50 Greatest Super Villains In Comic Book History

21. Kingpin

(Write-up by Matt Conner, Bam Smack Pow Staff Writer)

Wilson Fisk has been running organized crime in the Marvel Universe since the early days of The Amazing Spider-Man, and this led to plenty of trouble for the teenaged Peter Parker, but his character is now most intimately tied to Daredevil. Many of the great villains on this list have a lot of scary powers. The Mandarin’s got a few rings, Sinestro leads a space army, Doomsday killed Superman in the face. Many of the villains have killed a ton of people. Carnage went on a spree through New York with his stabby alien costume, while Ozymandias took out millions of Manhattan residents in an instant.

The Kingpin is a different kind of villain. He’s uncomfortably realistic in a way that we don’t talk about. Yes, we enjoy Tony Soprano when he’s a funny family man. But when we consider that our innocence will not protect us from the theft and violence stemming from the secret economy of weapons, drugs, and human trafficking … chills. The Kingpin doesn’t have magic rings. He has a keen mind for strategy, an intimidating physical presence, and a cool tolerance for vice. He is indirectly linked to most of the mundane crimes occurring just off-panel in most of Marvel’s New York comics, but what makes him a terrifying foe is not the breadth of his reach.

It’s that when The Kingpin wants to hurt you, he doesn’t stop until your world is ash.

He destroyed Matt Murdock’s world, including his professional life as a lawyer and his social life. He employed assassins like Elektra and Bullseye, targeting the friends and lovers who kept Murdock sane. He gave Spider-Man’s girlfriend powers to fit her Black Cat identity and used them to rope her into a crime spree. As much as heroes talk about needing secret identities to protect those around them, this is one of the only times someone resourceful and ruthless made use of the trope.

I don’t walk to my car across a dark, empty lot and worry that Carnage is behind that dumpster or that Sinestro is in the sky. But the idea that I might get mugged, that it may be intentional because my brother has offended someone really important, and it’ll look like an accident … Tell me that idea doesn’t scare you from time to time? Then try to make a case that the Kingpin isn’t one of the greatest villains ever.

Next: No. 20: The Demon's Head