Kingpin (character)

The Kingpin (Wilson Grant Fisk) is a fictional 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 crimelord 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, he was introduced as an adversary of Spider-Man, but later went on to menace other Marvel heroes, becoming the archenemy of Daredevil, as well as a recurring foe of the Punisher. The Kingpin's traditional attire consists of his signature white suit jacket and cane, though his appearance has been changed over the years. In all iterations, the Kingpin is depicted as having an extraordinarily heavyset appearance; while many regard him as fat, particularly Spider-Man, in reality most of his mass consists of muscle, which, combined with his training in physical combat, makes him a very dangerous foe to face in person.

The character has been substantially adapted from the comics into various forms of media, including films, television series and video games. He has been portrayed by John Rhys-Davies in 1989's The Trial of the Incredible Hulk, Michael Clarke Duncan in 2003's Daredevil, Vincent D'Onofrio in the Marvel Cinematic Universe web series Daredevil, and voiced by Liev Schreiber in the 2018 animated film, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. 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 crimelord, 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 by writer/penciler Frank Miller depicted the Kingpin as a scheming, cold-blooded crimelord 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 and the Punisher.

Fictional character biography
Wilson Fisk began his life as a poor child in New York City, bullied by his classmates due to his obesity. Fisk began training himself in physical combat, using his new-found strength to intimidate the bullies into joining his gang. He was eventually discovered by crimelord Don Rigoletto, and became the man's bodyguard and right-hand man. Eventually, Fisk killed his boss and took control of the gangster's criminal empire, becoming one of the most powerful figures in New York's underworld.

While the Kingpin enjoyed a long tenure in his new position, he had made enemies such as the Maggia crime syndicate and the terrorist group HYDRA. The two groups teamed together to oppose Fisk, causing him to flee to Japan. There, he started a spice business in order to regain his wealth. 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 back control.

Fisk attempted a coalition of the New York mobs after hearing that Spider-Man had apparently gone out of action and ordered the abduction of J. Jonah Jameson, but was foiled by Spider-Man in his first confrontation with the web-slinger.

While Fisk was a powerful crimelord, he posed as a legitimate businessman, one who made donations to charities, and seemed like a generous, wealthy man. He eventually met and then married a woman named Vanessa, with whom he had a son: Richard Fisk. Vanessa did not know that Fisk was a criminal when they married. Vanessa (having found out) threatened to leave him if he did not give up his life of crime. He retired from crime, and the family moved back to Japan.

Richard did not find out that his father was a criminal until college. After graduating, Richard told his parents he would travel through Europe. Only months later, they received news that Richard (who was angry after learning the truth about his father) had died in a skiing accident. However, it turned out that Richard was still alive and masqueraded as a rival crimelord known as the Schemer, intent on toppling his father as the Kingpin of Crime.

Fisk contended against his rival gang leader, the Schemer, and battled Spider-Man in this encounter.

At one point, he became the manager and director of a Las Vegas-based fragment of HYDRA.

At his wife's behest, Fisk later divested himself of his criminal empire. He unsuccessfully attempted to kill Spider-Man once more before retiring from crime.

1980s
To complete his reformation, the Kingpin agreed to turn over his files to the authorities, incriminating his former lieutenants. His wife Vanessa was then kidnapped by said lieutenants who put out a contract on his life. After he witnessed Vanessa's apparent death, he returned to a life of crime. He regained control of the New York mobs because he had built them up in the first place and knew how to damage them; promises to keep the East Coast stable kept Midwestern crimelords happy and allowed him room to move. The Kingpin also gained Bullseye's loyalty by promising steady work. The files were taken by Daredevil; the Kingpin encouraged Daredevil to turn them over to the police as that would allow him to replace the arrested crimelords that much swifter. Daredevil did not turn them over because this would slow down the Kingpin's plans. Kingpin maneuvered Daredevil into battling the Hand. He secretly promoted mayoral candidate Randolph Cherryh. He then hired Elektra as his assassin. Daredevil found Vanessa alive but amnesiac and returned Vanessa to him in exchange for his abandoning the Cherryh scheme. As retribution for this, 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. The Kingpin used his influence to destroy Matt Murdock's civilian and professional life. Enamored with the results of his own scheme, he became increasingly obsessed with Daredevil. This led to (among other events) brutalizing the reporter Ben Urich, having his employees (such as James Wesley and Felix Manning) assaulting bribed policeman Nick Manolis and sending the homicidal patriot Nuke into Hell's Kitchen. The last incident killed dozens of people, and the Kingpin was implicated. Though he avoided prison, his reputation was destroyed.

