Murdock delays the case enough so Fisk is unable to attend his wife's funeral. The mournful Fisk is later seen visiting his wife's grave, before temporarily returning to New York to resolve some loose ends.

In the 2009 Daredevil arc "Return of the King", it is revealed that the Kingpin has spent the past year living a normal life in a small Spanish fishing village. There he meets and falls in love with Marta, a young mother of two. He finds himself trying to overcome his former life as a crime lord, only to later find Marta and the two kids murdered by Lady Bullseye and the Hand who then brutally attack him, stabbing him through the shoulders with two katanas. When he asks why, Lady Bullseye replies, "The reasons are far too numerous, but if you want a specific cause, ask Daredevil". In his revenge against the Hand, the Kingpin frees and recruits the Owl to help him. Fisk begins experiencing hallucinations of his dead wife who taunts him. It turns out that Fisk's actual plan is to take the leadership of the Hand, after killing Hiroshi, the ninja-lord who ordered the family's assassinations. However, he is thwarted by Daredevil who takes the lead for himself.

2010s

During the 2010 "Shadowland" storyline, the Kingpin approaches Iron Fist and Luke Cage, telling the two that they will need to take down Daredevil soon. The Kingpin and Lady Bullseye later perform a ritual that brings back Ghost Rider to attack the Hand. After Daredevil is dethroned from Shadowland, the Kingpin takes both Shadowland and the Hand under his rule, officially taking his place back as the crime lord of New York City.

With Wakanda in a weakened economic position after the destruction of its vibranium stockpile, Kingpin attempts to purchase a controlling interest in the international Bank of Wakanda, with the goal of forcing the Bank to foreclose its current debts by selling its remaining land rights so that they can be exploited for more conventional mineral wealth. Fortunately, T'Challa becomes aware of this plan in his current role as defender of Hell's Kitchen, and begins a campaign of attacks against Fisk's new forces with the aid of Sam Wilson and Luke Cage. Fisk is so focused on these more public attacks that he misses when Shuri infiltrates and replaces Fisk's right-hand-woman, Miyu, giving her full access to Fisk's financial databases. Shuri plants a worm in the database that exposes most of Fisk's illegal financial transactions, with a final backdoor worm that could expose and ruin what little resources Fisk has left if he ever tries to come after Wakanda again.

Marvel NOW!

As part of the 2012 Marvel NOW! initiative, the Kingpin hears about how Otto Octavius as the Superior Spider-Man has been using brutal methods to take down the local crime families, which would leave a vacuum to fill. The Kingpin's Shadowland hideout is attacked by the Superior Spider-Man to which the Kingpin claims that the Superior Spider-Man is much different from the nemesis he had fought. While escaping, the Kingpin kills his doppelgänger Smedley Kornfeld (who was hired for events like this) to fool the Superior Spider-Man.

With his power over New York gone, Fisk set up shop in San Francisco, with the intention of rebuilding his empire there. But the vigilante Shroud acted first, taking control of the local gangs and kidnapped the Owl who also relocated to San Francisco. He transformed Owlsley into a super-computer capable of taking control of all wifi signals to locate his former girlfriend Julia Carpenter. During this time, Daredevil confirmed his secret identity, taking a positive approach to it this time and moved to San Francisco to practice law and continue his superhero career. Fisk began to make moves against both of his enemies, hiring the assassin Ikari to kidnap Foggy and Matt's new girlfriend, Kirsten McDuffie, and having his men look for Julia to have leverage against the Shroud. However, the Shroud and Daredevil came into conflict when he and Jubua Pride, the Owl's daughter, attempted to free Owlsley. The Shroud then released all private information about Daredevil's law practice's clients. Daredevil went to Fisk and offered him a deal, he would use his resources to fix his situation and assure Foggy and Kirsten are safe, and in exchange Matt Murdock would fake his death and get a new identity only Fisk would know, giving Kingpin back the power to destroy Daredevil, which he lost when he went public. However, Fisk went with his original plan instead and Ikari kidnapped Nelson and Kirsten. Meanwhile, the Shroud, Pride, and Daredevil crashed when they attempted to get Julia at an airport, allowing Kingpin's goons to take her. Fisk presented his hostages when Daredevil confronted him and had him fight Ikari to the death, with Fisk killing one of them if Daredevil wins. The fight took them to the streets, where the Shroud saved Daredevil and killed Ikari. Improvising, Daredevil took Ikari's costume and claimed to have killed the hero while the Shroud had the Owl bring to light all of Fisk's operations in exchange for his freedom. While Kingpin and Daredevil fought, the federals stormed his building. Daredevil beat down the Kingpin when he tried to flee and rescued the hostages, leaving him in bankruptcy.

