Hailee Steinfeld Teases Vincent D’Onofrio’s Kingpin in Hawkeye Finale: “It’s Real Now”

Warning: this story contains spoilers for Marvel’s Hawkeye Episode 5, “Ronin.” Things are getting real on Hawkeye. After putting Clint Barton (Jeremy Renner) in the crosshairs of Tracksuit Mafia manager Maya Lopez (Alaqua Cox) and black widow Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh), “Ronin” reveals the identity of the “big guy” at the top of Maya’s criminal operation: Wilson Fisk, the Kingpin (Daredevil‘s Vincent D’Onofrio). The mob boss in the white suit is the hushed big bad that retired Avenger Clint was worried about — and he’s in business with Eleanor Bishop (Vera Farmiga), the mother of Clint’s protege-slash-partner Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld). 

“It’s a very different experience standing underneath Vincent and hearing him. To be in his presence is really something,” Steinfeld told Entertainment Weekly about taking aim at Daredevil‘s Kingpin in Episode 6. “I’ve been a fan of his for a very long time. It’s always amazing to be a part of something with people that you really admire. I’m excited to see people watch it unfold.” 

The “big guy” is “somebody that [Kate] doesn’t know much about, but she’s been warned. She knows everything she needs to know when she hears Clint say ‘this is the guy I’ve been worried about the whole time,’” Steinfeld said. “That right there is enough for her to need to come to her senses and figure out how to handle the situation. If it didn’t feel real before, it’s real now. After all the partner talk and jokes that have been thrown around, now she has the opportunity to step up to the plate.”

Hawkeye creatives smuggled D’Onofrio onto the set to keep the villain under wraps, but the secret is out: the Kingpin is back, and he’s doing shady business with Kate’s mom. In a separate interview with TVLine, Steinfeld teased audiences are “about to find out” what that episode-ending reveal means for the Bishops. 

“[Kate] has this realization. She’s just completely broken and confused and absolutely lost. She doesn’t know who to trust or who to look to,” she said. “Thank God [for Clint] because if it weren’t for him, she would probably have a much harder time getting back up on her feet after this one.” 

More Hawkeye Coverage
How Hawkeye Kept Its Big Bad Reveal a Secret
Hawkeye Reveals If Marvel’s Daredevil Is MCU Canon
Daredevil Star Vincent D’Onofrio Speaks Out on Kingpin Return in Hawkeye

Episode 6 of Marvel’s Hawkeye premieres Wednesday, December 22 on Disney+.

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