Kingpin (comics)
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The Kingpin (Wilson Fisk) is a fictional character, a Marvel Comics villain who has battled many Marvel crime-fighters, most often The Punisher, Spider-Man, and Daredevil. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist John Romita, Sr., he first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #50 (July 1967). He was modeled after Sydney Greenstreet's character in The Maltese Falcon, Kasper Gutman.
A titanic figure with an ever-present cigar and diamond-studded cane, the Kingpin is the cold-blooded leader of the New York mafia, although his army of lawyers maintain his image as a legitimate businessman. The character played a prominent role in the Daredevil stories of the late 1970s and early 1980s written by Frank Miller, and the two have had a bitter, violent feud ever since. According to Brian Michael Bendis's retcon, Fisk succeeded Alexander Bont as Kingpin.
The Kingpin appeared in the 1990s-era Spider-Man animated series and in the 2003 Daredevil film, where he was played by Michael Clarke Duncan, who reprised his role in a subsequent Spider-Man animated series.
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[edit] Character history
Wilson Fisk is a criminal mastermind who was involved in extensive illegal activities such as drug running, smuggling, murder, and so forth. Despite this, he had (until recently, see below) no criminal record and an army of lawyers to keep it that way, and is a criminal financial strategist without parallel.
Fisk has no superhuman powers, but the majority of his 400-plus pound bulk is muscle (when he delivered a kick to the Kingpin's back, Daredevil could only think, "Whatever that was, it wasn't fat. Felt more like rock"). He is a superb fighter who has held his own against Spider-Man, but in recent years Daredevil has occupied his attention. He has been aware of Daredevil's secret identity for years, thanks to Karen Page's drug-fueled betrayal. Though Spider-Man and Daredevil are his greatest enemies, he has also tangled with Captain America, Moon Knight, Doctor Strange, The Punisher, the Avengers, and Ghost Rider, among others. He has employed any number of costumed criminals and assassins, notably Elektra, Bullseye, Jack O'Lantern, Answer, and Typhoid Mary.
Wilson Fisk began his life as a poor child, ridiculed by his classmates, as he was heavy and unpopular. When he was repeatedly harassed by bullies, Fisk began training himself in physical combat. Using his newfound strength, he intimidated the bullies into joining his gang, and he started on the road towards being one of the most successful criminals in New York City. His first gang was a small one with only a few thugs. However, he eventually was found by crime lord Don Rigoletto. Fisk became Don Rigoletto's bodyguard and right-hand man. Eventually, Fisk killed Don Rigoletto and took control of his gang, immediately becoming one of the most powerful criminals in the city.
The Kingpin stayed the ruler of New York's criminal underground for a long time. However, he had made enemies with other gangs, specifically the Maggia and HYDRA, who teamed together to bring down Fisk and his gang. Fisk left for Japan after his empire was brought down, and started a spice business, in order to become wealthy once more. After earning enough money, Fisk returned to New York and started gang wars, in an attempt to bring down the Maggia. With the criminal world in chaos, Fisk was able to step in and take control.
While Fisk was a powerful crime lord, he posed as a legitimate businessman, one who made donations to charities, and seemed like a generous, wealthy man. He eventually met a woman named Vanessa, whom he married and had a son with, Richard Fisk. Vanessa did not know that Fisk was a criminal when she married him, and when she found out, she threatened to leave him if he did not give up his life of crime. He temporarily retired from crime, and the family moved back to Japan, until gang wars in New York required Fisk's attention.
Richard Fisk did not find out that his father was a criminal until he was in college. After graduating, Richard told his parents he would travel through Europe. Only months after he left, they received news that Richard, who was angry after learning the truth about his father, had died in a skiing accident. However, this was not what really happened. It turned out that Richard Fisk was still alive, and he rose up to be one of the Kingpin's greatest criminal enemies, a rival crimelord known as The Rose. When Kingpin's empire was at its top, Fisk was the most powerful human in the Marvel universe, controlling several governments including the United States of America.