Kingpin was sought out by the Black Cat (who was dating Spider-Man at the time) and feared a lack of powers would make the woman a liability to him. Black Cat paid Fisk to have scientists provide defensive bad luck powers that cause mishap to befall anyone who attempts to harm Black Cat in combat but also hurt and eventually kill anyone who stays nearby. The Kingpin hoped 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's scientists also created the supervillains the Answer and the Spot to battle Spider-Man and the Black Cat.

1990s
Fisk later rehires Bullseye to investigate a New York drug war and survives an assassination attempt by Crossbones. In retaliation, he sends Bullseye to assassinate the Red Skull (Crossbones's employer). The attempt fails, and the Kingpin instead defeats the Red Skull (in a clone of Captain America's body) in personal combat.

Fisk subsequently begins his own cable television station, partnering with an apparent Texas millionaire that the Kingpin thinks can be easily manipulated. However, the millionaire was actually bait planted by HYDRA. Learning of this from Nick Fury, Daredevil spread the word through the underworld that the Kingpin had become a stooge of HYDRA, weakening his power. HYDRA steals the vast majority of his assets, bombs his businesses across New York City, and sends a helicopter gunship to attack his skyscraper offices. With his empire crumbling, the Kingpin is indicted on federal charges, and Daredevil tricks him into committing assault and battery at Manhattan's Port Authority Bus Terminal. Bailed out of jail by a rival who intends to use him as an errand boy, Fisk loses what remains of his sanity, murders his rival, and becomes a fugitive.

Fisk spends time in Japan rebuilding his empire and fighting the X-Men before returning to New York.

2000s
While in Japan, he manipulates Maya Lopez (Echo) into thinking that Daredevil killed the woman's father (although Fisk was actually responsible) in order 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 proof in the form of the nonexistent "Murdock Papers" that Murdock is Daredevil. Having made so many enemies in prison, Fisk is constantly under attack from the Hand, HYDRA, and any number of criminal organizations with which he had had dealings. The U.S. government is hard-pressed to get rid of this expensive, dangerous, legally clean master criminal, and Fisk succeeds in manipulating the FBI into gravely wounding Daredevil and providing them a sample of Daredevil's 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 in order 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 point-blank in the knee by gunfire from Bullseye intended for Murdock, while Murdock escapes.

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 through the Underworld. 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 a 2007-2008 storyline in the series Runaways, Fisk meets with the Runaways, revealing he knew all about their parents since they ruled Los Angeles with efficiency and vision; he never tried to take their territory, nor did they invade his. He makes a deal with the Runaways to secure a mysterious object for him in exchange for protection from the government. He and his army of ninjas are defeated when the Runaways refuse to give it to him after stealing the object, discovering what Fisk wanted was a device invented by the Pride. It is later revealed that Fisk was hired by elderly woman Lillie McGurty who orchestrated the events so the Runaways can travel back to 1907 and ensure that the woman would come back to the present with them, which her past self declined.

In the 2007 "One More Day" storyline, which ends with the undoing from history of Peter and Mary Jane Watson's marriage and Spider-Man's real identity public revelation, all memories on the part of the public that Spider-Man is Peter is removed, including the Kingpin's.

During the 2008 "Dark Reign" storyline, the Kingpin forms an alliance with Lady Bullseye to destroy Daredevil. He orders Lady Bullseye to disguise herself as a member of the Hand and kill two corrupt cops and a judge, making it seems that Daredevil ordered this and prompting Norman Osborn as the leader of the law enforcement organization H.A.M.M.E.R. to send Bullseye in retaliation. Though Daredevil survives the fight with Bullseye, the Kingpin is undeterred and states that he has Daredevil "where he wants [his nemesis]". The Kingpin has also targeted Daredevil's friends to frame Osborn for their recent misfortunes to further his attempts on manipulating Daredevil's actions. He has Nelson disbarred as an attorney for standing up to a judge on his payroll for an unfair ruling of overturning a jury's verdict. He also causes the loss of Dakota North's private investigator license.

