No multiverse here: Vincent D'Onofrio says Hawkeye's Kingpin is same as Daredevil's Kingpin

Hawkeye might have wrapped up its first season this week, but the Disney+ show left fans with more than a few questions as the Marvel Cinematic Universe holiday season wrapped to a close, such as exactly who is Laura Barton, Clint's mysterious wife? How does a full version of "I Can Do This All Day" go? And is Vincent D'Onofrio's Wilson Fisk the same Kingpin that featured on Netflix's Daredevil?

Luckily, the man in the big white suit (and Hawaiian shirt) was able to answer that question in an interview with Entertainment Weekly. 

"I know that we were picking up with the same guy," explained D'Onofrio of his fictional crimeboss who not only terrorised the New York City underground crime scene for three whole seasons, but also repeatedly went up against lawyer-turned-masked-vigilante Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox). "It's tough to connect all the dots, but they connected as many as they could and that he had lost a bit of his power because of the Blip. But the idea [was] to bring him into Hawkeye, to have him be that same character that he was in the earlier show, and play him like that."

The Marvel series properly reintroduced D'Onofrio's beloved big bad into the MCU last episode — where he was featured in a blurry photo on a phone screen — after hinting at him for the previous four episodes. It's a big deal for many fans of not only Daredevil but also the MCU in general, as Kingpin remains one of New York City's biggest and most lethal villains, and it's nice to have him on the board again, especially as the world is still trying to figure itself out post-Blip... and now, post-multiverse event. 

Of course, this final episode doesn't clearly spell out Kingpin's fate after his big fight — or hint at whether the show will be returning for a second season, like Loki or The Falcon and the Winter Soldier before it.

"For me to say whether that's going to happen or not, it's impossible to know for sure," says D'Onofrio about his possible return to the show. "I appreciate the warm welcome from all the fans and everybody out there that have been kind of on social media about wanting me back and now having me back. It's just a great thing. Just so they all know, my hope is that we continue. We're just going to have to see what happens. I keep thinking about Daredevil having ended and having to walk away from that. So that's on my mind too. Maybe it is all over. But I can only hope it's not."

But that doesn't mean that D'Onofrio or Fisk's time in the MCU is at a close as there are still a few other ways he can pop up, or at least influence events from a sneaky distance. 

First up, there's the fact that one of his former employees, Maya "Echo" Lopez, will soon be the subject of her own solo series. Seeing as she's the one who finally went up against Kingpin (and possibly ended him), this would give her series a built-in villain, as well as added stakes since they were close enough for her to consider him her "uncle." 

Then there's a possibility he could be behind the crimes on trial in the upcoming She-Hulk show, as many fans have been hoping to see Jennifer Walters (Tatiana Maslany) go toe-to-toe with Matt Murdock in court, or even work together as partners. You know, when he's not out legally defending the alter-egos of certain webslinging heroes... 

At the very least, he might even be responsible for some of the trouble in the New Jersey-based Ms. Marvel, even if it's only for a few episodes. After all, the tracksuit bros could possibly travel and it's not that much of a surprise to see some of NYC's trouble spill over into it's neighboring state. 

Basically, there's plenty of ways to bring him in, let's just hope Marvel picks something quick (bro)!

All six episodes of Hawkeye are available to stream on Disney+. Spider-Man: No Way Home is currently playing in theaters.