Vincent D'Onofrio: Wilson Fisk's Movie Rights Issues

It turns out that our favorite Hell's Kitchen villain, Wilson Fisk, portrayed by Vincent D’Onofrio, is off-limits for the big screen. In a recent interview on the Happy Sad Confused podcast with Josh Horowitz, D’Onofrio shared some disheartening news about his character's future in the Marvel universe.

"The only thing I know is not positive," D’Onofrio revealed. "It's a very hard thing for Marvel to use my character. It's a very hard thing to do because of ownership and stuff."

He elaborated further, stating, “I’m only usable for television shows. Not even a one-off Wilson Fisk movie. It’s all caught up in rights and stuff. I don’t know when that would work out—or if it ever would work out at all.”

This revelation effectively rules out any appearances by D’Onofrio’s Fisk in Marvel Cinematic Universe movies, including the upcoming Spider-Man: Brand New Day and Avengers: Doomsday. This also raises questions about potential future projects, such as a Charlie Cox-led Daredevil movie, where fans would expect to see D’Onofrio reprise his role as the iconic villain.

In a recent interview with IGN, D’Onofrio discussed his influences, particularly the everyman performances of actors like Harrison Ford. “Anytime they were in a fight, or they were holding a gun, they looked nervous,” he said. “They carried their own humility into the action scenes with them. And I always thought that that was the way to go. That made it look real to me. Gary Cooper in Sergeant York, when he takes aim, when he becomes the sniper, it's the humility in his eyes that you see. It's amazing. I think that helps action stuff a lot. We're all very conscious of that.”

Currently, fans can catch D’Onofrio in action as Season 1 of Daredevil: Born Again airs week-to-week on Disney+, with the finale set to premiere on April 15, 2025.