'Hawkeye' closes out a year of fascinating changes

Kirk Boxleitner | Dec 02, 20210

Courtesy photo count

Jeremy Renner and Hailee Steinfeld hit their marks in "Hawkeye" on Disney+.

Although 2020 was the year COVID first struck, 2021 has been more of a year of transition for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, as Disney+ shows like "WandaVision" and "Loki" took established characters on arcs that redefined who they were and could be, while "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings" and "Eternals" introduced new players to the MCU.

What "Black Widow" attempted to do in theaters is what "Hawkeye" so far seems to be doing more successfully on Disney+ by portraying a torch-passing for a familiar brand.

The irony of Clint Barton within the MCU is that he's a veteran mentor of once-and-future Avengers, from Natasha Romanoff to Wanda Maximoff, who's only ever grudgingly put up with being an Avenger himself.

He was a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent who found himself promoted to superhero status in the popular consciousness, and now, a couple of years after the events of "Avengers: Endgame," he's one of the most well-known and beloved members of the remaining Avengers.

For someone as aggressively emotionally closed-off as Clint, few victory conditions could be closer to hell than random strangers thanking him for saving the world, in a post-"Blip" reality in which former Captain America Steve Rogers has his own "Hamilton"-style Broadway musical.

And yet, when Clint finds himself rescuing a rich girl who's targeted by mobsters for getting caught out in his former vigilante costume, his instincts as a dad automatically take over, even as he risks letting his own kids down by missing Christmas celebrations with them in a few days.

Except that Kate Bishop is no idle heiress, since she was one of the survivors of the Chitauri invasion of New York in 2012, and the one-two punch of seeing Clint in action as Hawkeye, and her father dying in the battle's collateral damage, gave Kate the inspiration to become an archer, swordsman and martial artist.

Because Kate sees in Clint what he honestly fails to recognize in himself, and she has more in common with him than he's willing to admit.

They both know how to think on their feet and are intermittently capable of taking care of themselves, although their self-sufficiency seems mostly honed from extricating themselves from self-induced disasters.

Hailee Steinfeld makes MCU newcomer Kate Bishop an appealing, dynamic and credible successor to Jeremy Renner, who plays Clint Barton as ghost-haunted and quietly desperate to hold onto the family he already lost once, after Thanos' "snap."

"Hawkeye" is the first time that the MCU has addressed the trauma that Clint incurred, not only from his wife and kids turning to dust for five years, but also for all the ways in which he crossed the line, as the criminal-killing vigilante "Ronin," until his loved ones were "blipped" back into existence.

By appearing in public wearing Clint's old Ronin costume, Kate has made all the killing he did in that identity relevant again, and while Clint manages to be refreshingly open with his wife, Laura, (Linda Cardellini) about having business he still needs to take care of in New York with Kate, it's not totally clear whether Laura knows how much blood Clint has on his hands from his time as Ronin.

An unexpectedly moving sequence involves Clint tracking his Ronin suit's whereabouts to the "NYC LARPers," a group of wooden-sword-wielding faux-warriors who include a number of real-life life-savers, like cops and firefighters.

It's hilarious to watch Clint wearily resign himself to mock-combat, to win back his Ronin suit by allowing himself to be "vanquished" by the firefighter who found it, but it hits home when we see that even a guy who arguably qualifies as an "everyday hero" is so star-struck to meet a man who, while he might be an Avenger, doesn't have any superpowers either.

Because while the Clint Barton of the Marvel Cinematic Universe was initially based on one of the grimmest, most cynical interpretations of Hawkeye ever to appear in Marvel Comics, Kate Bishop is right when she tells Clint that people still want to believe in heroes, and what he can offer them is sincerity and hope.

Of course, it helps that the MCU can draw so heavily from the innovative and upbeat 22-issue "Hawkeye" comic, by writer Matt Fraction and artist David Aja, published by Marvel from 2012-15 (and yes, for faithful fans of that series, this means we get "Pizza Dog" as a significant supporting character).

I don't know whether Clint will make it home for the holidays, or even survive his own streaming miniseries, but I am looking forward to seeing Kate Bishop, Eli Bradley (last seen in "The Falcon and the Winter Soldier") and Cassie Lang (last seen in "Avengers: Endgame") return later to join the new "Young Avengers."

In the meantime, "Hawkeye" is giving Clint Barton at least one more shot at teaching a mixed-up kid what it means to be an Avenger, even as he wishes he could be done with that life himself.