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Attributes

Height: 7'

Weight: Very, very, solid build

Eyes: Black

Hair: None

Features: Typically well-dressed

Summary

Created By: Stan Lee, John Romita, Sr., Mickey Demeo

Real Name: Wilson Fisk

Current Aliases: None

Former Aliases: The Brainwasher

Dual Identity: Generally Known

Current Occupation: Unknown

Former Occupation: Kingpin of Crime

Citizenship: U.S. National

Legal Status: Unknown

Place of Birth: Unknown

Marital Status: Married

Known Relatives: Son (Richard Fisk), Wife (Vanessa Fisk)

Known Confidants: None

Known Allies: Many hired villains and thugs

Major Enemies: Daredevil, Spider-Man, The Rose, Hammerhead, the Lobo Brothers, and other known crime bosses.

Usual Bases: Unknown

Former Bases: Fisk Towers

Current Groups: None

Former Groups: None

Education: Average

Powers & Paraphenalia

Strength Level: Very strong human

Powers: None

Abilities: Deceptively fast and effective in physical combat, an excellent strategist, ruthless in running his criminal empire

Equipment: None

Weapons: Laser cane

Limitations: Totally obeisant to his wife

Knowledge Quiz

QUIZ: kingpin.html

Background

Although the Kingpin became Daredevil's personal enemy later on, his first appearance was in Amazing Spider-Man #50. He is a large man, who gives the appearance of being fat, until you get close and see that all the bulk is really solid muscle.

He dressed well, and originally carried a diamond-topped ray-projecting 'Obliterater Cane', although at some stage it seems to have been replaced with something less lethal - as its obliteration powers weren't seen much in later books. He was married to a strong-willed woman, Vanessa Fisk, who made several appearances.Kingpin and Spider-Man are well matched opponents. Kingpin was very strong, and deceptively quick in a battle.

If anything good can be said about Wilson Fisk, its that he keeps the gangs under control. Before his arrival but after the fall of the Big Man, the gang leaders (such as Lucky Lobo and the Crime Master) were constantly at war with each other, as Kingpin wannabe's battled to be at the top. This caused countless civilian casualties. However, he was still as ruthless and violent as any of the other mob heads, and he soon came into conflict with Spider-Man. He quickly defeated Spidey after one of thier first battles, and nearly killed him, along with J. Jonah Jameson, after the newspaper owner refused to stop running stories about a New York crime wave.

His son, Richard Fisk, appears in a couple of early issues as The Schemer, and then again much later as The Rose, both of which were Richard's attempts to de-throne his father. Upon learning of the Schemer's identity, Fisk went into catatonic shock. Trying to earn his father's forgiveness, Richard joined the criminal cartel called Hydra. Fisk came back to his senses, and became very proud of his son for his part in Hyrda. However, he needed to come to Richard's rescue when he learned that he was being used by the Red Skull. He saved his son and stopped the Red Skull with the help of Captain America. Richard was badly hurt in the battle, but was saved by his father, who used a machine to transfer Spider-Man's life energy into Richard.

Kingpin ruled the criminal underworld like a king, except for occasional gang wars with the likes of the Hobgoblin (Roderick Kingsley). The Lobo Brothers War was a particularly bloody series of incidents. (Fisk tried to use the Persuader to force the Punisher to kill the brothers.) Hammerhead, Silvermane, Chameleon and the Black Tarantula have also made plays to take over Fisk's empire. Kingpin has also used mercenaries in his plans, such as Puma, Knight, Fogg and the Foreigner. This last assassin killed Ned Leeds, whom Fisk believed to be the Hobgoblin. Fisk also had the pleasure of telling Spider-Man that Leeds had been the Hobgoblin. Spidey didnt take well to the news of his friend being a criminal.

While his main foe is Daredevil, Fisk has used every opportunity to strike at Spider-Man. While dating the Black Cat, Peter realized that her bad luck powers were really just elaborate traps that Felicia had set for her enemies. He refused to let her be his partner anymore, for fear that her lack of superhuman abilities would get her killed. Black Cat went to the Kingpin for help in gaining actual bad luck powers, but her newfound abilities came with a price: they worked on Spider-Man. Spidey had Doctor Strange remove the Black Cat's powers, only to have her suffer a terrible beating. Spider-Man and the Black Cat also crashed one of Fisk's parties, causing him to force his scientists to re-create Cloak's dimensional powers. This experiment caused scientist Jonathan Ohn to accidentally become The Spot. Kingpin has also employed Alistaire Smythe and his Spider-Slayer robots in his efforts to kill Spider-Man. Smythe was better than the Spot, but obviously not good enough.

