Is Kingpin finally going to take down Spider-Man? Vincent D’Onofrio speaks on the complicated right conundrum between Marvel Studios and Sony Pictures.
Both Spider-Man and Kingpin are back in a big way this year, with Vincent D’Onofrio’s villain serving as the mayor of New York in Daredevil: Born Again season 2, and Tom Holland returning to the silver screen with Spider-Man: Brand New Day. As such, fans are once more wondering when the two characters will finally face off in live-action.
Vincent D’Onofrio recently teased the animosity between Kingpin and Spider-Man on social media, referring to the hero as an “insect”. This led fans to speculate that the tease was a hint that the two characters would fight in the future. And while the actor didn’t confirm anything was planned, he did say that Marvel Studios and Sony Pictures need to figure out the rights issues so it can happen.
“If Sony and Marvel ever get their sh*t together maybe,” D’Onofrio wrote in a recent post. “It’s a complicated rights issue. Hope so.”
The Rights Issues Of Kingpin And Spider-Man
The issue Vincent D’Onofrio is referring to stems back to the complicated deal Marvel Studios struck with Sony Pictures to use characters like Spider-Man in their films. Sony Pictures owns the rights to both Spider-Man and Kingpin in a live-action movie. However, while Marvel Studios made a deal to use Spider-Man in their live-action films, they only made a deal to use Kingpin in their live-action TV shows like Daredevil: Born Again.
The obvious question from that is “why won’t Sony Pictures just let Marvel Studios put Kingpin in a Spider-Man movie?” The answer: we don’t really know. Sony Pictures has played hardball with Marvel Studios a LOT in recent years, so it’s possible that they simply don’t want to set the precedent of villains that appear in Spider-Man movies showing up in other MCU projects.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day swings into theaters July 31st, 2026. Stay tuned for the latest news regarding Spider-Man’s Marvel Cinematic Universe future!
