What happened to Kingpin before Marvel's Echo?

Once the most powerful crime boss in New York City, Kingpin experienced a dramatic fall from grace after popping up on the radar of lawyer-turned-vigilante Matt Murdock aka Daredevil (Charlie Cox).

Of course, those events are only ambiguously canon at this time (more on that later), with Kingpin's formal MCU debut coming much later on in 2021's Hawkeye. Suffice to say, it's a complicated web to unravel, but let's get through it together.

Here's your quick briefing on what's been going on with Kingpin prior to his Echo appearance.

What happened to Kingpin before Marvel's Echo?

Vincent D'Onofrio made his debut as fearsome comic book villain Kingpin back in 2015, when he joined the cast of the Marvel streaming series Daredevil, which debuted on Netflix.

The performance was hailed as complex and chilling, with D'Onofrio keeping a calm, subdued demeanour that could erupt at any moment into bouts of fury and extreme violence.

It was quite believable that this cold and calculating Wilson Fisk could have covertly built a criminal empire in New York City, while going to great lengths to conceal his identity from the press and law enforcement.

That is, until vigilante Matt Murdock (better known as Daredevil) locked onto his trail of suffering.

The lawyer worked alongside his associates, Foggy Nelson (Elden Henson) and Karen Page (Deborah Ann Woll), to form a criminal case against Fisk, which hinged on the testimony of a corrupt cop compelled by a certain masked man to confess.

After his properties were stormed by authorities, Fisk was arrested, but very nearly evaded justice following a breakout attempt by the mercenary groups on his payroll.

Fortunately, Daredevil intervened and engaged Fisk in a brutal one-on-one fight, which ended in the latter's defeat. But the story didn't end there.

Following a stint in jail, Fisk returns to rebuild his life in season 3, taking the battle into the public sphere by rehabilitating his image in the media (while soiling Daredevil's by hiring a violent imposter to don the suit).

Suffice to say, claims that he is on the straight and narrow are greatly exaggerated, with Matt, Foggy and Karen again focused on exposing him for the sinister figure he is.

It all blows up on the day of Kingpin's wedding to the love of his life, Vanessa Marianna (Ayelet Zurer), who is a rather unsavoury character herself – having ordered the murder of FBI agent Ray Nadeem (Jay Ali), who was an ally to Matt.

The ill-fated operative has the last laugh, however, using his dying breath to record a voice message that incriminates the seemingly squeaky clean Fisk once again.

Of course, the story couldn't truly end without some more punching, so another bone-crunching fight ensues. Matt wins (shock), but decides not to kill Fisk as that would violate his firmly-held ethics.

Are the Marvel Netflix shows canon?

Here's where things get complicated. All of the above maybe didn't happen in the MCU (or maybe it did).

In a manner that would become increasingly prevalent in years to come, Netflix's Daredevil came to an abrupt stop – there are several theories as to what exactly went down, including disagreements between Netflix and Marvel Television, Daredevil failing to hit that algorithmic sweet spot and the announcement of Disney Plus firing up the streaming wars.

Whatever the case, the outcome is the same. We never got Daredevil season 4 – despite fans and the show's own creative team wishing for it to happen – with a contractual obligation preventing Marvel from using the characters for two years.

When that lapsed, they began cropping up again, kicking off with an appearance from Kingpin in Marvel's Hawkeye.

However, fans were confused whether Daredevil – a project from the now-defunct Marvel Television – shared the same continuity as the firmly MCU-based Hawkeye.

The character's appearance was criticised for being less severe and intimidating than viewers had grown accustomed to, while there was no reference to Daredevil characters close to Kingpin, such as Vanessa.

Likewise, that earlier show had never mentioned Maya Lopez aka Echo (Alaqua Cox), who is depicted in Hawkeye and her own spin-off series as someone who has a long history with Fisk.

Despite these inconsistencies, executive producer Brad Winderbaum has recently suggested that Daredevil does indeed take place in the same "sacred timeline" as Hawkeye, Echo and the like.

He explained to ScreenRant: "I can say that up until this point, we've been a little bit cagey about what's Sacred Timeline, what's not Sacred Timeline... It was another part of the company developing the Netflix stuff.

"But now that some time has passed; now that we see actually how well integrated the stories are, I think that I personally, Brad Winderbaum, would be confident in saying it is part of the Sacred Timeline."

Of course, his personal view – as he was careful to emphasise – doesn't necessarily mean that Echo is beholden to the events of Daredevil and the other Marvel/Netflix shows.

So basically, no one really knows.

Still, it's probably worth having a rough idea of what went down in Daredevil as Fisk and Murdock seem to be on a collision course once more.

How did Kingpin survive after Hawkeye?

Things don't go well for Fisk in Hawkeye – a show that does have a major impact on Echo.

In one of the final scenes, his adoptive daughter, Maya, confronts him in an alley as he scampers away from a mildly embarrassing fight with Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld).

Maya is rightly furious after discovering he orchestrated the events that led to the murder of her biological father. Seeking revenge, she aims her gun at him and fires as the camera cuts away, leaving his fate unknown until now.

The scene was inspired by a comic book storyline in which Echo shoots Kingpin, but the villain survives the attack, with this MCU adaptation following suit.

In the Echo trailer, it was confirmed that Fisk would return, with one clip seeing him sport an eye patch that suggests the gunshot wound was contained to this area of his face.

At the end of the first episode, we find the former crime boss in hospital, receiving treatment for his injury. In short: it was a close call, but not quite the killing blow.

And you know what they say about taking shots at a king... you'd better not miss.

Marvel's Echo is available to stream on Disney Plus. Sign up to Disney Plus for £7.99 a month or £79.90 for a year.

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