Fisk is one of the Marvel universes master manipulators, on par with Doctor Doom (whom he teamed with in the Acts of Vengeance storyline), Norman Osborn and Magneto. He keeps on eye on his enemies, and uses them for his own purposes. He "helped" Spider-Man defeat the Sinister Syndicate (Rhino, Boomerang, Hydro-Man, Beetle, Speed Demon,) once he realized that they were a threat to his organization. He also "helped" Spider-Man against the Hobgoblin and against the other mafia bosses. However, holding off the other mob bosses only worked for so long.

Losing his domain was no simple task. Overthrown by Daredevil, Hydra and many different crimelords, Wilson Fisk was beaten, but not broken. It took a while, but he pulled himself together and started rebuilding his empire from the bottom. Biding his time, he increased his power base until he was ready. His employed mercenaries, like Nitro and Ox, executed a carefully planned simultaneous attack on Don Fortunato (NY's biggest crime boss at the time) Hammerhead, Caesar Cicero, Silvermane, and many others, including the influential Norman Osborn, who also wanted to run New York's criminal gangs. When the dust settled, the Kingpin ruled once again.

Though he managed to recover from an assassination attempt, the Kingpin had little time to take the reigns of his empire. He was shot in the face by Echo, a woman who worked for him, and whose father he had killed. Irony of ironies, the man who spent a considerable amount of time trying to break Daredevil was now blind. Subsequently, one of his most ambitious employees, a man named Silke, overthrew the Kingpin once again with the help of Richard Fisk. Countering the coup, Vanessa Fisk stopped the insurgency by leading Kingpin's loyal men and killing all of Silke's, but not before Wilson was stabbed almost to death. He was only saved by Vanessa and his doctors' timely intervention. Vanessa then coldly killed her son, split her husband's empire and fled with him to Europe, taking him away to recuperate.

Wilson ended up in jail, finally taken down by Daredevil. This has in no way limited Wilson Fisk's power, as he has been able to sell the costume and weapons of Daniel Berkhart to Francis Klum, who became the third Mysterio. He has also managed to devestate Peter Parker after the vigilante unmasked to the public after the Superhuman Registration Act was passed. As revenge for years of Spider-Man interferring with his illegal activities, Kingpin hired a sniper to shoot Peter, Mary Jane and Aunt May in thier low rent hotel apartment. (Peter had gone his separate ways from Tony Stark, and was thusly on the run from the law.) Peter's spider sense warned him of the sniper and he pushed MJ out of the way, but couldnt stop the bullet from hitting his aunt. May was put on life support and Peter swore not rest until he made Fisk pay for what he did.

Waiting for Parker at Ryker's Island, Fisk was surprised and irritated to find that his enemy wasnt the chatty, quipping clown he was used to. Instead he found a deadly, silent enemy that hammered away at him with an anger that Kingpin was stunned by. Despite Fisk's enormous physical size, he was thrown around like a rag doll. Every lunge and punch thrown by Fisk missed it's mark, while Parker easily humiliated him in front of the other inmates. As Fisk lay bleeding on the prison floor, Peter explained to him that the very moment that Aunt May dies, he will come to Ryker's Island and finish him off. And Fisk will know that he cant be stopped.

Fisk got lucky. Peter turned to the demon Mephisto to save his aunt's life and in the process, he lost his marriage and any memory that May had been shot. Kingpin was free to act as he pleased again.

Thanks To:

The assistance of the Marvel Chronology Project is gratefully acknowledged.

This profile was completed with information used with permission from the Appendix of Marvel Universe website, mantained by Jeff Christiansen (Snood). If you want to find out about that odd-ball character you've only seen once, or even about that character you haven't ever seen, that's the site you're looking for. An impressive amount of obscure characters await you there!

Character Appearances