No Kingpin In 'The Defenders,' But Could We See Him In An Upcoming Marvel Movie?

Over the weekend, a fairly soft announcement came out in the form of tweets by Vincent D'Onofrio, in regards to his character's status in the Marvel TV universe. D'Onofrio is known for his character, #Kingpin on Netflix's Daredevil series. He last appeared in Season 2 of #Daredevil, where he was imprisoned in Iron Heights prison and working as the criminal mastermind running the prison.

Kingpin Is Not Appearing In 'The Defenders'

No updates have been given about where Kingpin will show up next, so fan speculation immediately moved towards the prospect of Kingpin appearing in the upcoming The Defenders series. However, tweets made by D'Onofrio himself quickly dismissed those rumors.

When the possibility of Kingpin appearing in The Defenders was ruled out, fan queries went to the next logical place: Spider-Man: Homecoming.

Aside from all the obstacles standing in the way of a #MarvelTV crossover with the MCU, fan suggestions still moved towards the potential for D'Onofrio to appear in the upcoming Spider-Man: Homecoming. Since Kingpin is a well known Marvel villain who plays a major part in Spider-Man's world, it seems plausible that Kingpin could appear alongside #SpiderMan.

Vincent D'Onofrio also dismissed the possibility of Kingpin appearing in Spider-Man: Homecoming with the following tweet:

One thing is very apparent when taking into account of all of Vincent D'Onofrio's recent tweets — he doesn't have any upcoming Marvel appearances. It's unclear if D'Onofrio feels like it's time to move to another project, similar to how Hugo Weaving appeared to leave the role of the Red Skull prematurely, or if his next appearance hinges on what takes place in a major MCU event like Avengers: Infinity War.

Could 'Avengers: Infinity War' Change Kingpin's Status Quo In The Marvel Universe?

Presumably speaking, in the scenario of Avengers: Infinity War altering reality or time, the MCU could become a parallel version of itself, wherein Kingpin isn't jailed anymore and clashes with Spider-Man on a regular basis.

Doctor Strange just altered reality in his debut appearance so it wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility for reality to be altered again in Avengers: Infinity War. And it just so happens that the Infinity Stones are going to be present in Avengers: Infinity War, providing the means by which it could happen. If that were to take place, the next logical place for Kingpin to appear is in the sequel to Spider-Man: Homecoming.

If you didn't already know, a sequel to Spider-Man: Homecoming has been confirmed for a 2019 release date (long after Avengers: Infinity War takes place). No details on the plot were given, but Spider-Man: Homecoming 2 would make the most sense for the Kingpin's next appearance.

Is Kingpin Being Held Until 'Spider-Man: Homecoming 2'?

Still speculative for the moment, but with a good chance of Avengers: Infinity War changing the state of the MCU in drastic ways, Kingpin's move from MarvelTV to an MCU film sounds plausible. The Kingpin character also seems to have hit a dead end on Daredevil and isn't appearing in any upcoming MarvelTV projects, so it seems like this is a good time to hit the restart button on Kingpin, and Avengers: Infinity War could see Kingpin crossover to the MCU and become the main antagonist in Spider-Man: Homecoming 2.