‘Hawkeye’ fans are loving first full look at a beloved returning character

We’re now five episodes deep into Hawkeye and the show has begun dishing out some juicy revelations. Most of the characters are either being manipulated or keeping secrets from one another, with the show’s true villain keeping a very low profile. That all changed with episode 5.

Warning: This article contains spoilers for episode 5 of Hawkeye related to a major character.

The closing moments of ‘Ronin,’ which debuted Wednesday, gave us a full look at one of Marvel’s most threatening characters. In the final scene, Kate Bishop received a text from Yelena showing that her mother Eleanor ordered the hit on Clint Barton. But that’s not all: Her mother is taking orders from a mysterious figure whose identity is revealed in a video attachment. And, to nobody’s surprise who’s been following the rumors, it’s the one and only Kingpin.

Even if we could all see this coming, the grainy video is our first glimpse of Vincent D’Onofrio’s Wilson Fisk/Kingpin since Daredevil wrapped up on Netflix and is (so far) the only reappearance of a Netflix character. MCU fans promptly went nuts:

Kingpin is now pretty much confirmed to be playing a big role in the Hawkeye finale, but this revelation may have further ramifications as Kingpin being Eleanor Bishop’s boss and her ordering Clint’s assassination connects the pair to Julia Louis Dreyfus’ Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine.

The Contessa is busy forming her own team of superpowered individuals, having already recruited John Walker as US Agent and apparently being able to convince Yelena that Clint killed her sister. While I doubt that Contessa is actively working for Fisk, the link between the pair may give the Kingpin of Crime some sway in how her new team operates.

Beyond that, we’re almost certainly set to see more of Fisk during the Echo solo series, particularly as Maya has now learned that Fisk is responsible for her father’s death at Clint’s hands.

Kingpin has only been back in the MCU for a few seconds and he’s already making waves. I can’t wait to see how this all pans out in next week’s Hawkeye finale.