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 crimelord, 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 crimelord of New York City.

During the 2010-2011 "Big Time" storyline, the Kingpin hires a new Hobgoblin to steal some experimental vibranium from Horizon Labs.

During the 2011 "Spider-Island" storyline, it is revealed that Fisk has gained spider-powers, as demonstrated by heightened reflexes and the ability to crawl on walls. Like all other New Yorkers, he lost those powers when the situation was resolved.

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 than the nemesis he had fought. While escaping, the Kingpin kills his doppelgänger Smedley Kornfeld (who was hired for events like this) in order 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 in order 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 is going to have to put his large supply of bullets somewhere.

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 Murdoch's identity as Daredevil, including the Kingpin's.

As part of the 2015 "All-New, All-Different Marvel", Wilson Fisk represented Fisk Industries when he attended a meeting at the Universal Bank with Tiberius Stone of Alchemax, Sebastian Shaw of Shaw Industries, Darren Cross of Cross Technological Enterprises, Zeke Stane of Stane International, Shingen Harada of the Yashida Corporation, Frr'dox of Shi'ar Solutions Consolidated, and Wilhelmina Kensington of Kilgore Arms where they discussed with Dario Agger about his and Roxxon Energy Corporation's plans to exploit the Ten Realms of Asgard. Wilson Fisk also saw the arrival of Exterminatrix of the Midas Foundation, who knocked out Dario and declared herself a new member of their assembly.

During the 2016 "Civil War II" storyline, Kingpin returns from San Francisco, where he ends up in a fight with Bushwacker which ends in Bushwacker's apparent death. Afterward, he learns from a barista named Armand that his girlfriend Sonia had gone missing. Kingpin and Turk Barrett track her to a human smuggling business that Man Mountain Marko and Kingpin's former minion Janus Jardeesh are working for. Kingpin decides not to kill Janus when he learns that he is a recently emerged Inhuman whose abilities render him undetectable by Ulysses Cain's abilities. To test this ability, Kingpin has Janus kill a security guard that Janus knocked out upon discovering the smuggling business.

As part of the 2016 "Marvel NOW!" in a lead-up to the Dead No More: The Clone Conspiracy storyline, Jackal sends Rhino to Kingpin in order to get him on his side. He even had Rhino bring a version of Vanessa in order to persuade Kingpin to go along with the deal. Kingpin snaps the neck of his wife's clone, stating, "That's not my wife. That's an abomination". Rhino then fights Kingpin, even when Spider-Man shows up. After the resulting fight in which Rhino gets away, Jackal is not pleased that Kingpin declined the offer. Kingpin knows this is a set-up and has a better plan on using Spider-Man to get rid of Jackal. After Spider-Man and Spider-Woman of Earth-65 learn from the New U Technologies staff what had happened to Kaine and Anna Maria Marconi, Kingpin shows up and reveals he has been following the Jackal's trail ever since the encounter with his wife. He gives Spider-Man a folder containing the location of a meeting that Jackal will be at so Spider-Man can take down for revenge. Spider-Man is seen beating up most of the Kingpin's henchmen at a restaurant in Chinatown. Kingpin tells Spider-Man that he is ready to repay his debt and gives Spider-Man a flash drive that has the location of Norman Osborn.

