Vincent D’Onofrio confirms his return as Kingpin on Daredevil, just not when it will occur.
Netflix’s Daredevil effectively unveiled the small screen “street level,” theater of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and gave us a hero in Charlie Cox’s titular blind vigilante who gets in the urban grime to fight crime without any notable super-powers or invincible armor other than (seriously) enhanced hearing. However, Vincent D’Onofrio’s pathos-packed performance as Marvel’s signature crime boss Wilson Fisk/The Kingpin may very well have given the entire MCU its most developed antagonist. Now, the actor discusses his future with Marvel.
In an interview with LRM, D’Onofrio, coming off a sophomore run as Fisk/Kingpin on Daredevil, talked about the idea of coming back for more appearances. As far as D’Onofrio is concerned, the possibility of him continuing to play Fisk on Marvel Television is not only high, but pretty much a given, due to the spectacular writing and character development that has been thrown his way. As D’Onofrio explains of his working relationship with Marvel Studios and Netflix:
"Marvel, the company, and especially Jeff Loeb, who runs Marvel Television, he's a clever dude. All those people over there are pretty clever and they love talent. There's no giant commitment for me at Daredevil. Like I didn't have to sign my life away at all. When Jeff tells me there's something coming up and if I'm available, I'll be there. And because it's written so well, I'm going to show up. I'm going to do everything I can because the writing is so good. And then there's a company like Netflix and they're not pressuring you either. They just want good material, good content. They give you money to make good content, so they're not pressuring actors to sign their life away either.... I think that there's this common ground where they say, 'Look, if the material is good are you going to show up?' and I said, 'Definitely'."
Unlike Marvel Studios’ movie front, it does appear that television guest actors, even crucial ones like D’Onofrio, are not locked into insanely lengthy contracts that risk a conflict of projects. This stands in stark contrast to the ninefilm contract that another prominent Marvel guest actor Samuel L. Jackson famously signed for his perennial role as Nick Fury in the MCU films. D’Onofrio’s praise on not only Marvel Television, but Netflix, also seems to echo the actor-friendly, no-commitment, artistic-fostering dynamic that just might be the secret component to the streaming giant’s success with original programming.
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In Season 1, we were introduced to Fisk not as some comic façade oversized Al Capone, but as a human being on a dark path who fears, loves and hates. Season 2 initially depicted an incarcerated Fisk as beaten and dejected, eventually rebuilding the remnants of his once-mighty criminal empire from behind bars. Of course, Fisk also experienced a fateful meeting with his would-be signature archrival Frank Castle (Jon Bernthal), whose 2017 spinoff show titled after the vigilante's better-known nom de guerre The Punishermight just be the avenue in which the Fisk character makes his next appearance.
Yet, in a cliffhanger of sorts, we last saw Fisk (presumably) deduce that the blind lawyer Matt Murdock who tenaciously tormented him just might be the same masked vigilante who toppled his criminal empire. Thus, the continuity of Daredevil certainly hinges on D’Onofrio’s return. However, despite the adulation reaped upon the Marvel/Netflix coalition, D’Onofrio had to remain mum in regards to when he would be back as Fisk/Kingpin or on what show, stating:
"That I can't answer. I do know, but I can't answer... so take that how you will. Jeff and Charlie (Cox) and Netflix love Kingpin, and so, Kingpin is good for Marvel's television stuff and I think they agree."
For now, the legion of fans who have been enjoying Netflix’s Marvel shows – and plan to binge Luke Cage on September 30 – remain in the dark about Daredevil Season 3. Further muddying those waters is the ever-decreasing feasibility of the third season arriving anytime in 2017. However, for D’Onofrio, that might be a blessing in disguise, since, along with next weekend’s debuting The Magnificent Seven, he has a bevy of projects on his docket such as the Death Wish remake, thriller A Fall from Grace, horror film Rings, the CHiPs film reboot and Wizard of Oz television adaptation series Emerald City.
While I’m personally hoping for a comic-apropos Kingpin cameo in 2017's Spider-Man: Homecoming, the character – barring a surprise role on The Punisher– won't likely manifest until Daredevil Season 3 hits, hopefully by 2018. However, Charlie Cox’s Daredevil will be back soon enough, teaming with Krysten Ritter’s Jessica Jones, Mike Colter’s Luke Cage and Finn Jones’s Iron Fist in Netflix's The Defenders sometime in 2017.