For months we’ve been hearing that Vincent D’Onofrio’s Kingpin was poised to make his Marvel Cinematic Universe return, or debut if you agree with Kevin Feige’s sentiment that none of the pre-WandaVision shows are canon, with the fifth episode having been singled out.
The buzz is only going to intensify the closer we get to the release of the penultimate episode, and you can bet there’s going to be a lot of unhappy campers if Wilson Fisk doesn’t show up. The latest caveat to the scuttlebutt has seen various rumors claim that the New York City crime boss will appear in much more comic-accurate form, and in an amazing stroke of coincidence, so-called ‘leaked’ images appeared online shortly afterwards.
D’Onofrio’s Twitter has become a treasure troves of wink, nods and callbacks to his past, present and potential future as Kingpin, but the actor has offered his two cents on the grainy lo-res snaps, which you can see below.
In an era of expert-level Photoshop and deepfakes, we’ve seen some pretty convincing unofficial visuals appear on the internet, but it’s fair to say that Kingpin image definitely isn’t one of them. It would barely pass muster in a video game never mind a Disney Plus show with a reported $150 million budget, so we’d feel safe in saying they’re not legit.