During the 2017 "Secret Empire" storyline, Kingpin is among the people trapped in a Darkforce-enclosed Manhattan. When some armed robbers raid a church for medical supplies, Kingpin saves the people inside from the armed robbers. Kingpin tells the people to present that they should let people know that he saved them once the crisis is over. He later saves Doctor Strange, Spider-Woman, and Ben Urich from the Elder God Pluorgg by ramming it with his limousine and offers his help to the heroes. After crossing through a monster-filled subway, Kingpin takes the heroes to a witch in order to acquire weapons to retake the Sanctum Sanctorum, though Doctor Strange argues over the side effects of black magic. Kingpin is then possessed by a demon inside a mask and attacks the heroes until Ben, transformed into a mystical knight, stops him and they come to a truce. They later help Doctor Strange in defeating Baron Mordo, who had been put in charge of New York by HYDRA Supreme Captain America, and retake the Sanctum.

After HYDRA's defeat, Wilson Fisk is able to use a subsequent mayoral election to put himself forward as a last-minute candidate, 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 own recent efforts to create a precedent for superheroes testifying under their secret identities in Washington, he is able to have Daredevil arrested 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 eventually attempts to set up a 'sting operation' where he and his fellow street-level heroes will capture Mayor Fisk meeting with various gang bosses, Mayor 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 Mayor 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 Matt 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 where Fisk had to promise not to do anymore crusades against the vigilantes.

Mayor Wilson Fisk later appears as a member of the Power Elite. When Captain America is named as a suspect in the murder of Thunderbolt Ross, he ends up in an argument with Sharon Carter over Captain America's innocence.

Mayor Wilson Fisk later had an encounter with a bandaged demon with centipedes on him. This demon kills Fisk's associates using supernatural abilities and forces him to back off of Peter Parker after revealing that he is in possession of Vanessa Fisk's soul.

Operatives of Mayor Wilson Fisk free Electro (Francine Frye) so that she can be part of a female version of the Sinister Syndicate. When the Sinister Syndicate is formed, Mayor Fisk gives them their first mission to capture Boomerang who has stolen something from him. When the Sinister Syndicate catches Boomerang, Beetle contacts Mayor Fisk as she is given information on where the exchange should happen. As the Sinister Syndicate plans to adjourn for the night, they hear Mayor Fisk outside stating that they are harboring a criminal and are to surrender Boomerang to him or suffer the full might of New York City. The Syndicate notices the police, the SWAT Team, the Anti-Super Squad, and low-level bureaucrats. Spider-Man arrives as well and tries to get Mayor Fisk to have the authorities stand down only for Mayor Fisk to claim that Spider-Man fell prey to Boomerang's hypnotic boomerang. Electro claims that Spider-Man is buying them some time. After reading the paper in Boomerang's hand that belonged to Mayor Fisk, Beetle tells the Syndicate that they should let Boomerang go. While Beetle claimed that she betrayed them, she did it because she's a supervillain and states that she plans to have Mayor Fisk deputize them. The rest of the Syndicate is not up with this plan. The Syndicate then assists Spider-Man against Mayor Fisk's forces. Beetle has Spider-Man evacuate Boomerang while the Syndicate fights Mayor Fisk's forces while not killing them. The Syndicate is defeated and arrested by the police.

Mayor Wilson Fisk was reunited with his Miles Morales who has become Ultimatum. He was elated to see Ultimatum again while apologizing that he didn't find what he was looking for on Earth-1610. Mayor Fisk and Miles begin their next plan together.

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. He has been shown to be strong enough to hurl large men across a room, and leave imprints in concrete walls after punching them. Defying his size, the Kingpin is a master of many forms of armed and unarmed combat, especially sumo wrestling. His signature move is the bear hug. He has 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; he stores his valuables in a 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 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 enemy and more Daredevil's, he became more of a naturalistic mafioso than a comic book criminal mastermind, and depended less on science fiction-like weaponry.

The United States government is aware of the Kingpin's crimes but has never been able to prove his involvement. 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's willpower is so great that he can resist even the Purple Man's mind control. He 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. He is extremely skilled and knowledgeable in the organization and management of criminal and legal business operations.