During the 2015 "Secret Wars" storyline, the Kingpin hosts a viewing party for the incursion between Earth-616 and Earth-1610 where his guests include Absorbing Man, Bullseye, Norman Osborn, Sandman, and Scorpion. Festivities are interrupted by the arrival of Punisher who reveals that since he cannot take them with him, he has to put his large supply of bullets somewhere; the Punisher then kills them all, before they are resurrected in the reconstituted universe.

When the Purple Children acquired a machine designed by their father to enhance his powers, after Daredevil had saved them from a mob, they used the machine to erase the world's knowledge of Matt Murdock's identity as Daredevil, including the Kingpin's.

Mayor of New York City

After Hydra's defeat, Wilson Fisk is able to use a subsequent election to put himself forward as a last-minute candidate to become the Mayor of New York City, avoiding his criminal past being drawn into the issue by simply ignoring questions about it, aided by the fact that he has never been legitimately charged with anything. With his primary policy being a bill to declare all vigilantes as criminals, and despite Daredevil's efforts to create a precedent for superheroes testifying under their secret identities in Washington, he is able to arrest Daredevil in an FBI sting operation, mocking his old nemesis with the knowledge that the people he protects chose Fisk to 'protect' them, prompting Daredevil to break a window and leap out of Fisk's office to begin his own efforts to bring down Fisk's empire. Matt Murdock then applied for the position of deputy mayor. Although Daredevil attempts to set up a 'sting operation' where he and his fellow street-level heroes will capture Fisk meeting with various gang bosses, Fisk uses this plan against them and uses the opportunity to arrest all of Daredevil's allies, subsequently attempting to provoke Daredevil into attacking him. Although Fisk is able to arrest Daredevil as well, he is subsequently attacked and left in critical condition by the Hand, with various amendments made to New York's constitution by prior administrations putting Matt Murdock in control of the city, once he has escaped from captivity, thanks to the Hand attacking the police van where he was being held, Fisk in critical condition and nobody willing to challenge the legal situation. While Murdock used his skills as Daredevil and the acting mayor to keep the city safe with the street-level superheroes fighting off the Hand, Fisk recovered. Murdock gave Fisk the position of mayor back to him, with Fisk promising to cease his crusades against vigilantes.

2020s

During the "Last Remains" arc, Norman Osborn meets up with Fisk and his men as they work on a plan to dispose of Kindred for what he did to them. Fisk enlists Black Mariah, Crime Master, Diamondback, Hammerhead, Madame Masque, Owl, Silvermane, and Tombstone to obtain the Tablet of Life and Destiny, with the first to obtain it winning Fisk's favor. Upon getting his hands on both tablets, Mayor Fisk uses its abilities to revive Richard Fisk.

During the "King in Black" storyline, one of Iron Man's plans to fight Knull's invasion is to persuade Fisk to enlist villains to help defend New York City and fight Knull's Symbiote army. In response, Kingpin forms a version of the Thunderbolts consisting of Taskmaster, Mister Fear, Batroc the Leaper, Star, Rhino, Ampere, and Snakehead.

Second marriage and retirement

After Mike Murdock (Matt Murdock's magically created criminal twin brother) uses the Norn Stones to cement himself into reality by changing the history of the world, he inadvertently makes it so that Wilson Fisk has an illegitimate son (alongside his legitimate son Richard) with Stella Pharris named Byron "Butch" Pharris.

Sometime later, before the "Devil's Reign" storyline, Fisk discovers evidence that he once knew Daredevil's true identity, noticing gaps in his own memory after the fact. Outraged, Fisk confronts Daredevil, who taunts him. Consequentially, Fisk appoints Butch as New York's new Kingpin, outlaws vigilantism in the city, and announces his intent to run for President of the United States. While backed by Senator Arthur Krane of the Friends of Humanity, and other people, Fisk also starts the Thunderbolt units to help the NYPD crack down on superhuman vigilantism. The few superheroes who were still free, including Captain America, Spider-Man (Ben Reilly), She-Hulk, Luke Cage and Daredevil, began trying to implement ways of defeating Fisk legally, including letting Cage run for mayor.