Wilson Fisk eventually lost his criminal empire to one of his employees, Samuel Silke, who was working with his son Richard, in a bloody Caesar-like assassination bid. In the aftermath, Vanessa killed Richard and fled the country with Fisk's remaining wealth while the Kingpin recuperated in an unnamed eastern-European country, broken and alone.
He returned, and after getting revenge on Silke by crushing his head, almost managed to regain his empire through sheer will, but was defeated by Daredevil, who declared himself the new Kingpin. Fisk was put in jail.
Recently, he hatched a scheme to be freed and regain his wealth by giving the F.B.I. proof in the form of the nonexistent "Murdock Papers" that Matt Murdock is Daredevil. Having made so many enemies who were in prison, Fisk was constantly under attack from the Hand, HYDRA, or any number of criminal organizations with which he had had intimate contact. The U.S. Government was hard pressed to get rid of this expensive, dangerous, legally clean master criminal, and Fisk succeeded in manipulating the F.B.I. into gravely wounding Daredevil and directing them to his D.N.A. He tells Ben Urich to give the feds the location of the Night Nurse, the only medic for injured superheroes, or go to jail.
He succeeded in getting Matt Murdock finally arrested, but the F.B.I. betrayed him at the last minute and arrested him as well, placing him in the same jail as Murdock with hopes that the two would kill each other. Ironically, the enemies were forced to team up in order to survive a prison riot which was directed at them. Finally, Murdock sacrificed the deal, refusing to let Bullseye, who was also incarcerated, leave the prison as Kingpin had planned. The fight ended with the Kingpin shot point-blank in the knee by gunfire from Bullseye intended for Murdock, while Murdock escaped.
Fisk also appeared in the Civil War War Crimes one-shot. He offered a deal to Iron Man — consideration on his sentence in exchange for information about Captain America's Resistance base. However, as his status in prison is threatened for collaborating with Stark, he betrays him; he first sets up Iron Man by reavealing a gathering of supervillians by Hammerhead to create a new criminal empire, claiming it was a base of Captain America's, and gives information to the Secret Avengers instead.
He also put out a hit on Spider-Man and his loved ones. A sniper attempted to hit Spider-Man, only to hit the "secondary target" of Aunt May.
At some point later, after Matt Murdock returns to America with his name cleared, he completes Vanessa Fisk's last wish and takes on Fisk's case, getting all charges dropped in exchange for Fisk leaving the country. Fisk is last seen visiting his wife's grave.
[edit] Powers and Abilities
The Kingpin has no superhuman powers. However, he is as strong and durable as it is possible for a man of his height, weight, and build who engages in intensive regular exercise to be. Fisk is thus incredibly strong and his stamina is likewise honed to a great degree. He has remarkable agility and dexterity for a man of his size.
He typically wears Kevlar armor under his clothing. Fisk sometimes carries a walking stick that conceals a laser beam weapon capable of firing a blast of concussive force sufficient for vaporizing a handgun (or a person's head) at close range. He typically wears an ornamental stick-pin that conceals a highly compressed chamber of sleeping gas that is effective if sprayed directly into his victim's face. Due to his wealth and intellectual industry, Kingpin could use far more advanced paraphernalia, but he prefers to use such things as a last resort. As Fisk became less Spider-Man's nemesis than Daredevil's, he became more of a naturalistic mafioso than a comic-book criminal mastermind, and depended less on science fiction-like weaponry.
Aside from his remarkable physical advantages and special paraphernalia, the Kingpin is intellectually formidable and is a master tactician. He has self-educated himself to the university graduate level in the field of political science. He is extremely skilled and knowledgeable in the organization and management of criminal and legal business operations. The Kingpin is a master of many forms of armed and unarmed combat, particularly sumo, jujitsu, and hapkido. His proficiency is such that he was able to hold his own in a battle with super-powered adversary Spider-Man early on in Spider-Man's career.
