7 Redeeming Features Of The Marvel Netflix Series

There are a number of contenders for the title of ‘best on-screen Marvel villain’, ranging from the likes of Alfred Molina’s Doc Ock in Spider-Man 2 and Brian Cox’s Col. Stryker in X2, through to some of the better representatives from the MCU such as Thanos, Loki and Michael B. Jordan’s Killmonger in Black Panther.

Vincent D’Onofrio’s Kingpin, featured in Daredevil, is at an equal if not superior level to all of these. One of the greatest comic villains in history, he doesn’t have to resort to superpowers to get his way, relying instead on physical formidability, ruthlessness and forward-thinking intelligence to pit parties against one another and reap the rewards.

Bringing D’Onofrio back for Daredevil’s third season, which saw the Kingpin released from prison after his incarceration in the first, was a masterstroke that allowed the series to get back on track after the misstep of the second season’s Hand storyline, with his dark manipulation of Bullseye to do his bidding allowing the series to finish on a high.

It is now impossible to imagine anybody but D’Onofrio in the cold and calculating (yet somehow occasionally sympathetic role). He needs to make his way to the MCU somehow, particularly given that there are so many elements of his character (such as his children and his relationship with Spider-Man) still unexplored.