12 Things You Didn't Know About Kingpin

Since 1966, the self-titled Kingpin, Wilson Fisk, has been making life hell for the superheroes of New York. At first, the towering gangster may have come across as just another goon for Spider-Man to fight, but when Frank Miller wrote for Daredevil during the 1980s, he reinvigorated Wilson Fisk as a truly terrifying figure, turning him into one of the most popular supervillains in Marvel Comics.

Kingpin clearly has left his mark on television and the big screen as well as comics. In recent years, he has been the main villain of the Netflix series, Daredevil, and the astounding animated film, Spider-Man: into the Spider-Verse.

Because the character has never been more popular, now seems like a perfect time to take a closer look at Wilson Fisk. We will be delving into every facet of Fisk; his most ruthless moments, the inspiration for the character, and some misconceptions about Marvel's most famous Kingpin of Crime.

All go some way in illustrating the significance and notoriety the character possesses, whether he's fighting off everyone's favourite friendly neighbourhood web-slinger, the Devil of Hell's Kitchen, or the countless other heroes situated within New York City...

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.