[edit] Alternate Versions
[edit] Ultimate Kingpin
In the Ultimate Marvel continuity, Kingpin remained mostly unchanged. He is still a large, thick set bald man who usualy wears a white suit and carries a cane. He is the head of New York corporate crime, a ruthless murderer and notorious for bribing his way out of any prosecution. His employees included Electro, Elektra and The Enforcers. Here, he is more a Spider-Man villain than a Daredevil one. In this continuity, Vanessa Fisk is also introduced. It is very brief and shows that she is in a comatose state that Kingpin was trying to remedy with an ancient tablet that he had stolen. Unfortunately for Kingpin, it was stolen and lost by the Ultimate Universe's Black Cat as revenge. The reader isn't told the cause of the comatose state he is clearly very attached to his wife and determined to save her.
Captain Jean DeWolff was secretly working for the crimelord before being killed by the Punisher. There's a rumor that the police captain had an affair with him. This relationship was unconfirmed, but the Kingpin was seen mourning of her death on Ultimate Spider-Man Annual #2.
The Kingpin recently purchased the holding firm GG Enterprises, which own the company carries the licencing rights of Spider-Man movie franchise. By purchasing the GG, Kingpin now technically owns Spider-Man.
[edit] Age of Apocalypse
In the Age of Apocalypse, Wilson Fisk is known as Dirigible, a wealthy businessman who bought his way into the Marauders, a human terrorist group serving Apocalypse that makes up for their lack of mutant powers using technology in order to fly and emit explosive blasts. Alongside Red (Norman Osborn), the Owl and Arcade, Dirigible attacks the human refugee camps of Wakanda. However, Dirigible is killed by Gwen Stacy.
[edit] MC2
In the alternate future portrayed 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.
At some point, Fisk was sent to prison, although he is still able to manage his criminal empire from within the prison, often with the assistance of bribed guards. Fisk and his lawyer, Foggy Nelson, were on their way to court for his latest appeal when Kaine attacked Fisk. Spider-Girl intervened and saved Fisk.
When Kaine was being taken away by the police, Kaine asked Nelson why he represented the man who murdered his partner, Matt Murdock. Nelson had been unaware of this (it is not stated how much Nelson knew about Murdock's alter ego Daredevil or the circumstances of his death), and refused to represent Fisk further. This causes Fisk to lose the appeal in question.
When a gang war started, Fisk was assassinated (while still in prison) by a bomb.
[edit] Crossovers
In DC's Elseworlds series Batman/Spider-Man crossover book, Kingpin is forced to partner with Ra's Al Ghul in a plan that would destroy New York City, in an 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's daughter, provided the cure herself, recognising in Vanessa a kindred spirit, who loved a man that society would regard as a monster. In the second Batman/Daredevil crossover book, Kingpin almost lost his entire criminal empire to the Scarecrow, who had tried to dismantle it merely as a distraction so that he could spread fear toxin throughout New York. In this book, Kingpin is shown to be a formidable physical match for Batman.
[edit] Amalgam
In the Amalgam series "Assassins", the heroine Catsai (Elektra/Catwoman) and Dare (Daredevil/Deathstroke the Terminator/Black Cat) face The Big Question, an amalgam between the Kingpin and the Riddler.
[edit] Other media
- The character has appeared in each animated series adaptation of Spider-Man (with the exception of Spider-Man Unlimited) so far, including the 1967 version in "Kingpinned" and "The Big Brainwasher", the 1981 version in "Wrath of the Sub-Mariner" and "The Return of the Kingpin", and Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends in "Pawns of The Kingpin". He also appeared in the Spider-Woman episode "The Kingpin Strikes Again".
- In Spider-Man: The Animated Series, he was the main villain. This Kingpin is fairly close to the comics version, but he is often occupied with manipulating super-powered characters to do his bidding. He's the mastermind behind the creation of the Spider-Slayers and is responsible for the creation of the Insidious Six, the animated equivalent of the Sinister Six. He's also involved in a power struggle with crime boss Silvermane.