Other versions

 * In Marvel 1602 universe, Wilson Fisk is a pirate captain of the HMS Vanessa, known as the King's Pin, who attacks the ship taking Peter Parquarh and Sir Norman Osborne back to England. However, although his attack injures Osborne, he is able to take the ship when Peter deflects the cannonballs by using his webbing to throw them back at the Vanessa. Fisk is thrown into the sea when he confronts the captain directly, even rejecting Fisk's 'offer' to explain how he got his name.
 * In the "Age of Apocalypse" storyline, 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 which allows them to fly and emit explosive blasts. Dirigible is clearly the leader of the group, as he is seen giving orders to his three teammates. Alongside Red (Norman Osborn), the Owl, and Arcade, he attacks the human refugee camps of Wakanda. However, Dirigible is killed by Gwen Stacy.
 * In the 2008-2009 "Old Man Logan" storyline, a future Kingpin appears in a possible future timeline in which the United States has been carved up between the various supervillains. This version is described as a "man of the people" who fought his way to the top, gaining control of the mountain states and killing the domain's former master Magneto. This version is an African-American male, and he is eventually killed and has his territory taken over by Ashley Barton, Hawkeye's daughter and the current Spider-Girl.
 * Wilson Fisk appears in an alternate reality of the House of M storyline.
 * 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.
 * He 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.
 * 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.
 * 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 a 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 in order 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.
 * 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. While dying he has a vision of his wife and son, who show the unrepentant criminal his dark past. The two spirits tell him that he can only come to the "light" if he renounces his criminal past. It is left ambiguous as to what he decided.
 * Fisk appears in a vegetative state in the first part of Spider-Man: Reign.
 * 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.
 * The Ultimate Marvel version of Kingpin is the head of New York City corporate crime, a ruthless murderer and notorious for bribing his way out of any prosecution. He is rivaled by fellow crime lord Hammerhead. In the first storyline in which he appears, Kingpin unmasks Spider-Man, and later taunts with the knowledge of his nemesis's secret identity many times. He also purchases the licensing rights of the Spider-Man movie franchise, essentially owning Spider-Man's likeness. He is ultimately killed by Mysterio blasting him out of a window of his building.
 * Fisk's grandfather appears in Ultimate Origins attempting to loot a house with Nick Fury and James Howlett (Wolverine) during World War II.
 * In the Marvel Noir universe, Wilson Fisk appears as a crime lord.
 * During the "Spider-Verse" storyline, Wilson Fisk assisted Mysterio and his assistant Ella in a plot to obtain the Spider-Man's blood.
 * In the series Spider-Gwen, which is set on the alternate Earth-65, Kingpin is 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.
 * During the 2015 Secret Wars storyline, there are different versions of Kingpin that reside in the different Battleworld domains:
 * In the Battleworld domain of Technopolis, Kingpin is a powerful crimelord who is allied with Arno Stark. Like everyone else in Technopolis, he wears armor to protect him from an airborne virus that has been 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.
 * During the "Spider-Geddon" storyline, an unidentified reality's 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.

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. In this book, Kingpin is shown to be a formidable physical match for Batman.
 * The Kingpin 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 and Superboy arrive before he can do any significant damage.
 * 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).

