A Hawkeye Deleted Scene Features An Alternate Introduction To The Kingpin
Marvel's rapid spread across all forms of content consumption took things to another level in 2021 with several of their popular movie heroes making their way to Disney+. Series like "WandaVision," "The Falcon and the Winter Soldier," and most recently "Hawkeye" have further expanded the already impressive Marvel Cinematic Universe.
However, it is not only superheroes that have earned the MCU fans loyal enough to follow the characters wherever they go. One has to agree that Marvel villains have played an important role, as well. While the biggest example of that might be Loki, it is safe to say that other villains, from Josh Brolin's Thanos to Kathryn Hahn's Agatha Harkness, have played a large part in the success of Marvel's stories.
That trend continued in the most recent Marvel series on Disney+, "Hawkeye." The six-episode season saw the return of Wilson Fisk aka Kingpin (Vincent D'Onofrio), who was last seen in Netflix's "Daredevil." In "Hawkeye," the crime lord is the boss pulling strings of Maya Lopez (Alaqua Cox), the Tracksuit Mafia, and even Eleanor Bishop (Vera Farmiga).
Episode 5 of the series revealed Kingpin as the big bad of the show -– the one that Clint/Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) suspected to be the mastermind from the beginning. It appears there may have originally been a different introduction planned for Kingpin, as a deleted scene from the series illustrates.
Deleted scene from Hawkeye introduces Kingpin as Maya's 'uncle'
Kingpin makes his "Hawkeye" debut toward the end of the series when we learn that he has a history with Kate Bishop's (Hailee Steinfeld) mother Eleanor. Eleanor had sought Kingpin to help her after the "Avengers" battle of New York City ended with the death of her husband, leaving her family in massive debt. Over the years, Kingpin used Eleanor to help provide cover for his sinister actions.
In a scene where Eleanor tries to end her association with Kingpin, we see the imposing criminal threaten her with a creepy calmness. However, in a deleted scene from Episode 5 of the series, we see a much warmer (but still menacing) introduction for the villain.
The deleted scene introduces Kingpin in a flashback scene from when Maya Lopez was young. Ditching his white suit look, Kingpin, in an all-black suit, comes to pick up Maya from her martial arts class. He tells her that her father could not come to pick her up, and like any loving uncle, he adds that he would take her for ice cream, to which Maya graciously signs, "Thank you, uncle."
The deleted scene adds another layer of complexity to the villainous character. In the end though, true to his nature, Kingpin turns against Maya as well. Though she shoots him in the season finale, it is not far-fetched to expect Kingpin to return.