Ultimate Kingpin: Part 1

[cyberghostface]

After the 'Ultimate Venom' posts I did last month or so, I figured I'd do a series of posts on the Kingpin from Ultimate Spider-Man. IMO, the Kingpin is one of Bendis's best characters both in and outside of Ultimate. Bendis had a background writing noir/crime comics prior to coming to Marvel, so its not surprising that the first major villain in the series after the Goblin would be Wilson Fisk.

So the first issue is #8. At this point, Spidey is still wet behind the ears and is still learning.







So at the Daily Bugle, Peter looks up his uncle's killer.



Now I thought it was clear, but a number of people thought the bald guy there is the Kingpin. He's not.





#9, Spidey ambushes the Enforcers at their club.







The police arrive and Spidey escapes. The next day, the Daily Bugle accuses Spider-Man of being involved in the mafia.

At the party...







#10...



Kingpin grabs Spidey and asks who sent him. Spidey says Carson Daly. (Ooh, dated pop culture reference) Fisk doesn't know who that is.



So Spidey manages to dodge Electro for a little bit but he's clearly overpowered.





So Spidey wakes up just as he's falling and ends up sliding down the window in front of everybody like a stuck bug. No one cares.

Later, at Fisk's meeting with Mr. Big, Kingpin asks Mr. Big if he knows anything about Spider-Man. The two argue a little, and Mr. Big disrespects Fisk and accuses him of not wanting to get his hands dirty anymore.







Later on, Peter's class is discussing the Nixon tapes. Peter's teacher asks why someone so paranoid would record his every move. Peter thinks back to his encounter with Fisk and remembers the security camera and responds..."Because he thinks he's untouchable."

#11...

So Peter plans on breaking in and stealing evidence of Fisk's crimes from the security cameras. He plans ahead of time by contacting the company that Fisk uses under the guise of a potential client.















#12 is largely a big battle between Spidey, the Enforcers and Electro. Spidey manages to take down the Enforcers.




And Electro gets fried. With Electro down, Spidey plans to leave when he encounters the Kingpin one final time.







Spidey manages to web Kingpin to the wall. He tells him that he didn't come here to fight him; any idiot could do that. He has something much better planned. Kingpin finally manages to break free, but when he does, Spidey is already gone.





This isn't the last Spidey's heard of Fisk, of course...

Comments

[mullon]

I heard the Kingpin was so fat, it took two Skrulls to impersonate him.

[riddler13]

And I LOL'ed! :D

[cainofdreaming]

Ult Electro is kind of new to this whole superhero/supervillain deal so he might get a pardon here, but anyone who has been part of that world should really know that you never threaten the families/loved ones of the heroes. Dramatic necessity will bite you in the buttocks something fierce if you do.

[mistersandman]

Wow, Ultimate Spiderman used to be really good. What happened?

[stolisomancer]

Nothing. It has down arcs and up arcs, but is a perfectly good comic right up until the very end.

[darkknightjrk]

Agreed--it's part of why I can't really say anything too bad about Bendis--dude was able to write a run of a comic that was competent at it's worst for over 10 years.

[lultam]

It got way better after Ultimatum, easily the best thing that came from that god awful event.

[auggie18]

Actually, the recent "Boarding house for homeless teenage superheroes" thing they've been doing recently is probably my favorite Ultimate Spiderman story. It has great character interactions and manages to be dramatic without losing the stuff that makes superhero books fun.

[halloweenjack]

I like Bagley's art generally, and I understand that exaggeration is part of caricature, but I kept being distracted by Fisk's fists being larger than his head.

[stubbleupdate]

Maybe it's acromegaly, or gigantism.

[cainofdreaming]

It's Wilson Fisk. He doesn't even go to the same toilet with realistic body types.

He so fat that they'd have to demolish the building first and rebuild it around him cuz he can't fit through the doorway... Oh, Peter. Now you've got me doing it too.

[icon_uk]

Peter's confrontation with the Kingpin is magnificent, the dramatic build up to what turns out to be a series of awful cracks is superb. He's such a KID about it, being juvenile, and annoying and yet that hits Fisk harder than anything. Fab!

Reminds me somewhat of the Terry/Joker confrontation at the end of BB:RotJ and I mean that as high praise.

[blackruzsa]

All that annoys me about this is that people seem to forget that every inch of Fisk's "fat" is pure muscle.
Which is scary.
Although I can't fault Peter for it because it is SO Peter to do that.

[proteus_lives]

Fisk in the 616verse is a champion in various martial arts including Sumo. He's one tough cookie.

[blackruzsa]

"Like punching a brick wall"
When you hear those words from heroes who actually can punch through brick walls (albeit weak ones) when you talk about Fisk, it's really something.

[big_daddy_d]

I LOOOOOVVEEE THIS ARC! It's my favorite in Ultimate Spider-Man.

[proteus_lives]

That scene where he had written down his zingers is a classic.

Plus, "Find this Carson Daly person and destroy him." Ha!

[pyynk]

Plus, "Find this Carson Daly person and destroy him." Ha!

That line will be forever relevant, least as far as I'm concerned.

[q99]

I do really like the Kingpin arc they have running through several stories in USM :)

[cleome45]

I remain hopeful that someday fat jokes, like fat suits, will be considered more embarrassing than funny.

[shrug]