Renowned for his portrayal of the Marvel antagonist Kingpin, actor Vincent D’Onofrio has recently discussed revisiting his role in the latest MCU series Echo and disclosed his extended commitment to the character. Having embodied the character since the Netflix adaptation of Daredevil featuring Charlie Cox, D’Onofrio continued his portrayal in Hawkeye alongside Jeremy Renner. The actor is all set to reunite with Cox in the highly anticipated show Daredevil: Born Again.
Despite receiving widespread acclaim for his portrayal of the Marvel villain, the 64-year-old actor has encountered challenges with putting on weight to embody his character. In a recent interview with Comicbook, D’Onofrio shared that the studio addressed these issues with the use of muscle suits in his recent and upcoming Marvel appearances.
Vincent D’Onofrio on Using a Muscle Suit in Echo
Marvel’s formidable villain, Wilson Fisk, aka Kingpin, is known for his imposing stature and physical dominance in the comics. Vincent D’Onofrio, who has played the character since the 2015 series Daredevil, has shared that he always adds around “15 and 20 pounds” to embody Kingpin’s robust presence.
He did the same while reprising his role in the MCU series Hawkeye. But with his age, putting on so much weight for the character has not been the best option for the actor. And Marvel Studios has taken an innovative approach to resolving the issue for D’Onofrio by adding muscle suits to Kingpin’s wardrobe.
The actor expressed his appreciation for this approach in a recent interview, saying,
“I love these new kinds of ways that they actually construct the muscle fat suits that I have to wear. I think they finally work and feel right and look good—That helps a lot because it’s not the healthiest thing in the world to keep putting weight on and taking it off again.”
D’Onofrio also shared that this was his primary concern about reprising the role, as he did not want to keep putting on the weight for the character. However, with the use of these muscle suits, the actor is now willing to play the character as long as the studio desires.
Vincent D’Onofrio Wants to Explore His Marvel Character
Having portrayed the Marvel villain for several years, Vincent D’Onofrio is eager to delve deeper into his character as he continues his journey in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. During his conversation with Comicbook, he expressed his desire to explore his character through a What If…? episode.
“I would just like to explore him in a, outside of the usual teaming up of villain and superhero,” he said, explaining that he wants to bring out more darker side of the character. “Exploring that would be really interesting,” he shared.
While that is yet to be seen, fans are anticipating D’Onofrio’s upcoming appearance in the Marvel series Daredevil: Born Again. Additionally, rumors are circulating about his potential involvement in Tom Holland’s next Spider-Man movie, although the studio has yet to confirm his participation in the movie.
Echo is available to stream on Disney+.
Daredevil: Born Again is expected to be released in 2025.
