Wilson FiskKingpin

Ruthless, cunning, and wide-bellied, Wilson Fisk may not have super powers like most of his foes, but he does have the brains to outsmart them...at least for a little while.

At the center of many, if not most, wrongdoings perpetrated in New York City, Fisk has clashed with heroes, antiheroes, and villains alike. He does whatever it takes to maintain his stranglehold on the New York underground—that's why he's called the Kingpin.

Unlikely Heir

Wilson Fisk was not always the feared crime boss he would grow up to be. As a child, Wilson was a highly unpopular and chubby boy who was mercilessly picked on by his peers. Not partaking in the usual athletic activities of kids his age, Fisk discovered a knack for uncovering the weaknesses of others—and using them to his advantage. This proved a much-desired skill he'd carry into adulthood as the criminal mastermind of New York.

As he grew, Fisk believed that physical strength was a major factor in building power in the underworld. He committed his first murder at the age of 12 and trained to build up his strength as much as he could, becoming fascinated in the art of sumo wrestling and the academic field of political science. Ravenous for knowledge, he stole books from stores and libraries, while refusing to become just a henchman for local criminal overlords. Instead, he collected his own band of teenage cronies who gave him the nickname of "Kingpin of Crime" by the age of 15.

Might Makes Right

Most of Fisk's bulk is actually muscle, not fat; his enormous size is comparable to that of a sumo wrestler. Wilson Fisk is learned in several types of hand-to-hand combat, and uses his enormous bulk as a means of defense as much as attack. As such, he is able to fight super powered heroes, like Spider-Man, without fear of being seriously harmed or killed.

His immense size and strength notwithstanding, Wilson Fisk's true power lies within his skull. As a genius planner and strategist, he is able to control vast amounts of dedicated thugs, henchman (like the Arranger, Big Turk, Blackie, and Blinker), assassins (including Bullseye and Elektra), government officials (like Randolph Cherryh), scientists (Dr. Jonathan Ohm/the Spot), specialists (Alistaire Smythe, the Tinkerer), and a general assortment of petty criminals in order to achieve his nefarious ends. Even Super Villains like the Hobgoblin, Sandman, Typhoid Mary, and Mysterio have been known to pledge loyalty to him. Fisk's talent for manipulation has duped powerful and well-connected agencies such as the NYPD, the FBI, and S.H.I.E.L.D.

By donating large sums of money to charitable causes, hiring a crack team of attorneys, and choosing to be as hands-off as possible in his illegal operations, he has built himself a pristine reputation that would prevent the press from ever linking him to any kind of chicanery.

As if he wasn't formidable enough, he is sometimes known to carry a walking stick that can fire a laser pulse powerful enough to disintegrate a normal handgun. It, along with his diamond-studded tie, can also spray a concentrated dose of sleeping gas. Fisk has even utilized a Vita-Drain, which is a machine that transfers life force from one person into another, and a brainwashing machine designed by Dr. Gerhard Winkler.

Rivals

You don't rise to be the leader of Manhattan's criminal underworld without making a few enemies along the way. His earliest adversary is the original "Kingpin," Silvio Manfredi, AKA Silvermane. An immigrant from Italy, Manfredi builds up the criminal organization known as the Maggia in Manhattan. After Manfredi is sent to prison for tax evasion, however, Fisk seizes a good chunk of his territory and power.

Some brazen reporters like the Daily Bugle's Ben Urich try to bring Fisk down by hunting for evidence of his sins, of which there are many. He is warned to stop snooping around by Elektra Natchios, when she works as Kingpin's enforcer. Sadly, when Urich refused, she impales him and leaves him for dead.

Kingpin frequently crosses paths with Spider-Man. To protect himself against the Web-slinger, Kingpin once allies himself with Justin Hammer. By trading construction contracts with him, he is able to utilize the services of Electro, who overpowers and captures Spider-Man when he breaks into Fisk's offices. When Parker is unmasked, luckily, Wilson has no idea who he is. Fisk is bested my Spider-Man, though, when Fisk accuses an associate, Mr. Big, of betrayal. He places Spider-Man's mask on Big's head and crushes his skull. This is caught on surveillance footage, which Peter obtains and sends to Urich. With concrete proof of Fisk's treachery in the hands of the press, the Kingpin is forced to flee to Brazil.

