Vincent D'Onofrio made his triumphant return as Kingpin during the final two episodes of Hawkeye. At the same time, his Daredevil co-star Charlie Cox also made his return as Matt Murdock in the recently-released Spider-Man: No Way Home. But some fans are wondering, are they the same versions from Netflix or is it a new one for the MCU? Now, it looks like we have the answer.
During an interview with Screen Rant, D'Onofrio confirmed that the Kingpin that we saw in Hawkeye is actually the same one from Netflix's Daredevil. He said, "I think from my point of view, like a lot of the Avengers stuff, a lot of the MCU stuff, they tried to connect as many dots to the original canon as they can, and some dots are just not possible to connect. And that's what we've done with connecting to Daredevil and vice versa. There's some dots [that] are connected. Like in the Hawkeye show, Fisk is obviously physically stronger and can take more physical abuse. But the key to his being an interesting character, in my mind, will always be the fact that he has this emotional life that grounds him, that makes everything work, as far as I'm concerned."
He continued, "We can sell that character in so many facets. Story-wise we can sell it, if we keep him based in that emotional life. And I know that the writers, and the producers, and me, and everybody involved in the Hawkeye show, we were all on the same page about that. I have to say that they're very collaborative people and – not only to mention awesome people, very nice – but the producers, like I said, the writers and the directors were all just thrilled to work with so we kept along those lines. And I think that's what will continue to make the character interesting if there's anything next for me to do."
It might be confusing for some fans with the confirmation that the Kingpin that we saw on Hawkeye is the same version from the Netflix Marvel Universe since they established the character as the leader of the Tracksuit Mafia and they hinted that Clint Barton knew him for a long time. They also established that Maya Lopez and Kingpin had a good familial relationship ever since she was a kid so there is some continuity error if this Kingpin is the same one from Daredevil.
You can say that D'Onofrio's explanation might be a bit ambiguous since he also pointed out that "some dots are just not possible to connect" which indicates that he is also unsure if Hawkeye's Kingpin is the same one from Daredevil. We should just wait and hear from Kevin Feige himself for any official confirmation if Cox's Matt Murdock and D'Onofrio's Kingpin in the MCU are the same ones from the Netflix Marvel Universe.
Also Read: Hawkeye Finale Reportedly Underwent Significant Changes
All episodes of Hawkeye are streaming on Disney+.
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