Hawkeye aka Clint Barton lands his very own Disney Plus show later this month and, from what we’ve seen so far, the series takes plenty of inspiration from Matt Fraction and David Aja’s run on the Hawkeye comic. In at least one case, the inspiration without compensation has provoked the ire of one the creators. With only six episodes this season, compared to the comic’s 22 issues, it’s clear the Disney Plus show will have to forge it’s own path and change things up quite a bit to keep it’s portrayal of Clint in line with the portrayal of Hawkeye in the MCU by Jeremy Renner so far. (Clint, for example, doesn’t have a family in the comic.)
With that in mind here are 10 things from the Hawkeye comic we’d love to see in the Disney Plus series.
1. Okay, This Looks Bad
The short episode count doesn’t leave a lot of time to flesh out Clint, introduce his protégé Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld), provide some villains for them to go up against, and wrap all that up in a satisfying resolution. And this is for a show whose main character has been barely sketched up to this point!
Hopefully the showrunners have recognized one of the smartest moves and great joys of the comic: the small details and callbacks that have thus far built up Clint’s personality in subtle ways. Like the way he drinks coffee directly from the coffee pot (due to post Avengers related adventure exhaustion), or the repeated lament that opens many of the issues: “Okay, this looks bad.”
It’s cute, and after a few issues, variations start to pop up. It speaks to “comic Clint’s” hangdog outlook, perpetual ability to get himself into trouble, and the self awareness of his ability to get himself into trouble. This could be something the show offsets onto Kate to build up her character, but it’d be a fun way to start every episode.
2. Seriously Bro? [CONFIRMED]
One of the funniest recurring motifs of Fraction and Aja’s comic run are the tracksuit bros. As their name implies, they’re a bunch of bros who wear tracksuits, BUT the cherry on the cake is that they also say “bro”… A LOT!
It’s probably seems like the least threatening salutation at first, but as the stories proceed, it becomes a portent of doom. It’s ludicrousness matched only by Clint’s exasperated reaction as the bros interrupt whatever it is he’s currently supposed to be doing for another go around.
The bros have already shown up in the trailers but we dearly hope their catch phrase sticks around as well. As annoying as it could be, it’s like one of those Simpsons jokes that is funny at first, then goes on for so long it stops being funny, before coming back around even funnier. It would also save a lot of time in writing dialogue, bro.
3. Pizza Dog Episode!
We’ve already seen Lucky, the Pizza Dog, in the show but, with only 6 episodes, it’d be pretty funny if, as they did in the comic, the showrunners dedicated an entire episode to an adventure with Lucky.
In Issue #11, “Pizza Is My Business,” Fraction and Aja tell the entire story from Lucky’s perspective, as he sniffs his way around the apartment building Hawkeye lives in. Looking for pizza (he loves pizza), Lucky investigates a murder on the roof of the building, figures out some major developments for the story, and discovers an intriguing hint as to the identity of a mysterious stranger who’s been cropping up in recent issues.
Ingeniously, Aja and Fraction tell the whole story with minimal text, with only some words like “pizza” (spoken by the people around Lucky) actually legible. The rest of the stylish comic uses icons to illustrate the smells and priorities of the dog detective. We know this a bit of a stretch, but can you imagine the reaction the show would get from an entire episode with no dialog, told entirely from the point of view of a dog!
4. A Man With a Very Particular Set of Skills
Despite his prominent role in the Avengers films we don’t know all that much about the MCU’s Clint Barton. Sure he’s good with a bow, but is that all that qualifies him for membership with the Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, or SHIELD for that matter?
And no this doesn’t mean we want to hear any more about Budapest. The comic fleshes out Clint’s skills, making him pretty good with his fists when he doesn’t have a bow handy. On top of this, the comic emphasizes that Clint is a deadly weapon with pretty much anything that’s to hand. While taking out a group of bros with a deck of cards is pretty hardcore, wait until you see what he does with the collar stays.
The trailer hints at some of this as Clint catches a Molotov cocktail, before throwing it back. Let’s hope he gets to show off his skills in a few more impressive ways.
Fraction and Aja also do a great job of illustrating Barton’s mastery of time. No, not another “time heist,” they just show us how time slows down for him, as he notches an arrow. More of this please.
