With Phase 4 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe now in full swing, the latest Marvel series to come to Disney+ is the one and only Hawkeye! Over the past year, we’ve seen WandaVision, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Loki, and Marvel’s What If…? all hit the popular streaming platform. Each show has highlighted well-known, but not always fully spotlighted characters. So what should we expect with Hawkeye?
“Marvel Studios’ Hawkeye is an original new series set in post-blip New York City where the former Avenger Clint Barton aka Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) has a seemingly simple mission: get back to his family for Christmas. But when a threat from his past shows up, Hawkeye reluctantly teams up with Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld), a 22-year-old skilled archer and his biggest fan, to unravel a criminal conspiracy.”
Hailee Steinfeld, who plays Katherine “Kate” Bishop is expected to be a continued part of the Marvel Universe going forward and has already confirmed she’s scheduled to be in multiple MCU projects. However, she is not the only young adult Marvel character featured in the MCU. YEM has discussed a few other young Marvel stars in this article:
https://youngentertainmentmag.com/4-young-actors-starring-marvel-movies/
Beyond the Marvel movies and the Disney+ shows, there have been two other underrated young adult Marvel shows which have gotten somewhat overlooked in recent years: Marvel’s Runaways and Cloak & Dagger. Both are currently available to stream on Hulu. Runaways is about a group of teenagers who find out their parents are part of an evil crime organization. Cloak & Dagger, on the other hand, is about two teenagers from different backgrounds who acquire superpowers that are linked to one another. YEM even had the opportunity to interview one of the stars of Runaways, Rhenzy Feliz! Check that out here:
https://youngentertainmentmag.com/marvels-runaways-star-rhenzy-feliz-talks-season-2/
With super-beings such as Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, and The Incredible Hulk alongside him, sometimes Hawkeye feels like the odd man out in the Avengers. Hopefully, that will no longer be the case by the time this series is out. Hawkeye has many special and deadly arrows which are capable of creating huge explosions and destroying large enemies. Clint Barton is also highly talented at fencing and is an acrobat, having been trained in the circus when he was young. He’s the main family man of the group, and by this alone, he’s able to remind the Avengers what they’re fighting for. Despite this, without special powers or a special suit to rely on, he is the one who is most often putting himself at the highest risk in battle.
There’s a chance this six-episode Disney+ series could be the last we see of actor Jeremy Renner playing the assassin and sharpshooter Hawkeye. However, with Marvel, you just never know. With the multiverse now part of the storylines in multiple Marvel projects, the Time Stone (which can manipulate time and is most associated with Dr. Strange), all six Infinity Stones (which can bring ALMOST anyone back to life as we saw in Avengers: Endgame), and the Tesseract (which can create wormholes into other universes, as Loki used) give more than enough ways to bring back characters from any point in Marvel’s history as well as introduce new ones. Not to mention, there are now prequel movies like Black Widow coming out after a character has already passed away. This leaves endless possibilities. Of course, there’s also a chance Hawkeye may not need all that if he’s actually able to make it back to his family as he promises in the trailer.
*FAN THEORY – POTENTIAL SPOILER*
If you watched the 2021 movie Black Widow’s post-credits scene, Black Widow’s sister Yelena was visiting Natasha Romanoff’s (aka Black Widow’s) gravesite when she encounters Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (who you’d recognize from her role on The Falcon and the Winter Soldier). Contessa assigns Clint Barton (aka Hawkeye) as Yelena’s next target to kill after telling her Clint was responsible for Natasha’s death. Obviously, fans of Avengers: Endgame know that was not the case. However, this may set the stage for Yelena’s appearance on Hawkeye.
