Wilson Fisk

Wilson Fisk was not always the feared crime boss he would grow up to be. As a child, Wilson was a highly unpopular and chubby boy who was mercilessly picked on by his peers. Not partaking in the usual athletic activities of kids his age, Fisk discovered a knack for uncovering the weaknesses of others—and using them to his advantage. This proved a much-desired skill he'd carry into adulthood as the criminal mastermind of New York.

As he grew, Fisk believed that physical strength was a major factor in building power in the underworld. He committed his first murder at the age of 12 and trained to build up his strength as much as he could, becoming fascinated in the art of sumo wrestling and the academic field of political science. Ravenous for knowledge, he stole books from stores and libraries, while refusing to become just a henchman for local criminal overlords. Instead, he collected his own band of teenage cronies who gave him the nickname of "Kingpin of Crime" by the age of 15.

Fisk usually prefers to work alone, and does ally himself with underlings, and he does not believe are worth his time.

However, there is someone that he cares for. While a good deal of selfishness is needed to force an entire city to submit to one's will, Kingpin actually thinks of someone other than himself when he falls in love with Vanessa, an amnesiac woman who had been brought before him by his employees. She reciprocates his feelings and the two marry and have a son together, Richard. Richard would later become a mid-level adversary to his father as the masked crime boss, the Rose.

Nevertheless, it would be the nighttime activities of Matt Murdock who would prove to the biggest thorn in the side of Wilson Fisk's criminal empire. As Daredevil, Murdock and Kingpin's relationship would come to be characterized as that of cat and mouse. Fisk became Daredevil's main antagonist during a Gang War in 1972. Fisk then became obsessed with eradicating the Devil of Hell's Kitchen after clashing with him in the subsequent years.

Fisk once learned the secret identity of the vigilante and set out to ruin Murdock's life and career when Murdock's girlfriend Karen Page sold him out for a shot of heroin. The hero's bank accounts were frozen by the IRS, his apartment was foreclosed upon, and he was wrongly accused of perjury. To add injury to insult, Kingpin also nearly beat him to death, but Matt was determined to defeat his enemy no matter the cost. After Matt was publicly exposed as the Man without Fear, he turned the tables on his enemy with the help of Captain America and exposed Wilson Fisk as New York's Kingpin of Crime, which led to Fisk's brief incarceration.

The two did team up once in an attempt to take down the ninja gang known as the Hand. Kingpin tried to double cross Matt at the last minute, but Daredevil convinced the Hand to mobilize against Fisk instead.

Still, he could sometimes ally himself with the good guys when it suited his own interests. After being tricked by Red Skull in a Hydra plot to take over America, Fisk actually teamed up with Captain America and S.H.I.E.L.D. to bring down the criminal crew. He would later turn on Steve Rogers in the first Super Hero Civil War, when he offered to give Tony Stark the whereabouts of Captain America.

Vanessa represented much to Fisk, particularly a peace of mind he had lost during his ruthless struggle for power. Fisk once kidnapped the blind wife of a talented doctor, hoping the medical practitioner would cure his amnesiac and mentally unpredictable wife. Daredevil rescued the doctor's wife, removing Kingpin's only piece of collateral. This left the Fisk's wife uncured, and her husband dejected and miserable.

In recent years, Fisk has relied more on his cunning than fancy gadgets to control New York. He took a liking to a low-level member of his criminal enterprise, Janus Jardeesh, during the second Super Hero Civil War—not because Kingpin was feeling magnanimous, but because Jardeesh was an Inhuman who could shield himself from the future predictions of another Inhuman, Ulysses. When other criminals were getting arrested for crimes they hadn't yet perpetrated, based on Ulysses' visions, Fisk was able to keep his New York operation running smoothly without detection.

Kingpin was also recently elected to be the mayor of New York City. Daredevil's fight against his nemesis reached a critical impasse when Matt Murdock was offered the job of deputy mayor. Murdock accepted the job, as it could have proven to be a position to observe Fisk and bring him down. As soon as Fisk took office, however, he outlawed all vigilante activity, and put a warrant out for Daredevil's arrest.

Wilson Fisk is nothing if not ruthlessly determined to wipe out his enemies.