DAREDEVIL Casts Vincent D'Onofrio as The Kingpin

The Man Without Fear will face off against The Kingpin of Crime.

Marvel has officially confirmed that Vincent D'Onofrio has been cast as Wilson Fisk, better known as The Kingpin, in the Netflix series Daredevil. The 54-year-old actor is perhaps best known as Detective Robert Goren on the NBC series Law and Order: Criminal Intent and as Edgar in the 1997 movie Men in Black.

The Kingpin is described in the announcement as "a powerful businessman whose interests in the future of Hell’s Kitchen will bring him into conflict with the blind attorney Matt Murdock and his alter ego Daredevil."

Created by Stan Lee and John Romita, Sr. in 1967's The Amazing Spider-Man #50, The Kingpin was introduced as a crime boss adversary of Spider-Man but eventually became the arch-enemy of Daredevil.  Over the years, he has used a number of assassins, including Elektra and Bullseye, in various attempts to kill Daredevil, and his son Richard Fisk became the crime lord known as The Rose.

D'Onofrio will be the third actor to portray Daredevil in live action, after John Rhys-Davies in the 1989 television movie The Trial of the Incredible Hulk and Michael Clarke Duncan in the 2003 film Daredevil by Mark Steven Johnson.  He joins Charlie Cox, who was cast last May as Daredevil/Matt Murdock.

“We’re incredibly proud to have an actor with the gravitas and versatility of Vincent joining 'Marvel’s Daredevil' in such an integral role," said Jeph Loeb, Marvel’s Head of Television.  "Wilson Fisk is an iconic villain whose cunning and power make him the dangerous equal of our hero."

Daredevil will air on Netflix sometime in 2015.