Television

 * The Kingpin has appeared in the 1967 Spider-Man animated series, voiced by Tom Harvey. In the episode "King Pinned", his henchmen kidnap J. Jonah Jameson when newspapers were exposing his fake medicine business with help from his spy, Frederick Foswell. However, Spider-Man managed to save Jameson while the Kingpin escaped. In the episode "The Big Brainwasher", the Kingpin opens a club that employs Mary Jane Watson to take pictures of city officials using a camera that hypotizes them into entering a room where the Kingpin can have them brainwashed. Spider-Man foils this plot and the Kingpin and his henchmen are handed over to the police.
 * The Kingpin appeared in the Spider-Woman animated series episode "The Kingpin Strikes Again".
 * The Kingpin appeared in the 1981 Spider-Man TV series, voiced by Stanley Jones. In the episode "Wrath of the Sub-Mariner", the Kingpin calls a truce with Silvermane, Hammerhead and Caesar Cicero when his scientist Dr. Everett develops a fluid that can dissolve metal. In the episode "Return of the Kingpin", his henchman Hal Hunter sets Spider-Man up for a heist.
 * The Kingpin appeared in 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 operated as an entrepreneur at public events and was born Wilson Moriarty. At a young age, Wilson saw his father robbing a bank and got swept up in his job until he was arrested while his father escaped. While in prison, he developed his skills, built his own criminal empire, and took revenge on his father. After becoming an established crime boss, he came into regular conflict with Spider-Man.
 * The Kingpin appears in Spider-Man: The New Animated Series episode "Royal Scam", voiced by Michael Clarke Duncan. This version is depicted as an African-American and uses a red diamond-studded cane capable of shooting lasers.
 * Wilson Fisk appears in the Netflix adaptation of Daredevil, portrayed by Vincent D'Onofrio as an adult and Cole Jensen as a child. He attempts to take over Hell's Kitchen while maintaining a presentable image to the public. However, unlike his traditional depictions, he lacks self-confidence, is emotionally unstable, and initially does not adopt the Kingpin moniker. A large focus of his story in season one is his budding relationship with and eventual proposal to Vanessa Mariana while he and his right-hand man have dealings with criminals, politicians and police officers on his side. Eventually, Fisk is legally detained after Matt Murdock helps the FBI arrest his accomplices. Fisk is then beaten in combat by Daredevil before being incarcerated himself. In season two, Fisk uses Frank Castle as a pawn to dispose of Ray Schoonover as well as other rival gangsters and uses lawyer Benjamin Donovan as a consigliere. In season three, the Kingpin is released from prison after becoming a criminal informant for the FBI, scheming to regain his position in the criminal underworld under the guise of securing Vanessa's return to the country with immunity. With the help of his fixer Felix Manning, he manipulates his FBI protection detail, such as Ray Nadeem and Dex Poindexter, and uses the latter to frame Daredevil as a criminal to the public. However, after Poindexter realizes Fisk had his crush murdered, manipulated him into killing Nadeem, and discovers Nadeem's confession video incriminating Fisk, Fisk's true intentions are revealed. Fisk fights both Daredevil and Poindexter, and though he breaks the latter's back, he is defeated by the former. Fisk attempts to goad Daredevil into finishing him off by threatening to reveal his identity, but Daredevil refuses and counter threatens to expose Vanessa for her role in Nadeem's murder if Fisk ever tries anything against him or his loved ones again, and leaves him to be arrested.

Film

 * Wilson Fisk appeared in the live action 1989 television movie The Trial of the Incredible Hulk, is portrayed by John Rhys-Davies. David Banner is unjustly arrested after interrupting an assault on a New York City subway by two thugs in Wilson's employ. Attorney Matt Murdock agrees to represent David, hoping to use information gleaned from Banner to bring down Fisk's organization. Banner and Murdock eventually learn about each other's secret lives as the Hulk and Daredevil, respectively before thwarting Fisk's plans, though the crime boss escapes.
 * Wilson Fisk / Kingpin appears in the 2003 feature film Daredevil, portrayed by Michael Clarke Duncan. When Duncan was cast, he weighed 290 pounds, and was asked to gain 40 pounds for the role in order to fit the Kingpin's physique. In the film, Fisk is the head of New York city's criminal underworld in the guise of a businessman. When one of his associates, Nikolas Natchios, decides to leave, Fisk hires Bullseye to kill him and frame him as the Kingpin, and later to kill Natchios' daughter, Elektra. Bullseye kills both, and admits to Daredevil that Fisk is the real Kingpin. Daredevil defeats Bullseye and confronts Fisk. The two fight and Fisk initially gains the upper hand, but Daredevil breaks the roof, allowing the rain to pour in and improve his vision, enabling him to fight back and break Fisk's legs. Though Daredevil nearly kills Fisk in retaliation for murdering the former's father, Jack Murdock, for refusing to throw a boxing match, Daredevil spares his life. Fisk threatens to reveal Daredevil's identity in prison, but is put off when Daredevil counters that he would basically be admitting to being defeated by a blind man. As the police approach, Fisk vows revenge, and a newspaper article later shows that Fisk has been exposed as the real Kingpin.
 * The Kingpin appears in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, voiced by Liev Schreiber. This version is Alchemax's benefactor and has various supervillains under his employ, including the Prowler, the Green Goblin, the Scorpion, and Tombstone. In the film, he orders Olivia Octavius to build a particle accelerator to access parallel universes in an attempt to reconnect with alternative versions of his wife and son, who died in a car accident following his last fight with the original Spider-Man, whom he eventually murders. When he attempts to run the experiment again, even in spite of destroying New York City, he is stopped by alternate versions of the wall-crawler and the new Spider-Man. After the battle, Kingpin and those involved are arrested by the police.

