Vanessa Fisk was the wife of New York’s most powerful crime lord, Wilson Fisk. They had a child, Richard. The Kingpin’s family usually took a back seat to whatever Wilson was doing. Richard, embittered by this neglect, made several attempts on his father’s empire and his life as both the Schemer and as the original Rose.
In spite of extramarital affairs, most notably with Typhoid Mary, Wilson Fisk’s Achilles heel seems to have been his wife. Vanessa’s mental health deteriorated as a result of the conflict within her family, and at one point, she disappeared into the underground community belonging to the King, a brutal man who resembled her husband in stature. Daredevil rescued Vanessa and returned her to her husband.
Richard failed again and again to destroy his father’s underground empire. However, an attack by Echo left the senior Fisk blinded. A gangster named Sammy Silke convinced Richard, as well as Wilson’s most trusted employees, to assassinate the Kingpin. Thought to be dead by many, Wilson was in the care of his personal doctor and a man named Dini. Vanessa learned that her son took part in his assassination and shot him in cold blood after telling him he was a endless disappointment to her.
Wilson Fisk recovered and had Silke killed. Sometime later, he was incarcerated and sentenced to serve time at Ryker’s Island Prison. Humiliated, Vanessa disappeared. She reappeared some time later, after arranging for Matt Murdock to escape from Ryker’s using the blind hero, Tombstone, and a new version of the Matador, as if it were a game of chess, as she later explained. Confronting Daredevil, Vanessa told Matt he had two choices: he could get Wilson out of jail as the Kingpin’s attorney, or she would reveal to the media that he was Daredevil, and will release photos of Daredevil in Europe while Danny Rand was currently impersonating Daredevil back in New York. Murdock choose to not participate in Vanessa’s games. She cleared thing up with Matt’s Daredevil situation a, knowing he will set Kingpin free. She committed suicide shortly after, and though Wilson Fisk was unable to attend her funeral, he mourned her nonetheless.
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Vanessa’s gambling boyfriend was killed by Wilson Fisk. They fell in love, got married and shortly after, Richard was born. Originally Vanessa was very supportive of Wilson becoming the Kingpin, but when Fisk let her son die in order to achieve his goal she grew to resent him. She starts drinking heavily and later attacks her husband, blaming him for Richard’s death. Then she later attempts to kill Fisk herself when she pulls a gun and shoots him during sex. She is then thrown out of Fisk’s mansion. It is later revealed that she had hired Elektra to kill her husband and she had a sexual relationship with Elektra.
Appearances in other media
Television
- Vanessa appeared in Spider-Man The Animated Series in two episodes in “Ravages of Time” and “Tablet of Time.”
- Vanessa appears in the Daredevil Netflix series, portrayed by Israeli actress Ayelet Zurer. In the series, she is given the maiden name Marianna, and is shown to be a wealthy art dealer. She first encounters Fisk after he buys an expensive painting from her, and she ends up becoming his love interest throughout the duration of the series.
Movies
Spider-man: Into the Spider-verse
In this Sony adaptation of an animated movie of Spider-man, Vanessa Fisk appears to be deceased, but Wilson Fisk had been trying to tap into different dimensions to bring Vanessa and their child back to them. She and their child appeared to have been running from Wilson Fisk after Vanessa had seen what Wilson had been up to, she and their child had been killed in a car crash.