Blaming Daredevil for his failures, Fisk makes Purple Man force the population of New York City into attacking the superheroes, while Fisk seeks out Daredevil, having regained his memory of Daredevil's identity after the Purple Man was able to suggest how it might have been done as he recognized the influence of his children in the memory wipe. Fisk ends up confronting Mike Murdock, mistakes him for Matt, and murders him. In return, he and his now wife Typhoid Mary are attacked by Daredevil and Elektra. Daredevil nearly kills Fisk until Elektra intervenes. Fisk is arrested, but freed by Butch Pharris and several criminal financers who want to install him as President of the United States next. Instead, Fisk kills them, leaves Butch to succeed him as the new Kingpin, and retires from crime with Mary by his side.

Skills, abilities, and equipment

While the Kingpin has no superhuman powers, he is incredibly strong and significantly more durable than the average human, possessing remarkable strength concealed by his extremely corpulent appearance. Most of his body mass is actually muscle that has been built to extraordinary size, much like a Super Heavyweight sumo wrestler, or some Olympic weightlifters and powerlifters but at greater strength levels. Kingpin is a master of many forms of armed and unarmed combat, especially sumo wrestling. His signature move is the bear hug. His skill is such that he has once fought Captain America to a standstill in hand-to-hand combat. His daily workout typically consists of simultaneously overcoming five or more trained martial artists with his bare hands, and he stores his valuables in a custom-built safe which has no lock, only a door which is so heavy that only the Kingpin himself is strong enough to open it.

He typically wears Kevlar armor under his clothing. Fisk sometimes carries an "obliterator cane", a walking stick that conceals a laser weapon that can vaporize a handgun or a person's head at close range. He typically wears an ornamental diamond stick-pin that conceals compressed sleeping gas that is effective if sprayed into a victim's face. Due to his wealth and intellectual acumen, Kingpin could use far more advanced defensive gadgets, but he prefers to use such things only as a last resort. As Fisk became less Spider-Man's enemy and more Daredevil's, he was portrayed more as a naturalistic mafioso than a comic book criminal mastermind, and depended less on science fiction–like weaponry.

Although state and federal authorities are aware of the Kingpin, they have never been able to prove his involvement in many crimes, and while Fisk has occasionally been incarcerated or put under investigation, his formidable legal resources and knowledge of the law have always protected him from any serious consequences. Members of the government have worked with him when necessary (even while describing him as "the devil"), such as when they needed his help to dispose of a Manhattan office building that the Beyonder turned into gold.

The Kingpin is intellectually formidable and is a master tactician and a highly skilled planner and organizer. He is self-educated to university graduate level in the field of political science, and is extremely skilled and knowledgeable in the organization and management of both illegal and legal business operations, allowing him to outsmart and outlast his enemies time and time again. The Kingpin's willpower is so great that he can resist even Purple Man's mind control.

Reception

• In 2022, Screen Rant included Kingpin in their "10 Best Marvel Characters Who Made Their Debut In Spider-Man Comics" list.
• In 2022, CBR.com ranked Kingpin 8th in their "10 Most Violent Spider-Man Villains" list.

Other versions

"Age of Apocalypse"

An alternate universe variant of Kingpin from Earth-295 appears in "Age of Apocalypse". This version, known as Dirigible, is a member of the Marauders, a human terrorist group serving Apocalypse. Alongside Red (Norman Osborn), the Owl, and Arcade, he attacks the human refugee camps of Wakanda, only to be killed by Gwen Stacy.

