Why Marvel Can't Use Kingpin In Spider-Man 4, According To Vincent D'Onofrio

Marvel fans holding out hope that Kingpin will show up in one of the movies sometime soon, it's best not to hold your breath. Vincent D'Onofrio, the actor who has brought the villain to life on screen dating back to Netflix's "Daredevil" series, has made it clear that, for the time being, the character can't appear in any of the Marvel Cinematic Universe movies. Why not? It all has to do with pesky rights issues.

D'Onofrio recently spoke with Josh Horowitz on the "Happy Sad Confused" podcast. The actor is currently appearing as Kingpin in "Daredevil: Born Again" on Disney+, and when asked about the possibility of appearing in an MCU movie, like the upcoming "Spider-Man: Brand New Day," D'Onofrio was forced to pour some cold water on the situation. Here's what he had to say about it:

"The only thing I know is not positive. It's a very hard thing to do, for Marvel to use my character. It's a very hard thing to do, because of ownership and stuff. Right now, I'm only usable for television series. Different kinds of series, whatever it is, but not even a one-off Fisk movie or anything like that, it's all caught up in rights and stuff. I don't know when that would work out, or if it ever would work out at all, actually."

D'Onofrio has appeared in several Marvel Studios shows to date, including a memorable stint as Kingpin in "Hawkeye." As the actor says, that kind of thing is in bounds. Movies are another issue, though. So, what rights issues are getting in the way, exactly? He didn't specify, but it's not all that hard to piece together.

Even though Kingpin is oft-associated with Daredevil as one of his primary antagonists, the character actually made his debut in the pages of "The Amazing Spider-Man" #50 back in 1967. As most hardcore Marvel fans are likely aware, Sony controls the movie rights to "Spider-Man" and his associated characters thanks to a deal struck decades ago. This was long before the MCU was a thing, and long before Marvel ever thought they might want to use these characters in movies they were producing.

The situation isn't dissimilar to what's been going on with Hulk for years, with Universal retaining the right to make solo movies with the character. That's why Mark Ruffalo's Bruce Banner has only appeared in team-up movies. In the case of Kingpin, it seems Marvel can only get away with using him in TV shows. For now, anyway.

At one point, Spider-Man couldn't appear in the MCU because Sony wanted to make its own movies. Then, wouldn't you know it, Sony cut a deal with Disney to allow Peter Parker to appear alongside the Avengers. Who's to say something similar couldn't happen with Kingpin? D'Onofrio suggested that if Sony and/or Marvel Studios want it to happen badly enough, it will happen:

"I think if the powers that be want that to happen then it will happen, you know? I think there certainly hasn't been any kind of talk that it's not gonna happen. I mean, to me that's the direction that we should go in...but who knows? You know, you get these calls and they're like, 'Oh we're doing this now.' I'm like, 'Oh, okay.'"

"Spider-Man: Brand New Day" is coming together as we speak with a July 2026 release date on the books. While no villain has been confirmed, we'll probably be learning more about that sooner rather than later. Just don't expect it to be Kingpin. That is, unless D'Onofrio is pulling an Andrew Garfiled on all of us and lying through his teeth. But don't bet on it. 

"Daredevil: Born Again" is streaming now on Disney+.