Capturing Fisk's Double-Sided Persona In Marvel's Daredevil Was Certainly A Challenge

Wilson Fisk very much ascribes to the "Speak softly and carry a big stick" philosophy. Except, the crime boss of Hell's Kitchen doesn't need a big stick — he's got himself. Whether on the pages of a comic book or the screen, the man they call Kingpin always towers over everyone around him. "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse," once again demonstrating that animation is uniquely equipped for the superhero genre, exaggerates the proportion of Fisk's shoulders to his head to an absurd degree to literalize the idea of a man who dominates any room he enters. Meanwhile, the late, great Michael Clarke Duncan had little trouble physically embodying the character in the 2003 "Daredevil" movie, being a real-life Jack Reacher at six-foot-five and over 300 pounds.

Vincent D'Onofrio, on the other hand, had a trickier task, having to capture not just Fisk's daunting physical stature but also his vulnerable personality in Netflix's "Daredevil" series. It wasn't enough for viewers to believe he could decapitate a man with a car door for "ruining" his hot date; they also had to buy into the idea of Fisk being someone who would ruminate poetically about a white painting or take great care assembling an omelet for breakfast. The actor himself talked about the difficulty of convincingly capturing this duality during a Reddit AMA shortly before "Daredevil" premiered in 2015.

When asked what the "biggest challenge" was during filming, D'Onofrio replied:

"I think it was finding how to portray Fisk in an emotional way, as well as a menacing way. It was important to me to take [season 1 showrunner] Steven DeKnight's words off the page and perform them to include the humanity that he wrote them with. That was the biggest challenge throughout, to keep it sprinkled with the Marvel universe with a superhero feel, and at the same time ground it with emotional truth."

Since his return to the role after the "Daredevil" series was canceled in 2018, D'Onofrio has been charged with portraying even more sides to Kingpin's persona. The "Hawkeye" show on Disney+ depicted the character in a relatively gentler light by having him parade around in a Hawaiian shirt patterned with hibiscus flowers, while at the same time highlighting his past as a loving adoptive uncle to the future leader of his criminal gang, Maya Lopez (Alaqua Cox). Fisk's colorful outfit — itself lifted directly from the 2013 graphic novel "Amazing Spider-Man: Family Business" — was requested specifically by D'Onofrio, who presumably saw this as a chance to dive ever deeper into the multitudes of Fisk.

The pendulum has since swung back in the opposite direction, with the "Echo" series and the upcoming "Daredevil: Born Again" once again allowing D'Onofrio to delve into Fisk's darkness and political ambitions while also enriching his relationship with the now grown-up Maya. It's the flexibility of the character that has no doubt kept the actor creatively invested in playing the role, particularly the challenge of painting a consistent portrait of the villain even when appearing in Marvel Cinematic Universe projects with fiercely different tones. In point of fact, we might even get to see yet another one of Kingpin's faces, assuming the current "Spider-Man 4" rumors pan out. It's a big ask, but, then again, it's nothing D'Onofrio hasn't already proven he's up for.

The "Daredevil," "Hawkeye," and "Echo" series are streaming on Disney+, with "Daredevil: Born Again" expected to reach the platform in 2025.