The Kingpin (Matthew Michael Murdock) is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. He was created by Jason Latour and Robbi Rodriguez. The character debuted in Edge of Spider-Verse issue #2 as part of the 2014–15 "Spider-Verse" comic book storyline as the archenemy of Gwen Stacy / Spider-Woman, continuing into the ongoing series Spider-Gwen that began in 2015. The "Kingpin" name is a reference to the crime lord title in Mafia slang nomenclature.
Murdock is a variant of Kingpin and an alternate-universe version of Matt Murdock / Daredevil. He lives on Earth-65, where Murdock's origin is the same as his Earth-616 counterpart, being blinded as a child before being trained by the similarly blinded Stick to hone his consequentially acquired physical abilities and superhuman senses following his father Jack's murder, diverting when Stick is also killed by ninjas working for the Hand, whom Murdock then kills. Impressed by his abilities, the Hand recruits Murdock to become an assassin in Japan, rising through their ranks before being sent back to New York City, receiving a law degree and rising to become the head of organized crime. After his designated patsy and best friend Wilson Fisk is falsely arrested by George Stacy as the Kingpin, Murdock has a midlife crisis and considers suicide before sensing a kindred spirit in passing superhero (and wanted murderer) Spider-Woman, and electing to attempt to mold her into his apprentice, personal enforcer, and eventual successor. Murdock also becomes romantically involved with S.I.L.K. CEO Cindy Moon, the billionaire responsible for Spider-Woman's powers.
A young version of the character makes a silent cameo appearance in the 2018 animated feature film Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.
Publication history
In the primary continuity of the comic books constituting the Marvel Universe, blind lawyer Matt Murdock is the superhero Daredevil, whose archenemy is the crime lord Kingpin. This primary version of Matt Murdock was introduced in Daredevil #1 (April 1964). The concept of an alternate-universe, supervillain Matt Murdock-incarnation of Kingpin was first conceptualised by Jason Latour, after he was approached by Spider-Man editor Nick Lowe on request of writer Dan Slott to write a stand-alone issue for the 2014–15 "Spider-Verse" event, following a similarly alternate-universe superhero "spider-powered Gwen Stacy", conceiving of Murdock as their nemesis, with Robbi Rodriguez approached to design Murdock and the title character. The character debuted in Edge of Spider-Verse #2 on September 17, 2014.
In October 2014, Nick Lowe announced at New York Comic Con 2014 that a Spider-Gwen ongoing series would be released, retaining Murdock as its main antagonist. Murdock was then featured as the joint main antagonist (along with billionaire S.I.L.K. CEO Cindy Moon) of the multi-part crossover Spider-Women, commencing with Spider-Women Alpha #1 and ending with Spider-Women Omega #1, with certain issues of Spider-Woman, Silk and Spider-Gwen partially depicting the storyline in between.
Fictional character biography
Early life and rise to power
Born to workman Jack Murdock and paralegal/actress Maggie Murdock, young Matt Murdock is accompanying his mother home from rehearsals for her new play when the two are involved in a truck accident, leaving Maggie comatose and blinding Matt, who finds that his remaining senses have been enhanced to superhuman levels by the chemicals which blinded him. To pay their medical bills, Jack becomes a professional boxer, working up his way through their ranks until discovering that his fights had been rigged by the crime boss Silvermane. While initially agreeing to lose the championship match in exchange for a payoff, driven by pride and frustration, Jack instead knocks out his opponent, winning. While Jack out celebrating with Matt, Silverman sends his men to kill them in revenge, killing Jack in front of Matt before Matt is saved by the vigilante Stick. Recognizing his abilities, Stick takes Matt under his wing to take on New York's criminal syndicates. After Stick is killed by ninja employed by Silvermane on loan from the Hand, Matt kills those personally responsible before submitting in defeat to their brethren. Impressed by his skill, the Hand decides to recruit Matt, bringing him to Japan to train him as an assassin, where he becomes a citizen.