Credit: NetflixDaredevil: Born Again is one of the most hotly anticipated Marvel Cinematic Universe projects in years, but its iconic villain says that Sony Pictures and Disney are fighting over who gets to use him next.
The Woes of ‘Daredevil: Born Again’
Marvel fans have been excited for Daredevil: Born Again since it was confirmed to be in development as a Disney+ series in early 2022. The Daredevil Netflix series, starring Charlie Cox as Matt Murdock, was far and away the most beloved of the Defenders series, with Cox and Vincent D’Onofrio (who portrayed villain Wilson Fisk, AKA the Kingpin) being universally praised for their performances.
But things have not gone smoothly for the MCU Daredevil reboot. Matt Corman and Chris Ord were initially hired as head writers on the series but were jettisoned in favor of Dario Scardapane (as showrunner) and Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead serving as lead directors. Reportedly, the series was re-envisioned from page one, meaning that enormous amounts of work had been scrapped for apparently tonal reasons.
At the same time, Daredevil fans were shocked to learn that Deborah Ann Woll and Elden Henson (who portrayed Karen Page and Foggy Nelson in the Netflix series) were not returning for the MCU reboot and that Sandrine Holt would replace Ayelet Zurer as Vanessa Fisk, the Kingpin’s spouse.
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Seemingly in response to the backlash, Woll and Henson were announced to return in the overhauled series, alongside Jon Bernthal as Frank Castle, AKA the Punisher, and Wilson Bethel as Benjamin “Dex” Poindexter, AKA Bullseye. In other words, Marvel Studios has been struggling to figure out how to put together what should be a sure thing.
Now, Vincent D’Onofrio has revealed that there are even more complications behind the scenes than previously known.
“Caught in Between Marvel and Sony”
At a recent appearance at Fan Expo Boston 2024, Vincent D’Onofrio told fans that the rights to Kingpin were very much in dispute and that he was actually unsure where he could legally appear next.
D’Onofrio said:
“I’m going to transparently say this: You know the whole Marvel-Sony thing, right? So there are characters – Marvel characters invented by Marvel, written by Marvel – that are caught in between Marvel and Sony. And so it takes a long time for them to figure out who is doing what.”
“I just never really know where [Kingpin can show up]. My character is in that kind of situation, unlike Charlie’s. So I don’t know, it’s part of the deal when it comes to playing Kingpin.”
The actor is referring to the complicated relationship between the Disney-owned Marvel Studios and Sony Pictures, which has owned the film and TV rights to Spider-Man and related characters since 1999.
Although Marvel has mostly been able to consolidate the once-scattered rights to properties like the Fantastic Four and the X-Men, Sony has grimly hung onto Spider-Man, even while its attempt at a post-Sam Raimi film franchise sputtered out with The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014).
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Since then, Sony has licensed the live-action version of Spider-Man back to the MCU (where he is portrayed by Tom Holland) while building a parallel franchise of Peter Parker-adjacent films like Venom (2018), Madame Web (2023, the upcoming Kraven the Hunter, and the Spider-Verse series.
Although Kingpin is primarily regarded as a Daredevil villain at this point, he first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #50 (1967), possibly making him Sony’s property. The Daredevil: Born Again series doesn’t need any more hurdles to contend with, but this might turn out to be yet another one for the reboot.
What heroes do you want to see Kingpin face off against in the MCU? Give us your thoughts in the comments below!