Vincent D’Onofrio reveals when he was approached for Kingpin return

Iron Fist star Jessica Henwick recently outlined the swings and roundabouts nature of what constitutes Marvel Cinematic Universe canon, when she revealed that she declined playing Xiu Xialing in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings because she retains hope in getting to play Coleen Wing again.

Charlie Cox and Vincent D’Onofrio are back in a big way, and Henwick has shown more than enough in her post-Iron Fist career to make herself stand out as the next potential candidate. In the interview where she confirmed that she refuses to shut the door on Colleen, she revealed that Cox had known about his return for years.

However, D’Onofrio wasn’t in the same boat. We’d been hearing rumors for months that Kingpin would show up specifically in the fifth episode of Disney Plus series Hawkeye, which is exactly what he did. Speaking to ComicBook, though, the actor admitted that it was only after 2021 was underway when he was approached.

“[I was approached] earlier this year. Kevin called me and of course I said, ‘Hell yeah.’ I was told from my representatives that he wanted my phone number and he called me directly. My first thought was ‘Wow, maybe he’s gonna invite me to the MCU,’ and that’s what he did immediately. He started talking about Hawkeye.”

Not a lot of people stay dead in the MCU, a franchise famed for the fake-out death, so we’ll be seeing Kingpin again in the future without a doubt. Whether he crosses paths with his old Netflix arch-nemesis again is another question, but you’d have to imagine that’s high up on the to-do list.