Could Kingpin Appear in a Spider-Man Film After All? Kevin Feige Gives a Thrilling New Update

Kevin Feige hints rights issues for the Kingpin should be easy to solve after Spider-Man: Brand New Day, setting up Vincent D’Onofrio’s potential big screen future. It’s hard to believe that, just a decade ago, there seemed to be an invisible line between the Marvel Netflix characters and the wider MCU. Now, we’ve begun to see some iconic Marvel Netflix heroes on the big screen; Matt Murdock’s Daredevil and Jon Bernthal’s Punisher have both made the jump to Spider-Man films. But Vincent D’Onofrio has long suggested rights issues make that a lot more complicated for Wilson Fisk, the villainous Kingpin.

Kevin Feige seems to believe the issues are far from insurmountable, though. Speaking to Josh Horowitz on the Happy, Sad, Confused podcast, he stressed there are ways around them. “I mean, there are things to navigate like everything else,” he observed. “But we talked about all those things.”

Could the Kingpin Appear in a Spider-Man Movie?

D’Onofrio’s Kingpin has been one of Marvel’s greatest success stories. A standout of the orginal Marvel Netflix shows, he returned to the mainstream MCU in Hawkeye, before playing a key role in Echo and actually becoming mayor of New York in Daredevil: Born Again. The end of Born Again Season 2 saw the Kingpin’s reign brought to a close when Matt Murdock revealed his true identity as Daredevil, essentially an act of mutually assured destruction. Kingpin accepted a plea deal that saw him head far away from New York, but he’s known to be back in Born Again Season 3. As tremendous an actor as D’Onofrio may be, though, his Daredevil story is becoming a lttle repetitive.

In the comics, Kingpin isn’t only a major enemy of Daredevil; he’s also well known for clashing with Spider-Man. Historically, the Kingpin’s rights are complicated; they were shared between Sony, Fox, and Marvel (because Fox once owned the Daredevil rights). A copy of the old 2014 deal confirmed Sony could use Kingpin in Spider-Man films while Marvel could use him in Daredevil projects. The Marvel-Sony Spider-Man deals have been amended many times since, but Kingpin remains a bone of contention between the studios. Feige, however, appears to believe there’s a definte way forward – which means D’Onofrio’s Kingpin could easily wind up going head-to-head with Tom Holland’s Spider-Man.

As exciting as that may be, though, the overall narrative seems a little odd. Spider-Man was absent from Daredevil’s Army in Born Again Season 2; his absence made sense given the rights issues, but it’s weird to imagine the Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man sitting out Kingpin’s entire mayoral term, as well as his Anti-Vigilante Task Force and the extrajudicial arrests. In truth, the best opportunity for a Spider-Man / Kingpin collision has probably passed. Many viewers are a little concerned about Kingpin’s role in Born Again Season 3, because the character’s entire story feels like it has come to a logical end. We’ll have to wait and see whether Marvel and Sony figure out a way forward.

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