The filming of “Daredevil: Born Again” with Charlie Cox and Vincent D’Onofrio has begun and first pictures from the shoot are heating up the rumour mill: Will Wilson Fisk / Kingpin become the mayor and declare war on Daredevil, Spider-Man and co.?
In the early years of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, films like “Iron Man” and “Thor” were still closely connected and eventually resulted in the first crossover adventure “The Avengers”, but by now the MCU is far too big and extensive for that. So there will probably be several small mini-MCUs in the next few years, in which various thematically appropriate characters will be brought together – such as the sub-section around the New York underworld that began with “Hawkeye”. And here, a truly epic story is apparently planned for the next few years, apart from the big storyline around Kang as well as “Avengers 5” and “Avengers 6”.
Filming is currently underway on “Daredevil: Born Again”, in which not only Charlie Cox appears as Matt Murdock or Daredevil, but also Vincent D’Onofrio plays the villain Wilson Fisk alias Kingpin once again. Before that, however, D’Onofrio will also appear in “Echo” and the whole storyline will then lead into “Spider-Man 4” with Tom Holland. But first things first:
WILL WILSON FISK BE MAYOR OF NYC?
As reported by the usually well-informed Marvel insiders at The Cosmic Circus, with snapshots from the filming of “Daredevil: Born Again”, Wilson Fisk will apparently run for mayor of New York City in the MCU series. This storyline also exists in the Marvel Comics and is supposed to start in “Echo” before Fisk is actually elected mayor in the “Daredevil” series.
Possibly, however, that won’t happen until the second season “Daredevil: Born Again”, which D’Onofrio recently announced in an interview with Newsweek. However, it is considered likely that he simply means that the 18-episode (!) long first season “Born Again” will be split into two halves. For the second season/half, D’Onofrio announced a gigantic payoff for the fans. Does he mean the mayoral election?
KINGPIN VS. DAREDEVIL, SPIDER-MAN & CO.?
Whenever and however Fisk becomes mayor: According to The Cosmic Circus’ sources, he is (unsurprisingly) not concerned with the good of the people of New York, but with his personal vendetta against superheroes like Hawkeye, Kate Bishop, Daredevil and Spider-Man. These are a thorn in Fisk’s side as “street-level vigilantes”, figures who patrol the streets and protect people on their own.
Supposedly, Fisk then wants to try to get a grip on the “vigilante crisis” by sending some mercenaries after the heroes and heroines. Maybe this is where the Punisher (Jon Bernthal), who is also in “Born Again”, comes into play? Anyway, this whole aspect is supposed to become an important part of the plot of “Spider-Man 4”.
Many Marvel fans even suspect that the Kingpin will become the villain of “Spider-Man 4” and then take on Peter Parker, Daredevil and other characters. He already proved in “Hawkeye” that he can also hold his own in a direct fight against superheroes. And Charlie Cox’s appearance in “Spider-Man: No Way Home” may have laid the groundwork for a reunion of the two characters in a later MCU film…
WHEN DOES THE KINGPIN SAGA BEGIN?
But it will be a while before we can see all this on Disney+ or in the cinema. Filming on “Daredevil: Born Again” will last until December 2023 (!) according to D’Onofrio. “Echo” has already been shot, but will not start until 2024 – and since the individual MCU series are to get more space in the future, we don’t expect the first half of “Born Again” until late 2024 or early 2025.
And “Spider-Man 4” with Tom Holland (and possibly Charlie Cox and Vincent D’Onofrio) will probably also have to wait a while. In February 2023, Marvel boss Kevin Feige revealed that work had begun on the script, so “Spider-Man 4” is also unlikely to hit cinemas before 2025.