Crossovers with DC Comics

• In the Batman & Spider-Man: New Age Dawning crossover, Kingpin is forced to partner with Ra's al Ghul in a plan that would destroy New York City, in exchange for a cure to Vanessa's cancer. As it turned out, Ra's gave Vanessa her cancer to force Kingpin to aid him, but the Kingpin actually formed an alliance with Batman and Spider-Man to save the city. Ra's attempted to get his revenge by denying Fisk the cure for Vanessa's cancer, but Talia al Ghul, Ra's' daughter, provided the cure herself, recognizing in Vanessa a kindred spirit, as both of them loved men that society regarded as monsters.
• In the Batman/Daredevil: King of New York crossover, Kingpin almost loses his entire criminal empire to the Scarecrow, who tries to dismantle it merely as a distraction so that he could spread his fear toxin throughout New York.
• The Amalgam Comics character the Big Question (Enigma Fisk) is a combination of the Riddler of DC Comics and the Kingpin. He appears in the Marvel/DC Comics crossover comic Assassins #1 (April 1996).

House of M

An alternate universe variant of Wilson Fisk from Earth-58163 appears in the House of M storyline as a mobster who controls all crime in the human neighborhoods of Uptown New York. Kingpin cooperates with the Mutant authorities, acting as an informant on Luke Cage and his Avengers gang, in exchange for official protection of his territories.

Marvel 1602

In the Marvel 1602 universe, Wilson Fiske is a pirate and captain of HMS Vanessa, known as the King's Pin, who attacks the ship taking Peter Parquarh and Sir Norman Osborne back to England.

Marvel Noir

In the Marvel Noir universe, Wilson Fisk appears as a crime lord.

Marvel Zombies

• The Kingpin appears in Marvel Zombies vs. The Army of Darkness #2 with his underlings, willing to work with the Punisher to try and save humanity from the zombie attack. The Punisher kills the group instead.
• Kingpin appears in Marvel Zombies 3 as a leader of the zombie horde, planning to invade Earth-616. He keeps his wife in hiding, satisfying his hunger (and those of other infected characters) by cloning uninfected humans as a source of food, Vanessa noting that his strength of will in controlling the hunger is the reason that he has become the leader of the remaining zombies even when the others have superpowers. Eventually, he eats her when his plan is defeated.
• An alternate version of Kingpin appears in Marvel Zombies Return, where he summons the Sinister Six to steal a sacred tablet from the college where Peter Parker attends. But when the zombified Spider-Man is transported to their world, he kills and devours five of the members. An infuriated Kingpin decides to confront Spider-Man, but is quickly dispatched and devoured by Spider-Man, leaving his men to run for their lives.

MC2

In the alternate future depicted in the MC2 comics, Fisk has finally succeeded in killing Daredevil, although he made the mistake of betraying Kaine in the process. Kaine attempted to revive Daredevil with sorcery, but ended up bonding him with the demon Zarathos and Reilly Tyne (son of Ben Reilly, the Scarlet Spider), creating the superhero Darkdevil. When a gang war begins, Fisk is slain by a bomb while incarcerated in prison.

Old Man Logan

In the 2008–2009 "Old Man Logan" storyline, there were different versions of the Kingpin that appear in a possible future timeline in which the United States has been carved up between the various super-villains as seen on Earth-807128 and Earth-21923:

• The first Kingpin is an unnamed African-American man who is described as a "man of the people" who fought his way to the top, gaining control of the western states and killing the domain's former master Magneto, who had become "too old" to fight back.
• Ashley Barton appears as Kingpin in Spider-Verse (2014–2015), Edge of Venomverse (2017), Spider-Geddon (2018), Old Man Hawkeye (2018), and Old Man Quill (2019). Her predecessor on Earth-21923 has the same history as the version on Earth-807128.

Punisher Kills the Marvel Universe

In the one-shot issue Punisher Kills the Marvel Universe, the Punisher goes after the Kingpin after Microchip uses his hacking skills to destroy the Kingpin's empire. Kingpin informs the Punisher that he supported the latter's campaign to kill all of the superpowered beings, and has acquired an armory of weapons for the Punisher's use. As the Punisher attempts to shoot the Kingpin with an M16, the Kingpin grabs the rifle and destroys it with his bare hands. The Punisher responds by shooting two Desert Eagle pistols at the Kingpin, which only infuriates him. The Punisher kills the Kingpin by shooting him in the throat, and his body collapses on top of Castle, where he is found and arrested by NYPD officers. The Punisher's benefactor breaks him out of prison, whereupon Castle reveals he killed the Kingpin to acquire his high-tech weaponry, specifically a holographic scrambler, which Castle uses to disguise a helicopter as the Fantastic Four's Fantasti-car, so he can infiltrate Latveria to kill Doctor Doom.