However, Wilson Fisk's greatest opposition is Daredevil, AKA Matt Murdock. Clashing both on the streets and via the law, the lawyer-turned-District Attorney Murdock makes great efforts throughout the years to take down the number one gangster in New York. As a masked vigilante, Murdock also joins his Defenders allies—Luke Cage, Jessica Jones, and the Iron Fist—to bring the fight to Fisk as a team.

Accomplices

Fisk usually prefers to work alone, and does ally himself with underlings, and he does not believe are worth his time.

However, there is someone that he cares for. While a good deal of selfishness is needed to force an entire city to submit to one's will, Kingpin actually thinks of someone other than himself when he falls in love with Vanessa, an amnesiac woman who had been brought before him by his employees. She reciprocates his feelings and the two marry and have a son together, Richard. Richard would later become a mid-level adversary to his father as the masked crime boss, the Rose.

Long Live the King

Nevertheless, it would be the nighttime activities of Matt Murdock who would prove to the biggest thorn in the side of Wilson Fisk's criminal empire. As Daredevil, Murdock and Kingpin's relationship would come to be characterized as that of cat and mouse. Fisk became Daredevil's main antagonist during a Gang War in 1972. Fisk then became obsessed with eradicating the Devil of Hell's Kitchen after clashing with him in the subsequent years.

Fisk once learned the secret identity of the vigilante and set out to ruin Murdock's life and career when Murdock's girlfriend Karen Page sold him out for a shot of heroin. The hero's bank accounts were frozen by the IRS, his apartment was foreclosed upon, and he was wrongly accused of perjury. To add injury to insult, Kingpin also nearly beat him to death, but Matt was determined to defeat his enemy no matter the cost. After Matt was publicly exposed as the Man without Fear, he turned the tables on his enemy with the help of Captain America and exposed Wilson Fisk as New York's Kingpin of Crime, which led to Fisk's brief incarceration.

The two did team up once in an attempt to take down the ninja gang known as the Hand. Kingpin tried to double cross Matt at the last minute, but Daredevil convinced the Hand to mobilize against Fisk instead.

Still, he could sometimes ally himself with the good guys when it suited his own interests. After being tricked by Red Skull in a Hydra plot to take over America, Fisk actually teamed up with Captain America and S.H.I.E.L.D. to bring down the criminal crew. He would later turn on Steve Rogers in the first Super Hero Civil War, when he offered to give Tony Stark the whereabouts of Captain America.

Vanessa represented much to Fisk, particularly a peace of mind he had lost during his ruthless struggle for power. Fisk once kidnapped the blind wife of a talented doctor, hoping the medical practitioner would cure his amnesiac and mentally unpredictable wife. Daredevil rescued the doctor's wife, removing Kingpin's only piece of collateral. This left the Fisk's wife uncured, and her husband dejected and miserable.

In recent years, Fisk has relied more on his cunning than fancy gadgets to control New York. He took a liking to a low-level member of his criminal enterprise, Janus Jardeesh, during the second Super Hero Civil War—not because Kingpin was feeling magnanimous, but because Jardeesh was an Inhuman who could shield himself from the future predictions of another Inhuman, Ulysses. When other criminals were getting arrested for crimes they hadn't yet perpetrated, based on Ulysses' visions, Fisk was able to keep his New York operation running smoothly without detection.

Kingpin was also recently elected to be the mayor of New York City. Daredevil?s fight against his nemesis reached a critical impasse when Matt Murdock was offered the job of deputy mayor. Murdock accepted the job, as it could have proven to be a position to observe Fisk and bring him down. As soon as Fisk took office, however, he outlawed all vigilante activity, and put a warrant out for Daredevil?s arrest.

Wilson Fisk is nothing if not ruthlessly determined to wipe out his enemies.