12 Things You Didn't Know About Kingpin

12. He's Based On Al Capone And Moriarty

Al Capone was the most powerful man in Chicago during the 1920s. To many, Capone was viewed as a respected businessman who donated to charity. In reality, he was secretly the biggest criminal in the city. Even though he made the equivalent of $1.4 billion through racketeering and bootlegging, he claimed to be a "second-hand furniture dealer".

Marvel writers loved the idea of a criminal pretending to be a legitimate businessman and incorporated this concept into the Kingpin. Although Wilson Fisk has many legitimate businesses, most of his fortune comes from his life as a crime lord.

He rarely gets his hands dirty and relies on his henchmen to carry out his criminal activities, making it impossible to pin any crime on him. Since he has his hands in nearly every politicians' pockets and has dirt on anyone who can incriminate him, he's legally untouchable.

But Capone isn't the only person who inspired the character. For the 1994 Spider-Man cartoon, the writers decided to base the Kingpin on Sherlock Holmes’ nemesis, Jim Moriarty. Like Moriarty, Kingpin is always one step ahead of his competition, works behind the shadows, and has contingencies for every plan. To highlight this further, his real name in the show is revealed to be Wilson Moriarty. However, he erased all information about his life when he became the Kingpin.