Punisher Max

Kingpin appears in a story arc in the MAX version of The Punisher, beginning with Punisher Max #1, with Bullseye as his main henchman. Like the mainstream version he is incredibly strong, able to squeeze someone's head until their eyes pop out. He is a highly formidable hand-to-hand combatant, cunning and utterly ruthless. This version of Fisk is also married to Vanessa and has a son, Richard, who is depicted as a young child. Following Richard's death, Fisk and Vanessa separate, with both taking Hand assassin Elektra Natchios as a lover and partner while plotting against the other.

Secret Wars

During the 2015 Secret Wars storyline, several alternate universe versions of Kingpin reside in the domains of Battleworld:

• In the Battleworld domain of Technopolis, Kingpin is a powerful crime lord who is allied with Arno Stark. Like everyone else in Technopolis, he wears armor to protect him from an airborne virus plaguing Technopolis. He dispatched his men to capture Spyder-Man. Kingpin is critically injured by Grand Marshal James Rhodes' attack.
• In the Battleworld domain of the Valley of Doom, a Wild West version of Wilson Fisk is the corrupt Mayor of Timely.
• In the Battleworld domain of the Warzone where the 2006 Civil War storyline never officially ended, Fisk kills Doctor Octopus and grafts his arms onto himself, but the arms retaliate by electrocuting him, rendering him essentially brain dead. Fisk is later killed by Clint Barton.

Spider-Gwen

Main article: Kingpin (Matt Murdock)

• In the series Spider-Gwen, which is set on the alternate Earth-65, Kingpin is seemingly served by his lawyer Matt Murdock. Kingpin and Matt Murdock send the mercenary Aleksei Sytsevich to kill George Stacy. This was done as revenge, for Fisk is currently imprisoned in solitary confinement, due to the efforts of Captain Stacy.
  • Matt Murdock (nicknamed Murderdock) is later revealed to be the real Kingpin, with Wilson Fisk serving as his patsy.

Spider-Man: Reign

Fisk appears in a vegetative state in the first part of Spider-Man: Reign.

"Spider-Verse"

During the "Spider-Verse" storyline, Wilson Fisk assisted Mysterio and his assistant Ella in a plot to obtain the Spider-Man's blood.

Spider-Geddon

During the Spider-Geddon storyline, the Earth-83043 version of Wilson Fisk is the head of Kingliner and secretly orchestrated the airplane crash in the Savage Land that killed Richard and Mary Parker. Years later, Fisk and his ally Ka-Zar the Hunter are poaching dinosaurs when they set off a trap left for them by the Savage Spider-Man. While Fisk did recognize Savage Spider-Man as Peter Parker while confirming the suspicion that someone on the airplane survived, he did reveal his soldiers that were in hiding nearby. Just then, the giant spiders that raised Savage Spider-Man appeared where they attacked Fisk's soldiers and the airplane that Fisk is on.

Ultimate Marvel

The Ultimate Marvel version of Kingpin is the head of corporate crime in New York, a ruthless murderer and notorious for bribing his way out of any prosecution. He is ultimately killed by Earth-616's Mysterio, who blasts him out of a window of his building after the "Ultimatum" storyline.

Ultimate Universe

The Earth-6160 version of Wilson Fisk is the Shadow Governor of New York's territory and proprietor of the Daily Bugle who is a subordinate of the Maker's Council, called "The Kingpin of Manhattan".

What If

Fisk has appeared in different "What If" stories:

• In What If the Punisher had Killed Daredevil?, the Punisher hunts down the Kingpin, who has bribed the newly elected Mayor of New York City into working for him. Since the Punisher had used up the last of his ammo to kill Spider-Man (as his alter ego Peter Parker), the wounded Punisher attacks the Kingpin with a knife, only for the Kingpin to knock the knife out of his hand, and kill him by crushing the Punisher's throat with his bare hands. However, Castle had a back-up plan: he left a bomb outside the Kingpin's office, which goes off, killing the Kingpin and the Mayor.
• In What If Venom had Possessed the Punisher?, the Venom symbiote possessed Frank Castle, who used Venom's powers to murder criminals, which had the side effect of merging their personalities. The Kingpin hired Tombstone as an assassin, but the Punisher hunted him down and easily killed Tombstone with his bare hands. When the Punisher confronted the Kingpin, he found Daredevil and Typhoid Mary protecting him. Despite their best efforts to fight off the Punisher, the Venom symbiote used tendrils to envelop and strangle the Kingpin to death.
• In What If Karen Page Had Lived? where Bullseye did not kill Karen Page as part of Mysterio's final scheme, the fear of losing Karen drove Daredevil to attack the Kingpin for his role in the scheme, beating him to death.

