Vincent D’Onofrio knew the chaos he would unleash with that Hawkeye tweet

In one way, it could’ve been read as an innocent, excited tweet. In another, it had a much deeper meaning. And Vincent D’Onofrio knew that.

Wenlei Ma

@wenleima

3 min read

January 4, 2022 - 2:33PM

SPOILERS FOR HAWKEYE AND MILD SPOILER FOR SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME

Vincent D’Onofrio knew what he was doing when he wrote that tweet.

You know the one. Posted on November 18, the veteran screen star quote tweeted a missive from Marvel Studios about the then-upcoming Hawkeye Disney+ miniseries. He wrote, “This is going to be fun. I love these @Marvel series.”

Such innocent words set off a firestorm of speculation about whether D’Onofrio was going to reprise his formidable Daredevil villain, the white-suited crime lord Kingpin/Wilson Fisk.

“So, my sons are big Marvel fans,” D’Onofrio told news.com.au. “I have a 21-year-old and 13-year-old, so I was with them when I tweeted that, and we were actually excited about Hawkeye, so there’s that.

“Did I, somewhere, know that people are going to say, ‘Oh, is this going to be a thing? Is he trying to say something?’. I knew that.”

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Vincent D'Onofrio in Hawkeye. Picture: Disney+

D’Onofrio first joined the onscreen Marvel world in the first series of Daredevil in 2015 and his commanding presence as one of the most fearsome antagonists of the comic universe sparked fierce loyalty from fans.

When the show wrapped up in 2018, he assumed his time playing Fisk was done.

“There was a while there after Daredevil that I thought it was over for good,” D’Onofrio said. “I supported the fans that wanted it to come back, and I still do, but in this business, you get used to walking away from stuff. That’s what you do, so, I did like I normally do.

“So, it was really nice earlier this year when [Marvel Studios boss] Kevin [Feige] called me and told me what he had on his mind.”

D’Onofrio’s reveal as the ultimate villain behind the shenanigans of Hawkeye, a streaming series that follows Jeremy Renner’s Avenger Clint Barton and introduces Hailee Steinfeld as next-generation super archer Kate Bishop, was teased before he was seen.

Devoted and eagle-eyed fans who were already primed after D’Onofrio’s tweet, jumped up in excitement when a familiar, off-screen laugh punctuated a scene in the third episode.

It was another two weeks before his return was confirmed, but D’Onofrio’s homecoming coincided with another development in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Marvel's Daredevil

D’Onofrio’s Fisk was the foe of Charlie Cox’s Daredevil/Matt Murdock – and up until now, the Daredevil series, along with its Netflix Marvel stablemates, had not been confirmed as MCU canon.

The six Marvel shows on Netflix, which also included Jessica Jones and The Punisher, were ostensibly entwined with the MCU movies in that they referenced things that happened in the films, but it wasn’t reciprocated – in part due to a now-defunct structure which previously separated the Marvel movies and TV shows under different studio divisions.

That split has now been consolidated under Feige who oversees all Marvel Studios projects, including its burgeoning slate of Disney+ streaming series.

With D’Onofrio and Cox (who briefly reprises his Matt Murdock role in Spider-Man: No Way Home) now firmly in the MCU, it retroactively pulls in the Netflix shows into this world though one suspects not every character or aspect will surface again.

Vincent D’Onofrio recently attended the AACTA Awards in Sydney. Picture: Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images for AFI

For D’Onofrio, it’s all about the fun of slipping into Fisk’s skin again.

“If people don’t already know this, I really enjoyed playing the character,” he said. “It’s such a great character.

“When I first started to create the character for Daredevil, I realised it’s really going to be enjoyable for me, even though it’s stressful at times because of the character’s life history, and he displays a lot of emotional anger.

“That’s not always the way I would want to spend my days in real life. But overall, the idea of doing this kind of stuff and playing this part is just fun.”

And D’Onofrio hopes to do it again – because we don’t actually see Fisk die at the end of Hawkeye as the camera pans away while the shot rings out from a gun seemingly aimed at him.