Thor and The Kingpin

Thor and The Kingpin have an interesting connection. Do you know what it is?

Last week I watched 1987's Adventures in Babysitting for the first time. It was horrible. Please don't waste your time. But I've known since its original release that that movie's storyline somehow involved the Marvel Comics Thor character and I was ready (after 28 years) to find out just exactly how. It turns out that one young character in the film is the biggest fan of Thor in the whole wide world; she always wears a Thor helmet and she even has a Jack Kirby Thor poster hanging in her room. And, near the end of the movie (no spoiler alert here, the thing is 28 years old), the character above shows up in the adventure and the girl is convinced he is the real-life embodiment of Thor. The end.

But wait. Now I'll tell you the interesting part.

That "Thor" character was played by Vincent D'Onofrio. Mr. D'Onofrio made a bigger splash the same year for his role in Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket and, 14 years later, he would star in Law and Order: Criminal Intent which I enjoyed for its entire 10-year run. (Do you know that Criminal Intent had as a writer and producer Mr. Gerry Conway, the same Mr. Conway who wrote many comic books featuring Thor? And many comics featuring The Kingpin? But this still isn't the connection I was going to mention. Keep reading!)

Just this past weekend, Netflix released a full 13-episode streaming season of Marvel's Daredevil. Who do you think plays The Kingpin in this series? Take a look at the photo down below and see for yourself that it is none other than Vincent D'Onofrio. Okay, now I'm done.