5. Barney!
I’d forgotten this development in the comics until a recent re-read. We’d love to see Barney, turn up in one form or another. If you don’t now who Barney is we won’t spoil it, or how he relates to the rest of the characters in the series (just read the comic!). Suffice to say he’s introduced as a background character who doesn’t seem long for this world, before having his “not-so-secret identity” revealed. It’s a neat twist in a comic filled with them and, as the MCU moves forward, it needs to start introducing as many new characters as possible as their main actors age out.
6. The Robin Hood Shot
We all know the “Robin Hood“ shot. It’s where one archer lands an arrow in the middle of the bullseye in a competition, only for their opponent to split their arrow in two right down its shaft. It’s a staple of Robin Hood movies and, according to Kate in Young Avengers Presents Issue #6, a shot “nobody can make.”
She’s wrong about that.
Whether Clint or Kate makes the Robin Hood shot, it can be used to speak volumes about their mindset and their relationship to each at that time. We’re pretty sure someone will make the Robin Hood shot in the series, but who nails it, and when it happens, will tell us a lot about where the series is going.
7. Madame Masque
While the post credits sting from Black Widow hinted that Clint is due a visit from Natasha’s “sister,“ Yelena (Florence Pugh), we doubt she’ll be the primary antagonist for the show.
In the comic series Clint, and more often Kate, had a few run-ins with Marvel villain Madam Masque. Later issues, which we doubt the show will cover this season, saw Kate striking out on her own in California where she once again ran into Madam Masque. That plot line also revealed Kate’s (rich) family’s criminal ties.
With the MCU’s need to simplify things for the screen, could Hawkeye combine Madam Masque and Kate’s family crime connections into the form of Vera Farmiga’s Eleanor Bishop?
Coincidentally, in Issue #20 of Hawkeye, Kate offhandedly mentions how Madam masque once “got her brains bashed out by Moon Knight one time but then got all better.” Guess who else has a Disney Plus TV show due out in 2022? That’s right, Moon Knight. Could it all be connected?
After the rehabilitation of Loki, the MCU needs some good villains, and ones who will stick around and not get murdered at the end of their movie/show. Could Madam Masque be the start of a new wave of Marvel supervillains?
8. USB Arrow
We’ve already seen some of Clint’s deadly trick arrows in the trailer, as Kate frantically looks for a less lethal way to take out some pursuers, but we’d love it if this hopelessly outdated USB drive arrow makes it into the show somewhere.
Oh, and it would be great if Clint was still super enthused about a whole 256 MEGS (not GB, but MB) of storage.
9. Human After All… and Yet… Impossible Escapes!
In addition to showing off Clint’s skills sans bow, the comic repeatedly highlights that Clint is just a normal human. Without any super soldier serum, advanced tech, or magical artifacts to help him out, he gets beat up a lot.
That doesn’t stop him from giving his all though. While constantly showing him covered in cuts and bruises, the comic also shows that Clint is all too willing to put it all on the line when his friends or neighbours need help.
That doesn’t prevent him from ending up in absolutely ridiculous situations that Tony Stark or even the God of Thunder might have trouble getting out of, and yet Clint always manages to find away. Even if he might need to sleep for a week afterwards.
These would make for some great cold opens too, with each episode staring with Clint in some perilous, seemingly unescapable situation.
10. Clint Barton Must Die!
Apart from an awesome line, the internet would most likely lose it’s mind if Kingpin, and a who’s who of street level Marvel villains, turned up in the Disney Plus series. Even more so if the Kingpin was once more portrayed by (the great!) Vincent D’Onofrio from Netflix’s Daredevil.
It’s a wish that might not be that far off with rumours suggesting that Marvel’s Netflix characters might be making their MCU debuts sooner rather than later.
Even if the Kingpin doesn’t turn up, after the Black Widow‘s post credits sting, we’d settle for Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ Valentina Allegra de Fontaine saying the line (and reveling more of what she’s been up to).
All this said, even if Disney Plus’ Hawkeye includes none of these 10 things, we’re still pretty hyped to see what they do with Clint and Kate.
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