Is the MCU Heading Towards a New Civil War?

The Setup for a Second Civil War

Disney+'s Echo might have subtly laid the ground for a new Marvel Cinematic Universe Civil War. The MCU had one of its biggest events in 2016's Captain America: Civil War, which continues to be one of the MCU's best movies to this day. Captain America: Civil War featured a major conflict between the MCU's superheroes, with Chris Evans' Captain America and Robert Downey Jr.'s Iron Man assembling their own teams and going up against each other in a story that felt both grand and incredibly intimate at the same time. Captain America: Civil War was essentially an Avengers movie in disguise.

Iron Man and Captain America's teams staring each other in Captain America: Civil War poster

Marvel's Echo series, the MCU's first release of 2024, has set up the perfect way for the MCU to bring another Civil War event to the big screen. While Echo focused on a rather personal tale for Alaqua Cox's Maya Lopez, who reconciled with her past and rose to a new level with the help of her ancestors, it also provided some interesting developments for Vincent D'Onofrio's Wilson Fisk. While Kingpin was a formidable foe to Charlie Cox's Daredevil in the hero's Netflix series, Fisk seems destined for bigger things in future MCU movies and shows, and that could lead to Marvel Studios' second Civil War.

Vincent D'Onofio's Kingpin in the MCU's Hawkeye series

Echo's post-credits scene set up Vincent D'Onofrio's Wilson Fisk, aka Kingpin, to become the Mayor of New York City in the MCU. The MCU TV series showed Fisk paying a lot of attention to a TV discussion about how New York needs 'a fighter' as its next candidate, with the question of 'Is that candidate even out there?' making Kingpin lean forward, teasing what his MCU future might be. While Echo gives the first concrete tease that Kingpin will become the Mayor of New York City in the MCU, D'Onofrio's character has long been rumored to occupy that role in future Marvel projects.

Kingpin sports a white suit in Daredevil

The rumors about Kingpin becoming New York City's Mayor seemed to be right when Daredevil: Born Again details came out, revealing that 'Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox) and Wilson Fisk (Vincent D'Onofrio) try to leave behind their darker alter-egos to serve the people of New York only to have their pasts catch up to them.' One of the rumored plotlines for the new Daredevil series was that Fisk would be using his influence as New York's Mayor to directly target Daredevil and other vigilantes, which is how Jon Bernthal's Punisher is expected to come into the fold.

kingpin fighting kate bishop in hawkeye

With Echo's tease that Fisk will be part of New York's mayoral race in the MCU, Kingpin's MCU future could see him bring a second Civil War to the MCU. While the Sokovia Accords — the cause behind the MCU's first Civil War — were bad enough for the superhero community, trying to force heroes into operating under the government, Kingpin as New York's Mayor would be worse. In the comics, Kingpin outlawed superheroes in New York City, sending his own supervillain team to enforce the law. Marvel's Spider-Man 4 is rumored to adapt that story, which would give the MCU a second Civil War, this time with NYC's heroes against villains.

Kingpin with a hat in Hawkeye.

The Potential Impact and Payoff

In the comic book event where Kingpin waged war against New York's superheroes, Devil's Reign, Fisk assembled his version of the Thunderbolts. The comic book team included villains like Taskmaster, Rhino, Kraven, and more. The MCU is getting ready to introduce its own version of the team; however, the roster of Marvel's Thunderbolts movie, with characters like Bucky Barnes and Yelena Belova, would be unlikely to operate under Fisk's orders. Thunderbolts could end by setting up a new version of the team that is more likely to align with Fisk's goals, as the superpowered team works under government influence and could be used by Mayor Fisk.

Promotional image of the MCU Thunderbolts standing together

Fisk's Thunderbolts hunting down NYC's heroes would not be the only way for the MCU's second Civil War to continue ongoing stories from the universe. Disney+'s Falcon and the Winter Soldier showed Captain America — John Walker — killing someone in cold blood, which shocked the world and impacted the public view of superheroes. The series also showed with Zemo and the Flag Smashers that no matter how many people heroes save, there will always be those who think they are a threat. More recently, Secret Invasion's reveal that the Skrulls infiltrated Earth, with highly-publicized killings of prominent people who were Skrulls, is bound to shift public opinion on heroes as well.

Maya points a gun at the Kingpin in Hawkeye

All of that could lead to New York's citizens backing Fisk's decision to outlaw superheroes, which would make life harder for Daredevil, Spider-Man, and the rest of Marvel's street-level characters in the Big Apple. Even without the smear campaign that would likely come from Fisk, public opinion on the MCU's heroes has always been divided. Previous Avengers movies showed that quite clear, with Avengers: Age of Ultron even featuring Sokovian citizens attacking the Iron Legion that had been dispatched to help them. Following the seeming conclusion to his plot with Maya in Echo, Fisk could turn his focus to potentializing the public's doubts and turning citizens against heroes.

The Impending Danger and Stakes

Captain America: Civil War featured a major battle between Iron Man and Captain America's teams of heroes. While Black Panther was fighting more viciously due to his father's death and Rhodey ended up getting shot out of the sky and losing the movement of his legs in an accident, the movie presented less of a threat to the heroes than the possible Civil War that Fisk could start. While the two teams had solid reasons to fight, as all involved members were heroes, they were not trying to kill each other.

Wilson Fisk is a murderer, as shown by Netflix's Daredevil and Disney+'s Echo. It is unlikely that if he were to outlaw New York's heroes, Fisk would just want to regulate and imprison the heroes. The MCU's Kingpin would be more likely to use a supervillain team like the comics' Thunderbolts to hunt down the heroes and kill anyone they find. With Echo being the MCU's first TV-MA series — which Daredevil: Born Again could follow — and Deadpool 3 Marvel Studios' first R-rated movie, the MCU is clearly not afraid of getting bloody anymore, and Mayor Fisk could take some heroes' lives in a possible second MCU Civil War.