Wilson Fisk/The Kingpin



In the 2003 feature film Daredevil, Michael Clarke Duncan played the character. In the film the Kingpin is, by appearance, an overweight corporate head that takes the name Wilson Fisk, but in fact he is the sole person running organized crime. Duncan signed on for the role in January 2002, though he had been attached far earlier. When Duncan was cast, he weighed 290 pounds. He was asked to gain 40 pounds for the role in order to fit the physique of Kingpin. In order to do this, he would lift weights for 30 minutes a day, and power-lifted with one or two reps a day, as well as eating whatever he wanted. Despite this, Duncan's biggest concern was that he is black, whilst Kingpin has always been portrayed as white. He spoke on the fan's loyalty to the source material by saying "they watch movies to say, 'Hey, that's not like the comic book.' But I want them to get past that and just see the movie for what it is and see me for what I am—an actor."

In the film, the Kingpin started out as an enforcer for a mob boss named Falon, in which capacity he was hired to kill Jack "The Devil" Murdock after he refused to throw a fight. Years later, Fisk became a crime boss in his own right and successfully hid his criminal activities from the public, although the media picked up on reports of a "Kingpin", running all crime in the city. He hires Bullseye to kill Nikolas Natchios (attempting to frame Natchios as the Kingpin in the process). Though Bulleye is successful, Fisk also wants Natchios' family killed and hires Bullseye to kill Natchios' daughter, Elektra, as well as Daredevil. After he supposedly kills Elektra, Bullseye is defeated by Daredevil after it is revealed that Fisk is really the Kingpin during the fight. Having learned of his assassin's failure, Daredevil confronts the Kingpin. He is severely beaten by Fisk, who unmasks him, learning that Daredevil is Matt Murdock, who Kingpin met prior to Nicholas Natchios' death. Daredevil nevertheless manages to trigger the sprinkler system in Fisk's office, thus allowing him to better 'see' his opponent. Daredevil then breaks Fisk's legs, but refuses to kill him despite having the opportunity, having realised that he is 'not the bad guy' and thus has no right to kill his foes. Daredevil leaves Fisk for the police, who presumably learn that he was actually the Kingpin. Fisk threatened to tell everyone who Daredevil really was, until Daredevil pointed out that revealing to his prison inmates that he had been beaten by a blind man was the equivalent of suicide. Nevertheless, Kingpin swears that he will eventually get out of prison and kill Daredevil, with Daredevil simply responding that he'll be waiting.

In July 2006, Duncan showed interest in returning for the role of the Kingpin, but stated that he would not be willing to gain weight as he felt "comfortable" being down to 270 pounds. However, he jokingly showed willingness to change his mind if he was offered $20 million. Duncan suggested that the character is portrayed to have been training a lot in jail in order to become faster in combat against Daredevil, also working as a way to fit his weight loss into the story.