D'Onofrio on Spider-Man vs Kingpin: Marvel/Sony Issues "Complicated"

Posted in: Disney+, Marvel, Marvel Studios, Movies, Sony, TV | Tagged: daredevil: born again, spider-man

D'Onofrio on Spider-Man vs Kingpin: Marvel/Sony Issues "Complicated"

Daredevil: Born Again star Vincent D'Onofrio noted Marvel and Sony need to clear up "complicated" issues for a Kingpin/Spider-Man face-off.

Published Fri, 27 Mar 2026 08:37:07 -0500
by Tom Chang
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To say that Marvel's live-action history has been complicated would be an understatement, since, to preserve the studio before Disney's purchase of the comics conglomerate, they regularly sold their on-screen rights to various studios, including 20th Century, Universal, New Line, and Sony. As most of those issues have been resolved with the rights reverting to Marvel over time, there have been some unique holdouts, including Universal's ownership of the solo film rights to the Hulk, currently played by Mark Ruffalo, who can appear in other Marvel Studios projects. Universal's been happy sitting on the character since 2008's The Incredible Hulk, which then starred Edward Norton as the title character and alter ego, Bruce Banner. Sony is even more complicated, with several attempts to bring Spider-Man to the big screen, the latest starring Tom Holland as Peter Parker, who occasionally appears in MCU projects but, for the most part, has failed to sustain their other Spider-verse characters as franchises outside of Venom. Sadly, one of the biggest rivalries we're not likely to see on the live-action screen anytime soon is one of his greatest nemesis, Wilson Fisk/Kingpin, as Daredevil: Born Again star Vincent D'Onofrio offered blunt insight into which he hopes will change in the future.

Daredevil: Born Again Star Vincent D'Onofrio on Why Kingpin Won't Be Facing Spider-Man in Live-Action Any Time Soon

After answering a fan on Jon Bernthal's Punisher's absence from the Dario Scardapane series with the character scoring a 60-minute special "One Last Kill" and his upcoming appearance in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, another fan showed a graphic from the Sony videogame where Kingpin throws Spider-Man to the ground with the caption, "'With that insect' 🤣 need the matchup asap." D'Onofrio responded, "If Sony and Marvel ever get their shit together maybe. It's a complicated rights issue. Hope so."

There have been plenty of animated battles between Kingpin and Spider-Man as the two battled on screen, which included the 2018 animated film, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, with Liev Schrieber voicing the villain. Others on the animated/video game side include Tim Blaney, Travis Willingham, JB Blanc, Jim Cummings, Gregg Berger, Bob Joles, Stephen Stanton, David Sobolov, and Roscoe Lee Browne. On the live-action front, D'Onofrio has played the character since the 2017 Daredevil series from Drew Goddard and reprised the role for other Disney+ projects like Echo and Hawkeye. Michael Clarke Duncan is the only actor to play him in live-action in 2003's Daredevil and 2003's Spider-Man: The New Animated Series. In terms of the MCU, D'Onofrio's Kingpin hasn't really faced much in terms of heroes since he's only battled Charlie Cox's Daredevil, Bernthal's Punisher, and Alaqua Cox's Echo, which is a shame. Perhaps Sony should reach a new deal with Marvel that loosens restrictions on who can be in which universe, so both can benefit long term, rather than just allowing Holland's Spider-Man to interact with the proper MCU.

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