Vincent D’Onofrio Reveals That Disney Does Not Fully Own the Rights to Kingpin

While much has been written about the complicated movie rights of popular Marvel characters, including Spider-Man and The Incredible Hulk, it turns out that there is another Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) character that can only be used under specific circumstances.

During a recent appearance at Fan Expo Boston 2024, Vincent D’Onofrio, who has portrayed Kingpin in Daredevil, Hawkeye, and Echo, was asked if he would be reprising his role in the upcoming animated series Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man.

Photo: Marvel

“I’m going to transparently say this: You know the whole Marvel-Sony thing, right?” D’Onofrio responded (via ComicBook). “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.”

Who Owns Kingpin’s Rights?

While MCU fans largely know Kingpin as the arch-nemesis of Daredevil, the character has a long history in the comics as a member of Spider-Man’s rouges gallery. As Sony, not Disney, owns the rights to many Spider-Man characters, Kingpin’s status is unclear.

Photo: Marvel

Based on the projects in which the character has appeared in, however, it looks like Disney is able to use the character in live-action but not animation.

Kingpin was a central villain in Spider-Man: The Animated Series in the 1990s but has not appeared in either of the Disney-produced Spider-Man animated series (Ultimate Spider-Man and 2017’s Spider-Man). He did, however, appear in Sony’s Spider-Man Into the Spider-Verse.

Photo: CBR

With Charlie Cox set to appear as Matt Murdock/Daredevil in Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, Kingpin should have been a natural fit for the series. His omission, then, is likely due to rights, not narrative.

Photo: Marvel

“I just never really know where [Kingpin can show up]. My character is in that kind of situation, unlike Charlie’s,” D’Onorfio said. “So I don’t know, it’s part of the deal when it comes to playing Kingpin.”

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