Hawkeye Finally Introduces Fan Favorite Villain to the MCU

Think back in time just a few weeks. Hawkeye Episode 3 showed snippets of Maya Lopez's (Alaqua Cox) upbringing, including a part where her "Uncle" was introduced. After weeks of speculation, that very uncle has now been revealed, putting any such speculation over the character's identity to bed.

Major spoilers up ahead for Hawkeye Episode 5. If you've yet to watch the episode, proceed with caution.

As most suspected, Maya's uncle is none other than one Wilson Fisk—the classic Marvel villain known as Kingpin. In a surprise move, Marvel Studios brought back Vincent D'Onofrio as the character, as the actor last played the character in a critically-acclaimed role in three seasons of Netflix's Daredevil series.

The casting will likely be huge with fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe as it moves forward, especially now that Kingpin is officially in the franchise's primary continuity. Now, the villain can go up against the likes of Spider-Man and create those classic comic book matchups fans have been hungry for.

Fans aren't the only ones thankful the actor is back in the saddle. Last year when we spoke to D'Onofrio, he said felt he had certain ownership over the role.

"I feel very close to that character," D'Onofrio told us at the time. "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."

The first five episodes of Hawkeye are now streaming on Disney+.

What other characters do you hope to see pop up in Hawkeye? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section or by hitting our writer @AdamBarnhardt up on Twitter to chat all things MCU!

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