- Warning: There are major spoilers ahead for episode five of the
Marvel show "Hawkeye ." - Bert and Bertie, who directed episodes three through five, broke down the recent villain reveal.
"Hawkeye" directors Amber Templemore-Finlayson and Katie Ellwood — better known collectively as Bert and Bertie — broke down episode five's much-teased and long-suspected return of the Marvel villain Wilson Fisk/Kingpin, played by Vincent D'Onofrio.
"Obviously we were so excited and there were many different things that they talked about doing with him in that episode," Bert told Insider in an interview on Thursday.
At the conclusion of episode five, released on Wednesday, fans finally got clear visual confirmation of the return of the character, who previously appeared on Netflix's "Daredevil" series that lasted for three seasons.
The big reveal happened somewhat unconventionally, by way of grainy security camera footage that Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) texed to Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld).
The footage showed Kate's mom, Eleanor Bishop (Vera Farmiga), speaking with Kingpin.
But more surprisingly, Yelena informed Kate that Eleanor is the one who hired her to kill Clint Barton (Jeremy Renner) — which prompts a bunch of questions about what Eleanor's up to, why she would initiate a hit on her daughter's favorite superhero, and how this all connects to the "Black Widow" end-credits scene involving Yelena and Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (aka Val, played by Julia Louis-Dreyfus).
"There's something about the simplicity of the simple tease," Bert said, explaining that now, all eyes are on next week's finale.
Bert said that this newly-uncovered connection between Eleanor and Kingpin will "dramatically" affect how things unfold on the sixth and final episode of the season.
"It was an interesting twist that she was there in the room with Kingpin," she said, adding that the "possibilities are endless" and it'll have major emotional ramifications for Kate.
Bert and Bertie, who directed episodes three through five of the Marvel series, said that they wished they could have done more with Kingpin.
But the timing of the reveal that he's Maya Lopez/Echo's (Alaqua Cox) mysterious uncle — and the show's big bad — was intentional.
"We kinda loved that it was this grainy, grainy impression of him and just confirms everyone's suspicions because there have been lots of theories and that one's been the outstanding theory about who this was," Bertie said. "It's Marvel. There've been different iterations of how Kingpin was revealed and this is the one that served the story, to hold him back to the very end of five."
"We're gonna see what he's got in store playing out in six," she added.
When asked if "Daredevil" will be treated as canon in the MCU or if D'Onofrio is playing a new version of Kingpin, the directors' lips were sealed.
"Tune in on Wednesday for episode six," Bertie said, with Bert giving the same response when asked about the theory that Kingpin is the yet-to-be-revealed person who purchased Avengers Tower from Tony Stark/Iron Man in "Spider-Man: Homecoming."
"Keep the theories going," Bertie said. "We love every single one and we love avoiding every single question about it."
As for any other teases the directors could spare about next week's finale, Bert said: "Expect the unexpected."