Vanessa is the dear loving wife to the Kingpin of Crime, Wilson Fisk. Over their decades-long marriage, she grows to despise his life of misconduct and encourages him to leave it.
Mobster’s Wife
When Vanessa meets Wilson Fisk, AKA the Kingpin, she is lost, afraid, and amnesiac. Wilson perceives her natural grace and depth of spirit, and he sees in her every lonely dream he has ever had. Later, Vanessa and Wilson fell in love and married soon after. Her love gives Fisk the peace he seeks during and after his constant struggle for power. Their son, Richard, was born within a year after their marriage.
Clever Girl
While Vanessa does not have powers per say, she has power over the Kingpin’s heart. She is adept at understanding the law and how to free her husband from capture, making her a calculating individual. Vanessa does not typically use weapons but has competency with firearms.
Super Foes
Peter Parker, AKA Spider-Man, and Matt Murdock, AKA Daredevil, cause many headaches for Vanessa, particularly her husband, as the masked menaces seem to constantly disrupt her life with her family.
Found Family
Vanessa falls in love with Wilson Fisk, the crime boss of New York City, and they have a son together, Richard. While she is loyal to her family, she will also take vengeance upon them should they ever betray her.
Vanessa’s Chronicles
When Vanessa’s son Richard was young, she tried to shield him from the life his father led. At times she even had to protect Richard from Wilson, who saw him as weak, pathetic, and an embarrassment. She eventually sent Richard off to school in Europe. After college (equivalent to U.S. private high school), Richard remained in Europe and faked his own suicide. Partially in denial, Wilson attempted to shield Vanessa from this news.
After a near deadly conflict with Spider-Man, Fisk experienced amnesia but recovered and rejoined Vanessa. Vanessa persuaded him to retire from his life of crime and move to Japan with her. Before retiring, Vanessa allowed her husband 24 hours to settle his criminal affairs. The Kingpin used this time to make a final attempt on Spider-Man’s life, and was just about to deliver a killing blow after a long struggle with Spider-Man, but his wife’s timetable expired before he could do so and he gave into her ultimatum.
Later, Vanessa also convinced her husband to turn over files on the activities of leaders of organized crime to American legal authorities, Matt Murdock and Foggy Nelson. However, the former members of the Kingpin’s crime syndicate kidnapped Vanessa before he could follow through. The Kingpin eventually agreed to exchange the files for Vanessa, surviving several assassination attempts in the process. However, as he approached Vanessa, his own lieutenant Lynch caused a building to collapse, seemingly killing Vanessa. Once Kingpin realized Lynch was behind Vanessa’s death, he killed him without a second thought.
When Daredevil found Vanessa still alive in the sewers in New York under the wing of a mutant, he freed her but then used her to control the Kingpin. He agreed to return her to Fisk only if he would force the crime boss’s agent Randolph Cherryh, the corrupt mayor of New York City, to retire. Fisk acquiesced for the return of his wife.
Sometime later, Sammy Silke, the son of one of the Kingpin’s old partners, convinced Richard to support him, and he organized an ambush on the Kingpin. The ambush left the Kingpin of Crime blind, stabbed and left for dead. Upon learning about the attack on Fisk, Vanessa returned to America, had her husband sent to Europe for care, and led the Kingpin’s men in taking vengeance on all involved in the attack. Vanessa also killed their son Richard for his betrayal, after which she divided up his empire and returned to Europe, hoping never to return. She left before her husband recovered saying that the city made her physically ill.
When Vanessa experienced a terminal illness, she blamed her husband and Matt Murdock (whose Daredevil identity had been revealed) for the violence in her family’s life. Out of revenge, she faked Foggy Nelson’s death to provoke Daredevil into killing Fisk. Ultimately her plan failed and Daredevil caught up with her in Zurich, Switzerland, where she confessed to having been behind much of his recent woes. Dying, she offered Daredevil a chance to fix all of his recent problems in exchange for getting the Kingpin out of prison.
Daredevil initially refused Vanessa’s offer, but then learned about an elaborate plot to frame Murdock, facilitating his regaining of his freedom and restoration of his legal license. Vanessa was soon reported dead, and Murdock arranged the Kingpin’s liberation in exchange for his promise to leave the United States, surrender his citizenship, and never return.
Despite Vanessa’s efforts to free her husband, Fisk briefly returned to the U.S. to take care of unfinished business.