In other media

Television

• The Kingpin appears in Spider-Man (1967), voiced by Tom Harvey.
• The Kingpin appears in the Spider-Woman episode "The Kingpin Strikes Again".
• The Kingpin appears in Spider-Man (1981), voiced by G. Stanley Jones.
• The Kingpin appears in the Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends episode "Pawns of the Kingpin", voiced by Walker Edmiston.
• The Kingpin appears in Spider-Man: The Animated Series, voiced by Roscoe Lee Browne. This version operates as a wealthy entrepreneur at public events and was born Wilson Moriarty. At a young age, Wilson saw his father robbing a bank and joined his gang. However, when his father abandoned him after a failed job and Wilson refused to name him in court, he was sentenced to prison, where he developed his skills before building his own criminal empire, renamed himself "Fisk", erased his criminal record, established a hidden criminal headquarters in the Chrysler Building, and took revenge on his elderly father. After becoming an established crime boss, the Kingpin comes into regular conflict with Spider-Man and makes several attempts to eliminate him, such as forming the Insidious Six and recruiting others to maintain his order like the Hobgoblin, the Spot, Alistair Smythe, and Herbert Landon.
• The Kingpin, based on the Daredevil (2003) incarnation, appears in the Spider-Man: The New Animated Series episode "Royal Scam", voiced by Michael Clarke Duncan. This version is African-American and has a red diamond-studded cane capable of shooting lasers.

Marvel Cinematic Universe

See also: Wilson Fisk (Marvel Cinematic Universe)

Vincent D'Onofrio portrays Kingpin in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Wilson Fisk / Kingpin appears in television series set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, portrayed by Vincent D'Onofrio as an adult and Cole Jensen as a child. Introduced in the Marvel Television Netflix series Daredevil (2015–2018), Fisk returns in Marvel Studios' Disney+ series Hawkeye (2021), Echo (2024), and Daredevil: Born Again (2025–present).

Film

• Wilson Fisk appears in the television film The Trial of the Incredible Hulk (1989), in which he is never referred to as "Kingpin", and is portrayed by John Rhys-Davies.
• The Kingpin appears in Daredevil (2003), portrayed by Michael Clarke Duncan. When Duncan was cast, he weighed 290 pounds, and was asked to gain an additional 40 pounds for the role to fit the Kingpin's physique. This version is African-American, originated from the Bronx, and is the head of New York City's criminal underworld disguised as a legitimate businessman.
• The Kingpin appears in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018), voiced by Liev Schreiber. This version possesses an exceptional degree of physical enormity, serves as Alchemax's benefactor, and employs supervillains such as the Prowler, Doctor Octopus, Tombstone, the Green Goblin, and the Scorpion. After his family is killed sometime prior to the film, Fisk masterminds the creation of a trans-dimensional super-collider to find living alternate reality versions despite the danger of destroying the universe in the process. In pursuit of his quest, he kills Peter Parker, but is later thwarted by Miles Morales and a team of alternate universe-displaced Spider-People.

