Marvel's Vincent D'Onofrio Backpedals On Lex Luthor Comments

Vincent D'Onofrio's Kingpin smiling in his white suit

In the recently released Daredevil season 3 on Netflix, Vincent D'Onofrio once again proved why his Kingpin is one of, if not the greatest MCU villain. Seemingly in recognition of this, the actor was asked if he would be interested in playing another Marvel character, to which he responded that he wouldn't, and would instead play Superman nemesis Lex Luthor over at DC. Now the actor has backpedaled a bit on those comments, as you can see below.

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In case you missed Vincent D'Onofrio's original comment, here's the response he gave in full when asked what other character he'd like to play on Daredevil:

I wouldn't. I'd jump over to DC and play Lex.

It seems like Vincent D'Onofrio didn't quite realize that his simple hypothetical response to a fan question on Twitter would cause such excitement about something that isn't actually happening. Those ignoring or not being made aware of the context of the tweet could have quickly fallen down the rabbit hole to 'Vincent D'Onofrio Cast As Lex Luthor' headlines. It appears Vincent D'Onofrio took it all in good fun, but perhaps thought it prudent to delete the tweet before such conclusions were jumped to.

In the digital age, especially on social media, what people say often gets taken out of context, so it makes sense that Vincent D'Onofrio backpedaled a bit so as not to allow a comment he probably didn't put a lot of thought in to to get out of hand.

Even if Vincent D'Onofrio didn't expect people to run with the idea of him as Lex Luthor, getting started on fan art and the like, it's easy to see why the mere notion caused such excitement.

On Daredevil, Vincent D'Onofrio's Wilson Fisk is everything you could want from a great comic book villain. He's evil, terrifying and powerful, posing as much a mental threat as a physical one. But he's also a complex and, at times, sympathetic character, with a difficult past and positive qualities like his unconditional love for Vanessa. Vincent D'Onofrio conveys all of this in his performance, making you both hate Fisk and feel sorry for him.

So needless to say, having an actor of his caliber play Lex Luthor, or any character for that, matter would be an easy thing to get behind. And since he's also bald as the Kingpin, it makes it easy to imagine the actor playing the equally chrome-domed Lex Luthor.

Luthor and Fisk aren't entirely dissimilar characters either. They are both at times public figures and pillars of the community; roles that mask their dastardly deeds as criminal masterminds. Lex Luthor isn't traditionally the hulking brute that the Kingpin is, but Lex Luthor isn't usually portrayed the way Jesse Eisenberg played him in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice either.

That is perhaps part of what made Vincent D'Onofrio's hypothetical so alluring to fans. With the status of Henry Cavill's Superman unknown and really the DCEU as a whole in a constant state of flux, it doesn't seem impossible that Superman and his archenemy Lex Luthor will be getting rebooted before long, at which point casting speculation would begin.

Personally, I'd just love to see more of Kingpin in Daredevil and ideally, on the big screen opposite characters like Spider-Man, allowing more people to see Vincent D'Onofrio's brilliant performance as one of the MCU's best villains. But those of you interested in seeing a big screen Kingpin are still in luck, as Liev Schreiber is voicing the character in the upcoming Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.

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Nick Evans

Nick grew up in Maryland has degrees in Film Studies and Communications. His life goal is to walk the earth, meet people and get into adventures. He’s also still looking for The Adventures of Pete and Pete season 3 on DVD if anyone has a lead.