While there had been rumours for months about Vincent D'Onofrio making his Marvel Cinematic Universe debut in Hawkeye, it wasn't until the show's fifth episode that it was made official. There were hints in the weeks leading to that big reveal, of course, but the actor ultimately stole the show as a powered-up version of Wilson Fisk in the finale.
Entertainment Weekly recently caught up with the Daredevil alum and asked when exactly he found out a return as Kingpin was in the cards for him.
"I think it was earlier this year at this point," he revealed, confirming Hawkeye was already shooting at the time. "I heard that Kevin had asked for my number, my representatives told me that, and he called me. I had no idea what he was going to say. He asked me to come and do Hawkeye, which, as you can imagine, was extremely exciting."
As for how it felt to get the call he would finally be able to play Kingpin again following Daredevil's cancellation on Netflix, D'Onofrio added: "I was surprised. I had held out hope that Daredevil would somehow survive even after we stopped, but that ended quickly. But I always kept supporting the fans and their excitement about Daredevil, and also their excitement about my character. But you know, I never really thought it was going to happen, so it was obviously a pleasant surprise that Hawkeye was one of the things that Kevin wanted me to do. It's amazing."
"One of the things"? The site picked up on this and wondered whether that means Fisk definitely survived his alleyway encounter with Maya Lopez at the end of the episode.
"I can only hope that they stay open. That would be great. That's what I want, and I think that's what the fans want too. For me to say whether that's going to happen or not, it's impossible to know for sure," the actor said, giving little to nothing away. "I appreciate the warm welcome from all the fans and everybody out there that have been kind of on social media about wanting me back and now having me back. It's just a great thing. Just so they all know, my hope is that we continue."
"We're just going to have to see what happens," D'Onofrio teased. "I keep thinking about Daredevil having ended and having to walk away from that. So that's on my mind too. Maybe it is all over. But I can only hope it's not."
We can all agree with that sentiment, of course, and Marvel Studios has no doubt registered the overwhelmingly positive response to Kingpin's MCU debut. As both the powerhouse from the comics and a Kingpin clearly confident that New York City is his kingdom, there are a lot of stories that can be told with this iteration, building on Daredevil and taking the character to a lot of new places.
Which characters do you think Kingpin should cross paths with next?