Hawkeye: Vincent D’Onofrio opens up about Kingpin’s fate after the finale

* Warning: This article contains major spoilers for the finale of Marvel’s Hawkeye *

I hope you’ve already watched the season finale for Hawkeye because outlets are already spoiling a major plot point involving Vincent D’Onofrio’s Wilson Fisk aka Kingpin, including us! If you’re not prepared to learn how D’Onofrio feels about his latest turn as the fan-favorite villain, click away now!

Still with us? Okay, so, Kingpin gets positively housed in the season finale by none other than the best Hawkeye, Kate Bishop. Throughout the episode, Kingpin gets shot with arrows, struck by a speeding car, and survives a flurry of exploding trick arrows that Kate Bishop detonates. Any of these things would have been enough to put most villains out on their asses, but this is Wilson Fisk we’re talking about. The man is built like a brick sh*thouse, and it’s going to take more than some fancy arrows and a sturdy town car to bring him down. This is where Maya Lopez (Alaqua Cox), and her loaded gun, come into play. Ultimately, Fisk finds himself in a dark alley with Lopez, who blames Kingpin for the murder of her father. In the final moments of the episode, we see Lopez point a gun directly at Kingpin’s head, and after the camera pans upward, we hear a shot go off. It’s also worth noting that just before we hear the blast, Kingpin says “Sometimes family doesn’t see eye to eye,” which leads me to believe that Lopez could have put a bullet through his eye socket.

“I hope he didn’t die,” D’Onofrio said to Deadline about Kingpin’s untimely fate. “I’m with the fans, I want to keep playing this part. My hope is that we continue.”

I have to admit that I was kind of taken aback during what Marvel wants us to believe were Wilson Fisk’s final moments. I’ve loved D’Onofrio’s portrayal of the character since his debut in Netflix’s Daredevil and would love for him to remain as a part of the MCU in some way. I mean, if anyone could take a bullet to the face and survive its Kingpin, right? I bet there’s a deleted scene somewhere of Kingpin simply chewing the bullet and spitting it out onto the concrete. “When I was a boy… My father tried to shoot me in the face. It didn’t work then either.” Stone cold.

“I wasn’t expecting it,” said D’Onofrio about taking a call from Marvel boss Kevin Feige earlier this year to reprise the iconic role. “I didn’t know that Daredevil was going to end when it did, I thought it was going to continue for a few more years,” says the actor, “There was a lot to explore there, there were many facets of my character to explore.”

Finally, D’Onofrio spoke about his approach to playing Wilson Fisk, and how the character’s fortitude comes from a lifetime of pain and psychological trauma. “The people I play are based on real emotions and real life, and I try to bring the events of their pasts in the now. Kingpin is like that in Hawkeye. He has a lot more physical strength and can take physical abuse, but grounded in this emotional world. And he does everything through that emotional world: He’s like a child and a monster simultaneously.”

Have you had a chance to watch the Hawkeye finale yet? Are you hoping that Kingpin survived his altercation with Maya Lopez? Will Wilson Fisk be wearing a bespoke eyepatch the next time we see him? I certainly hope so, as I think he’s one of the best villains Marvel has ever presented to fans. Here’s hoping this isn’t the last we’ve seen of Vincent D’Onofrio’s Wilson Fisk.