Hawkeye's Echo Spinoff Needs to Bring Back Vincent D'Onofrio's Kingpin

Hawkeye is currently in production and when it hits Disney+ later this year, it will feature Alaqua Cox as Echo — the Marvel Comics vigilante better known as Echo. The actor has been such a resounding success during the production, Marvel Studios has already pushed an Echo spinoff into development. That means, maybe — just maybe — we could finally see the return of Kingpin and other Daredevil-centric characters.

Having served as a longtime supporting character of Daredevil, the character has always had close ties with longtime Marvel villain Wilson Fisk. In fact, those ties are so close, it's virtually impossible to tell an accurate origin story without involving the character in some shape, way, or form.

Since the Marvel Cinematic Universe already has a Kingpin — the fan-favorite villain played by Vincent D'Onofrio — that means the Hawkeye spinoff could be the ideal place for a reintroduction. But let's start with Echo's origin to show just how important Kingpin is to the character's introduction.

Introduced in Daredevil #9 (December 1999), Maya Lopez was just a child when Fisk killed her father, Willie "Crazy Horse" Lincoln. With his final breath, Lincoln begged Kingpin to raise Maya right, and so he did. Fisk raised Lopez — a deaf Native American character — as if she were his own.

Because of that, she initially served as an assassin on behalf of Kingpin and his criminal enterprise, initially appearing opposite of Matt Murdock as a villain.

Combined with the ever-growing #SaveDaredevil movement, and D'Onofrio's acclaimed performance as the villain — it's a no-brainer for Marvel Studios to finally bring the character back. After all, the actor feels like it's a role that belongs to him.

"I feel very close to that character," the actor told us last year. "I do have to say, I do feel like that character is mine and it's only because I played him for those three seasons and was so close with him."

He added, "I do feel very close to that character just for like nostalgia and just connected to that character through my performance. So I think that any offer to play him again would be, I would definitely have a really good look at for sure."

All three seasons of Daredevil are now streaming on Netflix.

What other DefendersVerse characters would you like to see reintroduced to the MCU? Let us know your thoughts either in the comments section or by hitting our writer @AdamBarnhardt up on Twitter to chat all things MCU!