12 Things You Didn't Know About Kingpin
3. He Invented The Concept Of A Kingpin
The 2010 series, Punisher MAX, revised the backstory of several characters including Punisher, Bullseye, Elektra and, of course, the Kingpin. In this series, the idea that a Kingpin controls all the crime in the city is a spook story to make the police officers chase dead leads.
When a group of mobsters realise that the Punisher is decimating their business, one gangster called Rigoletto suggests they pretend that the Kingpin is real. That way, the Punisher will waste time and effort chasing a villain that doesn't exist while the gangsters prep a plan to take him down.
Little do the mobsters know that this plan wasn't concocted by Rigoletto but by his bodyguard, Wilson Fisk. However, Rigoletto is oblivious that Fisk devised this scheme so he can turn himself into a real Kingpin.
Pooling Rigoletto's and his colleagues' cash together, Fisk turned himself into the most powerful criminal in the city. He had no competition since he allowed the Punisher to hunt down each of Rigoletto's men and kill them one-by-one.
The story began with the Punisher dismissing the "Kingpin" as a fairytale. In reality, the Punisher helped create him.