Video games

 * The Kingpin appears as the final boss in the 1990 video game The Punisher (1990). In the Game Boy adaptation however, Jigsaw was the final boss instead.
 * The Kingpin appears in Spider-Man: The Video Game.
 * The Kingpin appears as the final boss in The Amazing Spider-Man vs. The Kingpin.
 * The Kingpin appears as the final villain in the 1993 video game The Punisher (1993).
 * The Kingpin appears as the final boss in the Daredevil video game adaptation of the film of the same name for the Game Boy Advance.
 * The Ultimate Marvel version of Kingpin appears as a boss in Spider-Man: Battle for New York, voiced by Stephen Stanton.
 * The Kingpin appears in the 2005 video game The Punisher, voiced by David Sobolov.
 * The Kingpin appears as a boss in Spider-Man 3, voiced by Bob Joles. He appears in a sidequest, where he unites several gangs in an attempt to kill Spider-Man once and for all. After attacking the courthouse to rescue the gang leaders, the Kingpin is confronted at his penthouse by a black-suited Spider-Man, who defeats them all and defenestrates the Kingpin.
 * The Kingpin appears in Spider-Man: Web of Shadows, voiced by Gregg Berger. While Spider-Man initially works to dismantle his illegal operations and battles his henchmen, after Manhattan is invaded by symbiotes, the Kingpin reluctantly allies himself with Spider-Man and S.H.I.E.L.D. to combat them 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. In a bonus mission at Fisk Tower, the Kingpin has taken a civilian hostage, but is foiled by Captain America and Spider-Man, who rescue the civilian. When Daredevil arrives, the Kingpin has his henchmen Elektra and Bullseye assist him before they are all defeated.
 * The Kingpin appears in the Facebook game Marvel: Avengers Alliance.
 * The Kingpin appears in The Amazing Spider-Man 2, voiced by JB Blanc. He is presented as a wealthy businessman financing the Enhanced Crime Task Force with Harry Osborn to replace Spider-Man. Secretly however, he plans to take control of Oscorp once Harry dies of the same hereditary illness that killed his father, freed the serial killer Cletus Kasady to terrorize New York's citizens into supporting his plans to redevelop the city, and plots to take control of all organized crime in the city. Spider-Man discovers 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 escapes. Kingpin uses the opportunity to erase incriminating evidence and joins Chameleon 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 Marvel's Spider-Man, voiced by Travis Willingham. While posing as a respectable businessman, philanthropist, and owner of Fisk Industries to the public, Wilson Fisk has also been in charge of most organized crime in New York City before Spider-Man first appeared. As such, Kingpin is one of Spider-Man's oldest adversaries, and the two have fought on numerous occasions over the course of the latter's eight-year career. In addition to being an exceptional criminal mastermind, Fisk is also depicted as being a skilled hand-to-hand combatant, as he easily overpowered and severely injured Spider-Man during their first fight. The first mission of the game sees Spider-Man helping the police raid Fisk Tower and capture him, having finally obtained enough evidence against Fisk. Upon being defeated by Spider-Man, Fisk is imprisoned at the maximum security prison, the Raft. Following this, crime rates skyrocket as several criminals, such as Mister Negative, attempt to fill the power vacuum. Despite being locked up, 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 once he finds out.
 * Two playable versions of the Kingpin ("Wilson Fisk" and "Spider-Verse") appear in the match-three mobile game Marvel Puzzle Quest.

Theater
In the play Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, Fisk is seen robbing a bank with Hammerhead before being thwarted by Spider-Man.

Tabletop games

 * Kingpin has been featured in Heroclix Collectible Miniatures Game.
 * Kingpin has been announced for Marvel Crisis Protocol Miniatures Game.