Hawkeye's Hailee Steinfeld teases finale showdown with Vincent D'Onofrio's Kingpin: 'It's real now'

You better watch out, you better not cry, you better not pout, we're telling you why... Kingpin is coming to next week's Hawkeye finale. And not just any old Wilson Fisk will do — Marvel Studios was smart enough to give fans what they've been clamoring for by asking Vincent D'Onofrio to reprise the classic villain he made so iconic by way of Netflix's Daredevil series.

The Netflix side of the Marvel Universe is barreling towards the mainstream Marvel Cinematic Universe like an out-of-control freight train and nothing can stop it. Well, maybe Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld) and Clint Barton (Jeremy Renner) can, but if Kate's mother is mixed up with Fisk's criminal empire, taking down the big guy at the top of the felonious food chain won't be as easy as it might have seemed once upon a time.

Luckily, Ms. Steinfeld already has some experience battling the Kingpin after her animated version of Gwen Stacy helped take down the very same baddie (voiced by Liev Schreiber) in the Oscar-winning Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. Doing something similar in the realm of live-action, however, is another story altogether.

"It's a very different experience standing underneath Vincent and hearing him," the actress recently told Entertainment Weekly, essentially confirming that Kate and Clint come face-to-face with D'Onofrio's dangerous crime boss with a mercurial temper in the big series conclusion. "To be in his presence is really something. I've been a fan of his for a very long time. It's always amazing to be a part of something with people that you really admire. I'm excited to see people watch it unfold."

Photo: Marvel Studios

While Kate doesn't know much about the guy, the overarching threat he presents is impressed upon her in the final moments of Episode 5 ("Ronin") when Clint's worst fears are confirmed by the photo Yelena (Florence Pugh) took of Kate and Fisk together.

"She knows everything she needs to know when she hears Clint say, 'This is the guy I've been worried about the whole time,'" Steinfeld continued during her chat with EW. "That right there is enough for her to need to come to her senses and figure out how to handle the situation. If it didn't feel real before, it's real now. After all the partner talk and jokes that have been thrown around, now she has the opportunity to step up to the plate."

After the release of Episode 3 ("Echoes"), die-hard fans knew it was only a matter of time until Kingpin reared his shining bald head. Both he and Maya share a common history in the comics, where Fisk became a surrogate parent to the young girl after murdering her real father. Hopefully, we'll get to see a lot more of the hairless antagonist beyond the confines of Hawkeye. In fact, there's a very good chance he's being set up as the big bad for the Echo spinoff show.

Help us, Matt Murdock...you're our only hope!

The sixth and final episode of Hawkeye premieres on Disney+ next Wednesday (Dec. 22).