The Kingpin is exploiting immigration law to become a citizen of the X-Men’s paradise

The Kingpin is exploiting immigration law to become a citizen of the X-Men’s paradise

Time Stamp: March 13, 2023 4:00 PM
Source Node: 2012673

As a supervillain, Wilson Fisk — aka the Kingpin — knows no loyalty, even to his enemies. While he was created in the pages of a Spider-Man comic, he has no qualms about menacing Daredevil as well, or the Punisher, or Luke Cage, or pretty much any street-level superhero in Marvel’s New York City. But this past week he’s set his sights considerably farther afield by claiming asylum on Krakoa, the paradise island that exists only for mutants.

If you’re confused, there’s good reason: The Kingpin isn’t, and has never been, a mutant in Marvel continuity. So where does he get off claiming Krakoan citizenship and all the benefits thereof? It’s simple:

He’s married to a mutant.

What else is happening in the pages of our favorite comics? We’ll tell you. Welcome to Monday Funnies, Polygon’s weekly list of the books that our comics editor enjoyed these past few weeks. It’s part society pages of superhero lives, part reading recommendations, part “look at this cool art.” There may be some spoilers. There may not be enough context. But there will be great comics. (And if you missed the last edition, read this.)

At her computer, Sage telepathically gives Emma Frost a heads up that “A mutant arrived to the island for the first time with her legally recognized husband,” in X-Men #20 (2023). Image: Gerry Duggan, Stefano Caselli/Marvel Comics

Wilson and fellow Daredevil villain Typhoid Mary tied the knot in 2021’s Daredevil #36, a few months before they literally sailed off into the sunset at the end of the Devil’s Reign event. And while it’s never been the most defining detail of her character, Mary’s psychic powers do derive from her mutant gene.

I can only imagine how long X-Men writer Gerry Duggan has been waiting to pull this Chekhov’s gun down off the wall — probably at least since the Devil’s Reign: X-Men tie-in series, in which he penned a secret and testy past run-in between Emma Frost and Wilson Fisk.

What does this all mean for Marvel’s Merry Mutants? Does this mean that Fisk gets access to Krakoan resurrection? Hard to say, when this whole thing is a last-page reveal, but we’ll probably find out in the next issue.

“Batman?” James Gordon says, slumped against a wall, and then laughs to himself. You’re not even there, are you? You pulled that disappearing act again, didn’t you?” in Detective Comics #1069 (2023). Image: Ram V, Dexter Soy, Stefano Raffaele, Miguel Mendonça/DC Comics

Batman listens to Gordon talking on the other side of a wall — “Just old man Gordon, sitting at a wall, left talking to himself again.” — then pulls his cowl up and strides towards the window in Detective Comics #1069 (2023).

We all know that Batman likes to disappear while people are talking to him, especially if they are (former) police commissioner James Gordon. It’s a beloved character beat — which unfortunately means it’s also completely old hat and expected.

So I want to commend Ram V and Stefano Raffaele (at least I think it’s Raffaele on this page; Dexter Soy and Miguel Mendonça are also credited on the issue) for delivering this melancholy variation on the old tune.

Rhyming couplets abound over images of Spider-man’s previous adventures as a guy with weird tattoos touches his chest with energy-blazing hands in Amazing Spider-Man #21 (2023). Image: Zeb Wells, John Romita Jr./Marvel Comics

Amazing Spider-Man #21 promised we would finally find answers to the mystery set up in Amazing Spider-Man #1: What did Peter Parker do six months ago that made him a pariah amongst all his friends and even Mary Jane? Well…. we still don’t know, except that it has something to do with Benjamin Rabin, a white guy who tried to summon a made-up Mayan god, and a supervillain that Amazing Spider-Man writer Zeb Wells introduced in… 2008.

I’m exhausted. “Do you remember ASM #555-557?” No!! I don’t!! Because when it came out I was still in college!

“I got you,” says Superman as he shields a bride and groom from a lightning bolt as with a KRAKAKA-KOOM it slams into his back. On his flowing cape, panels depict the stages of his origin story from the rocket to Metropolis in Superman #1 (2023). Image: Joshua Williamson, Jamal Campbell/DC Comics

It’s early to judge the story of Joshua Williams’ new Superman, but it’s starting with strong bones. A sneaky Lex Luthor, a sprawling super-family, and, of course, the superstar talent of Jamal Campbell, who has been making the case to be put on a Superman book ever since the first splash page of his first DC title, Naomi.

A two-page portrait of Superman from birth to heroism is a big swing, and Campbell pulls it off with grace.

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