Initially he operated behind the scenes until a two-part episode where his identity was revealed to Spider-Man with the help of Daredevil, who was seeking revenge for his father's murder at Kingpin's hands. The Kingpin's associates here was first Alistair Smythe but after Smythe almost betrayed the Kingpin, Dr. Herbert Landon replaced him. The Kingpin was voiced by Roscoe Lee Browne in this series.
This series also described an origin for the Kingpin, somewhat different than the comic-book version. As a boy, Wilson Fisk was influenced by his father, who sought employment as a mob criminal. When older, Fisk assisted his father in robbing banks and jewelry stores, culminating in one robbery where his father escaped but Fisk, hampered by his already-considerable weight, was captured by police. In adulthood, Fisk emulated his father's goal and climbed to a position of seniority within the mob, adopting the alias "Kingpin". He has had his police file destroyed, removing all record of his earlier arrest. He arranged for the arrest and conviction of his father, still an aspiring but minor criminal, and declared that he did this because "Sacrifices must be made".
- John Rhys-Davies played Fisk in the TV movie, Trial of the Incredible Hulk.
- In the feature film, Daredevil, Michael Clarke Duncan played the character. As in the animated series, he is responsible for the murder of Daredevil's father. Although he is African-American and in the comics the Kingpin is Caucasian, the studio decided to use Duncan, who resembled the character's intimidating stature. Many fans and critics have praised Duncan for his portrayal of the character. Here, Kingpin started out as an enforcer for a mob boss named Falon, in which capacity he was hired to kill Jack Murdock after he refused to throw a fight. Years later, Fisk became a crime boss in his own right and successfully hid his criminal activities from the public, although the media picked up on reports of a "Kingpin", running all crime in the city. He hired Bullseye to kill Nikalaos Natchios (attempting to frame Natchios as the Kingpin in the process). He was successful, but Fisk also wanted Natchios' family killed as well and hired Bullseye to kill Natchios' daughter, Elektra, as well as the troublesome Daredevil. Even though Bullseye successfully killed Elektra, he lost to Daredevil and during the fight revealed that Fisk was really the Kingpin. Daredevil and Kingpin confronted each other in a final showdown. Daredevil was severely beaten by Fisk, who unmasked him, revealing that Daredevil was really "the blind lawyer from Hell's Kitchen". Daredevil nevertheless managed to make a comeback, taking Fisk down by breaking his kneecaps. Daredevil prepared to kill Fisk to take revenge for his father and for Elektra, but let the Kingpin live so as not to stoop to his level. Instead, Daredevil left Fisk for the police, who had learned of his identity as the Kingpin. Fisk threatened to tell everyone who Daredevil really was, until Daredevil pointed out that revealing to his prison inmates that he had been beaten by a blind man was the equivalent of suicide. Nevertheless, Kingpin swore that he'd get out of jail soon and that he'd be back to kill Daredevil, who merely said he would be waiting.
- Duncan reprised his role as the character in one episode of Spider-Man: The New Animated Series. Here, the Kingpin manipulated Spider-Man into thinking he worked for the F.B.I. and assigned the superhero to steal a chip from the mob (they were actually innocent scientists). Spider-Man soon realized he was scammed (evidenced when he learned that the first F.B.I. agent he met is just a movie actor) and with the help of Harry Osborn and the real F.B.I., Spider-Man had the Kingpin behind bars. In this series, Kingpin uses a red diamond-studded cane capable of shooting lasers from the diamond.
- He appears in some notable episodes of Police Academy cartoon, as a tie to Marvel Comics. This was unique as Kingpin normally is confronted by Marvel characters such as Spider-Man, Daredevil, and Punisher, but in this case was being pursued solely by the Police Academy group who were police officers with no supernatural abilities, until leading their own enemies.
- The Kingpin is featured in the video game The Punisher .
- In The Punisher arcade game, Kingpin was the final villain.
- In Spider-Man: The Video Game, the Kingpin was one of the main villains, the last boss of the stage 3, 'The Lair of Kingpin'.
[edit] Notes and references
The Kingpin was featured in the first wave of Minimate action figures.
