How Kingpin Became Strong Enough To Crush A Character's Head Perfectly Explained By Daredevil: Born Again Episode 9 Directors

By Ollie Bradley

Published Apr 16, 2025

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Warning! This article contains SPOILERS for Daredevil: Born Againthe MCU's most violent villains, with his head-crushing scene being a prime demonstration of that fact.

The directors of the final episode, Aaron Moorhead and Justin Benson, discussed in an interview with Brandon Davis on YouTube how his most violent moment resulted from his intently gaining mass after becoming New York mayor to return to his former strength. This was after Kingpin had purposefully shed weight to help him attain his political office, only to spend the following months after his success eating "carb bombs" in his dungeon to help return to his previous might. The full interview can be seen below, with their comments coming at around 05:26.

Aaron Moorhead's full quote is as follows:

"What's really important is he's eating really lightly in order to become mayor. But once he becomes mayor...we actually used to have a line in episode 1 is when he's about to announce his candidacy for mayor, he says "It's time." But we did a take where he says "It's time to grow," and we meant that to be a double...have a double meaning where it's like of course we grow outside of our criminal enterprise but he means it literally, he needs to get bigger."

What The Daredevil: Born Again Directors' Kingpin Comments Mean

Kingpin Needs To Consume Calories To Gain Muscle

One of Kingpin's most defining characteristics is his particularly imposing stature, wielding his size and brawn to dominate any room. Daredevil: Born Again finale directors Moorhead and Benson, who also directed the first episode of the series, explain here that Wilson Fisk transforming into a comparatively diminutive version of his former self was an intentional way of distancing himself from the Kingpin persona. Doing so helped him earn the trust of enough New Yorkers to win office and begin imposing his will with more legitimate authority.

Wilson Fisk also ditches his distinctive white suit while running for office before embracing his previous wardrobe as he publicly returns to his villainy.

Gaining mass is an important part of getting stronger, which is why Fisk immediately began substituting his egg white omelet and asparagus with a huge plate of pasta and sausage. Fisk was presumably pairing this period of bulking with a considerable training regimen to gain the muscle required to crush a human skull. Despite being called "fat" in this episode by Punisher, Fisk traditionally boasts far more muscle mass than fat. Gaining this muscle still requires consuming the necessary amount of calories.

Our Take On The Daredevil: Born Again Directors' Kingpin Comments

Kingpin's Weight Gain Was A Perfectly Subtle Way Of Hinting At His Intentions

Although the Daredevil: Born Again series finale directors explain their reasoning in the Brandon Davis interview, I appreciate how the series subtly illustrated Kingpin's ultimate intention to publicly embrace his previous persona. Now he is in office, Kingpin is more untouchable than ever and more at liberty to return to his true, villainous self. Illustrating his return to his physical prowess with such a gruesomely violent act was also a perfectly shocking way of punctuating the first series, and I know I'm not alone in quietly celebrating Kingpin's return to form.