Did 'Hawkeye' Tease the Return of Vincent D'Onofrio's Kingpin?

Brady Langmann
·2 min read
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Surprise, surprise. We have another man behind the curtain. Episode Three of Hawkeye, "Echoes," which just dropped Wednesday, is a blast of an MCUified adventure featuring plunger arrows, tracksuit mafia goons, and the brilliant introduction of Maya Lopez, AKA Echo.

The new episode also reintroduced what's quickly becoming the go-to plot device for Marvel's Disney+ outings: Teasing a bigger villain lurking behind the actual villain. Remember Karli Morgenthau? Of course you don't. Because The Falcon and the Winter Soldier swapped her antics for John Walker's super-seruming heel turn at the last second. Now, it looks like the introduction of Lopez/Echo—even though she's getting her own Disney+ series—is a means to bring in another villain to the MCU. Throughout the Hawkeye episode, there are a couple fleeting references to Lopez's "uncle," who is apparently the overlord of her operation with the Tracksuit Mafia. We even glimpse this mystery character's hand in a flashback scene with a younger version of Lopez.

If you've been following the always-churning Marvel rumor mill, you already know that everyone's money is on Vincent D'Onofrio's Wilson Fisk (villain name: Kingpin), from Netflix's Daredevil, to be revealed as Lopez's uncle in a future Hawkeye episode.

On a scale of one-to-insane Marvel fan theories, let's call this one a three. Sure, Kevin Feige has mostly given Marvel's Netflix shows the cold shoulder since rolling out WandaVision on Disney+. But in the comics, Lopez is Fisk's adoptive daughter, so the villain's return would make sense story-wise. More than that? The spoilfest that is Sp*der-M*n: F*r Fr*m H*me keeps churning out leaks that claim Charlie Cox will return as Daredevil/Matt Murdock, to help Peter Parker out with his legal trouble. Not to mention, D'Onofrio has been incredibly wink-wink, nudge-nudge about his rumored return to superhero action.

No matter what happens, we won't have to wait long for our answer—Hawkeye only has three episodes left. Maybe we'll even get some Florence Pugh action if Yelena Belova enters the fray next week.

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