Video games

• The Kingpin appears as the final boss of The Punisher (1990).
• The Kingpin appears in Spider-Man: The Video Game.
• The Kingpin appears as the final boss of The Amazing Spider-Man vs. The Kingpin.
• The Kingpin appears as the final boss of The Punisher (1993).
• The Kingpin appears as the final boss of the Daredevil (2003) tie-in game.
• The Ultimate Marvel incarnation of the Kingpin appears as a boss in Spider-Man: Battle for New York, voiced by Stephen Stanton.
• The Kingpin appears in The Punisher (2005), voiced by David Sobolov.
• The Kingpin appears as a boss in Spider-Man 3, voiced by Bob Joles.
• The Kingpin appears in Spider-Man: Web of Shadows, voiced by Gregg Berger. While Spider-Man initially works to dismantle his illegal operations and fights his technologically enhanced henchmen, Kingpin reluctantly allies himself with Spider-Man and S.H.I.E.L.D. to combat a symbiote invasion and to ensure the city remembers him as its savior.
• The Kingpin appears in Chun-Li's ending for Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds.
• The Kingpin appears in Marvel Heroes, voiced by Jim Cummings.
• The Kingpin appears in Lego Marvel Super Heroes, voiced by John DiMaggio.
• The Kingpin appears in Marvel: Avengers Alliance.
• The Kingpin appears in The Amazing Spider-Man 2, voiced by JB Blanc. This version is a wealthy businessman who finances Harry Osborn's Enhanced Crime Task Force to replace Spider-Man while secretly plotting to take control of Oscorp once Harry dies of the same hereditary illness that killed his father. Additionally, he arranges for serial killer Cletus Kasady to escape custody so he can terrorize New York's citizens into supporting his plans to redevelop the city and attempts to take control of all organized crime in New York. Spider-Man discovers the Kingpin's plans, overpowers him at his private bunker, and attempts to download his files to expose him, only to be called away when Electro attacks the city. The Kingpin uses the opportunity to erase the incriminating evidence and joins the Chameleon, posing as Oscorp executive Donald Menken, to continue their plans.
• The Kingpin appears as a playable character in Marvel: Future Fight.
• The Kingpin appears as a playable character in Marvel: Contest of Champions.
• The Kingpin appears as a boss and a playable character in Lego Marvel Super Heroes 2.
• The Kingpin appears in Insomniac Games' Marvel's Spider-Man series, voiced by Travis Willingham. In addition to being a criminal mastermind and driving force behind most of New York's organized crime who poses as a respectable businessman and philanthropist, this version is the owner of Fisk Industries. Within the games' continuity, Spider-Man has existed for eight years, and it is implied that Fisk has been the Kingpin for even longer. During this time, he has been Spider-Man's most prominent adversary and managed to avoid serious charges due to a lack of evidence.
  • At the beginning of Spider-Man (2018), in which he serves as the first boss, the police finally obtain enough evidence needed to arrest Fisk and raid Fisk Tower with Spider-Man's help. Spider-Man neutralizes Fisk's private army as well as several officers on his payroll and defeats the Kingpin in combat, leading to his incarceration at the Raft. However, Fisk accurately predicts that his arrest will cause crime rates to skyrocket as new criminal figures such as Mister Negative and Hammerhead attempt to fill the power vacuum. Despite being incarcerated, Fisk continues to maintain a number of fronts throughout the city, allowing him to continue financing his criminal empire, though Spider-Man helps the police find and dismantle them while also preventing Fisk's remaining men from breaking him out of custody.
  • In Spider-Man: Miles Morales (2020), a side mission involves Miles Morales confronting Fisk after discovering that he recruited a gang of his former associates to sow chaos in Harlem and drive out local businesses so he can purchase their land and rebuild his empire once he gets out of prison. After Morales thwarts an attack on a local block party, Fisk's sentence is extended and he is placed under tighter surveillance.
• The Kingpin appears in Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order, voiced by Tim Blaney.
• Two incarnations of the Kingpin, "Wilson Fisk" and "Spider-Verse", appear as separate playable characters in Marvel Puzzle Quest.
• The Kingpin appears in Marvel Future Revolution, voiced again by Travis Willingham.

Miscellaneous

• Wilson Fisk makes a minor appearance in Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark.
• The Kingpin received a figure in the HeroClix collectible miniatures game.
• The Kingpin was announced for the Marvel Crisis Protocol miniatures game.

Collected editions

Title	Material Collected	Published Date	ISBN
Kingpin Vol 1: Thug	Kingpin (vol. 2) #1-7	April 1, 2004	978-0785112259
Civil War II: Kingpin	Civil War II: Kingpin #1-4 and Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 1) #51	November 15, 2016	978-1302902537
Kingpin: Born Against	Kingpin (vol. 3) # 1-5	September 26, 2017	978-1302905705

See also

• Tobias Whale, a similar fictional crime lord and archenemy of Black Lightning in DC Comics.

External links

• Kingpin at the Comic Book DB (archived from the original)
• Kingpin at Marvel.com
• Kingpin's Profile at Spiderfan.org Archived 2021-12-16 at the Wayback Machine