He might not be a super-soldier or a Norse God, but Hawkeye is a key member of the Avengers and provides an emotional tie to the cause they’re fighting for. He also has one of the most underrated story arcs in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Luckily, he isn’t wearing the flamboyant purple and blue costume from the comics, but Jeremy Renner’s Clint Barton is a great translation from the page to the big screen. While he doesn’t have as much screen-time like some members of the team, Hawkeye has one of the most compelling reasons to keep up the good fight. Don’t believe us? Read on.
Thor
Although he was initially meant to appear in Iron Man 2, Hawkeye first cameoed in Thor when the God of Thunder was trying to retrieve Mjolnir from inside a makeshift S.H.I.E.L.D. facility. Coulson ordered Barton to be their eyes in the sky, and instead of picking up a sniper rifle, he reached for his trusty bow. Given that this was still in the fledgling days of the MCU, this brief appearance of a classic Avenger popping up in another movie was enough to send fans into a frenzy. It was the briefest of insights into another hero in the universe, but it gave us enough with a simple line; “You’d better call it Coulson, ‘cause I’m starting to root for this guy”. Is that the easiest set-up for a new character before The Avengers? Quite possibly.
The Avengers
Although Clint spends much of his time during The Avengers under Loki’s mind control after being brainwashed by the scepter, his actions directly force the team to learn to work together. After he blows up one of the engines on the Helicarrier – Iron Man and Captain America struggle to get it back online while also dealing with Loki’s soldiers. Whereas Black Widow and Thor are thrown together to battle the Hulk. Even though he’s not given much time to develop his own character, he helps the others bond as a team.
And after a particularly solid punch in the head, Black Widow manages to literally knock some sense back into Hawkeye. It’s not until the Battle of New York, we finally begin to see where Clint’s priorities really lie. Sure, he wants to get back at Loki for brainwashing him – but his main focus is keeping the civilians safe from the invading Chitauri forces. Yes, the rest of the team do too, but he and Captain America are the only ones who repeatedly put their efforts into ensuring the safety of others rather than defeating the villains. It’s a key theme in Clint’s character that runs through his future appearances.
Age of Ultron
After a brief absence in a series of solo adventures like Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Iron Man 3 and Thor: The Dark World, Hawkeye returns in Age of Ultron as the team is finishing off the last of Hydra’s forces in Sokovia. Throughout the first half of the film, Hawkeye is constantly secretive about his personal life, instead choosing to talk about his teammates. But for an Avenger who’s also meant to be a world-class spy, he’s a terrible liar. After Helen Cho remarks that even his girlfriend wouldn’t be able to tell the difference from his healed wound – he sternly mentions that he doesn’t have one. But later when asked who he was on the phone to, Clint says it was his girlfriend… Which is it Hawkeye? Later on in the film, it’s revealed that he’s actually got a family that he’s kept secret for quite some time to protect them from any repercussions that his missions might have.
And suddenly, it all becomes clear. Why is Hawkeye always so focused on the wider picture – not just defeating the enemy, but saving those vulnerable in the attacks? Because he knows what it’s like to have someone to fight for and protect. He also can’t help slipping back into his fatherly role when it’s clear that the Wanda and Pietro Maximoff are clearly disenchanted with Ultron’s apocalyptic plan to level the planet. He inspires them both to think of the bigger picture and start saving people. Once again, just to hammer that Fatherly element home, we see Clint rush to shield a young boy being shot at by Ultron with his own body. But Quicksilver returns the favor by saving Clint from the hail of bullets. RIP Pietro. His sacrifice spurs Scarlet Witch to stay on the right track, all because the twins were pushed in the right direction by Hawkeye. Most useless Avenger? We think not.
Civil War
As much as he wanted to be a retired superhero and stay at home on the farm, they just pulled him back in during Captain America Civil War. And although he isn’t really given much to do except having a fight with Black Widow that for all intents and purposes, may as well just have been a training exercise since the two of them joke about how they’ll still be friends afterward. We see another development in his costume, as it finally embraces an element of his comics look – the purple. It’s a very tactical adaptation, with plenty of straps and supportive armor to allow flexibility while simultaneously being a practical combat outfit. By the end of the film, he was imprisoned for working with Captain America, although we know that by Infinity War, Clint made a deal that saw him placed under house arrest. So what’s next after Thanos’ decimating snap that wiped out half the universe?
Endgame
Unfortunately for Hawkeye, it looks like his family probably died in the Snap thanks to the initial footage we’ve seen in the trailers. He’ll be sporting a violent new persona as Ronin in Avengers: Endgame, mainly relying on a sword rather than his iconic choice of a bow and arrow. Plus, we also saw a brief shot where he was training a young girl, presumably his daughter, in archery while he was still wearing an ankle bracelet. To make an educated guess, the snap will kill Hawkeye’s family, quite literally leaving him in the dust, and his bloody vengeance takes him across the world. He was also sporting a new hairdo that everyone seems to be referring to as the ‘Mohawkeye’. Brilliant. Maybe the snap just wiped out half of his hair?
The key theme for Hawkeye running throughout the MCU is family, the rest of the Avengers live in a crazy world with incredible technology and powers – but he’s the only one with a domestic life that shows the team what they’ve been fighting for this whole time. And although they already realize what they’ve lost thanks to the Mad Titan, it’ll be interesting to see how they react to the death of Clint’s family. Will it have the same rallying effect that Coulson’s death had all those years ago in The Avengers? Regardless, the archer will be coming out of retirement (again) to join the Avengers to fight Thanos and save reality.
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