Spider-Man Almost Fought Kingpin 16 Years Before The MCU Set Up Their Phase 5 Showdown

16 years before the Marvel Cinematic Universe set up a fight between Spider-Man and The Kingpin in Phase 5, one animated series nearly made the two bitter rivals. The Spectacular Spider-Man is considered one of Spider-Man’s best animated shows after only two seasons, and while it used much of Spider-Man’s iconic rogue’s gallery, Kingpin was notably missing. Tombstone was used as Spider-Man’s primary “mob boss” enemy, though the show’s co-creator Greg Weisman revealed that this was initially not going to be the case.

Wilson Fisk, aka the Kingpin, was introduced as one of Spider-Man’s rogues before gradually becoming the nemesis of Daredevil. Marvel introduced its own on-screen iteration of both Daredevil and Kingpin in the 2015 Netflix series Daredevil, though Fisk would return in the MCU within Marvel’s Hawkeye and the Echo miniseries and will be the antagonist of the forthcoming Daredevil: Born Again. With the MCU’s Spider-Man now a street-level hero, a conflict between Spider-Man and Kingpin seems inevitable in either the Spider-Man 4 story or later, though Spectacular came close to pitting the two against each other in numerous brawls.

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Why Spectacular Spider-Man Couldn’t Use Kingpin

As revealed by Spectacular Spider-Man showrunner Greg Weisman on a forum, Kingpin was considered a Daredevil character during production of the series, rendering him “off-limits.” This development was likely recent, as Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Man canonically fought Kingpin in the Raimi universe’s Spider-Man 3 video game only one year prior to Spectacular’s debut. Moreover, some episode listings for Spectacular refer to Kingpin instead of Tombstone, indicating that the show came close to using Wilson Fisk. Spectacular’s Tombstone is, ultimately, an amalgamation of the Tombstone of the comics and Kingpin, with one aspect making his rivalry with Spider-Man make more sense.

Why Tombstone Made More Sense Than Kingpin

Although Kingpin and Spider-Man have clashed many times in Marvel’s comics and their adaptations, Fisk lacks superpowers and thus takes advantage of the fact that Spider-Man will always hold back while fighting him. Spider-Man can lift up to 10 tons, so he always pulls his punches to some degree when fighting ordinary human opponents, as a single strike could easily be lethal. In J. Michael Straczynski’s “Back in Black” story arc, however, an enraged Spider-Man holds back less than usual in a fight with Kingpin and makes short work of him with no effort.

Unlike Kingpin, however, Tombstone possesses superhuman strength and durability, allowing him to believably engage in prolonged brawls with Spider-Man. Spectacular’s version of Tombstone may take many cues from Kingpin, but he has the advantage of superpowers, making his fights with Spider-Man even better, as Peter struggles against him without reigning in his own superhuman strength. Although Spider-Man and Kingpin are likely due to battle each other in the MCU, the latter’s impressive yet non-superhuman abilities mean that their brawl might not be quite as satisfying as Spider-Man’s clashes with Tombstone in Spectacular.