The Marvel Cinematic Universe almost didn’t get Vincent D’Onofrio as Kingpin in Daredevil, reveals showrunner Steven DeKnight. The Daredevil: Born Again TV show is coming up soon, with the MCU series set to continue the great success of Netflix’s Daredevil. Despite not serving as Daredevil season 4, Daredevil: Born Again is bringing back most of the cast of the original series.

During an appearance on Horror Fuel (via CBR,) DeKnight revealed that it was actually a bit more complicated to get D’Onfrio as Kingpin when they were developing the Daredevil TV show for Netflix. It turns out that Marvel TV president Jeph Loeb was initially hesitant before they finally got the beloved actor as the iconic Marvel villain, with DeKnight sharing the following:

We wanted to make sure the casting was right. I had sleepless nights over trying to cast Wilson Fisk, Kingpin, and my feeling was, there was only one person that could do it, and that was Vincent D’Onfrio. And I remember telling [executive producer] Jeph Loeb, I sent him a picture of Vincent with a shaved head on the internet, and I said, ‘Come on. There’s nobody else that can do this. This is Kingpin.’ And Jeph said, ‘Yeah, yeah, we love him, but he’s way too expensive. He was on Law & Order, he makes like a million dollars an episode. We’ll never get him.’ But, it turns out, a couple of months later, our casting director, Laray Mayfield, was personal friends with him. And she said, ‘Well, let me just check and see if there’s any interest.’ And it turns out Vincent was a huge Daredevil fan, a huge comic book fan of Daredevil, and he said, ‘Yeah, I’d love to do it. Look, we’ll work something out on the price.’

How Daredevil’s Kingpin Casting Is Benefitting The MCU

While DeKnight’s comments about tapping D’Onofrio as Wilson Fisk show it wasn’t a totally straightforward process, Netflix’s Daredevil did the MCU a massive favor in the long run. 2024 was a crucial year for Daredevil and the rest of the Marvel-Netflix TV shows, as they finally became canon to the Sacred Timeline. Had DeKnight not pushed for D’Onofrio, the MCU would have lost out on a phenomenal actor as one of the most iconic Marvel villains of all time.

Though it took a long time to make the Marvel-Netflix shows canon to the larger MCU, Marvel Studios is now able to fully use this Kingpin, who has ties to other superheroes outside of Daredevil. D’Onofrio has mentioned numerous times that he wants to see Kingpin in Spider-Man 4, as Fisk is also one of Peter Parker’s most iconic foes. From what the Daredevil: Born Again series appears to be setting up with Kingpin’s teased mayoral arc, the show’s story could very well come to have a massive impact on the MCU when it comes to any street-level hero.

With all of that in mind, the prospect of Kingpin appearing in the MCU movies is a promising one, as he has yet to show up in any of the films. However, whenever Marvel Studios decides to utilize Kingpin, it will be fascinating to see how other characters deal with the villain. In the end, any future crossovers that Kingpin will have with other MCU players will all be thanks to the original Daredevil series casting D’Onofrio all those years ago.