This story contains spoilers for “Hawkeye”

Summary of the show:

The newest Marvel Disney Plus Series, “Hawkeye,” hits the mark as an exploration of arguably the most underrated avenger: Hawkeye. The show takes place in the most glamorous city in America: New York City, a year after the blip. However our titular hero is not so glamorous. Clint Barton (Jeremy Renner) is consumed by unresolved trauma during the happiest time of the year and is faced by a ghost of his past: The Ronin. 

The plot quickly thickens when a murder takes place, and just like that, we have a Christmas-Avenger Murder Mystery. The show keeps its pace and focuses on exploring characters, introducing new ones and bringing back some familiar ones. 

The show also acts as an introduction of Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld) to the MCU, the newest Young Avenger to make this debut (alongside Wiccan and Speed from “WandaVision,” Cassandra Lang from Ant-Man, and America Chavez in the soon-to-be-released “Doctor Strange Multiverse of Madness).

The Show 

Basic Plot

The show opens with a young Kate Bishop listening to her parents arguing, and the year is 2012. All is normal when suddenly, an explosion shakes Kate’s room, which they soon discover is an alien invasion. In all of this panic and confusion, young Kate stands before the explosion and looks out to an open New York City, with a broken Avengers tower. About to become a victim to the alien invasion, Hawkeye saves her from a distant building. This near-death encounter and the loss of her father (comic book trope strikes!) inspires her to work and dream of becoming a superhero, just like Clint Barton’s Hawkeye. 

We’re then brought to Clint Barton in the present. It’s Christmas in New York and Clint is watching “Rogers: The Musical,” a new hit musical based on the Avengers. Which for Clint is understandably a little traumatic. Clint is clearly dealing with the recent loss of his friend Natasha Romanoff (AKA Black Widow), and the overall consequences of bringing everyone back after the snap.

The first episode ends with a black market deal gone wrong and Kate Bishop now in the Ronin suit. Confusion erupts and Kate is met with her childhood hero while he is met with a ghost from his past. 

From this point on, Kate works to solve a murder and Clint works to clear his name while keeping a promise to his kids to be home by Christmas. Along the way, new characters are introduced, enemies are made and familiar faces reappear. 

With each challenge faced, Kate and Clint become closer and closer, and by the end of the finale their journeys are resolved and Kate is officially given the Hawkeye mantle. 

Episode Rankings

Hawkeye ranks at a 7.7/10 on IMDb, however according to Rotten Tomatoes, Hawkeye and Loki are both tied for first with a 92% approval rating. Here are the episodes ranked (IMDb):

Episode 1: Never Meet Your Heroes (7.6/10)

Episode 2: Hide and Seek (7.8/10)

Episode 3: Echoes (8.4/10)

Episode 4: Partners, Am I Right? (8.1/10)

Episode 5: Ronin (8.6/10)

Episode 6: So This Is Christmas? (8.0/10)

Artistic inspiration: David Aja and Matt Fraction 

Some controversy arose out of the show’s creative direction. Most comic fans walk a fine line between accepting art as homage and plagiarism. For example, in WandaVision’s Halloween episode, the costumes were a great homage to the classic costumes — even the new Hawkeye costumes were a great homage to the costumes seen throughout the comics. And while there were many clear panel-for-panel recreations in the show from previous comics, fans took issue with the intro and outro art sequences.

Each sequence is stylized and fitting for the tone of the show. It’s engaging and it tells a story, but for Matt Fraction and David Aja fans, they noticed there were some serious similarities. Fraction and Aja are responsible for creating one of the most well regarded Hawkeye comic runs in history. 

When it first hit shelves, it was a breath of fresh air for many comic readers. It featured Hawkeye, an A-list avenger as a non-super powered hero doing normal, everyday stuff. 

When the first poster was revealed for the Hawkeye show, fans were excited to see that everything from the font, colors, and style were clearly influenced by one of their favorite books. However, this began to raise the question: Did Fraction and Aja get compensation for their influence?

When fans found out from David Aja himself that they were, in fact, not compensated, many took to boycotting the show. Most believed that if Aja, the artist, had his work used as the advertisement basis, he should be credited for it.

Side Note:

If you really enjoyed the Hawkeye show, you should definitely consider reading Fraction and Aja’s Hawkeye run and Kelly Thompson’s Kate Bishop series. Both series have been collected by Marvel in trade paperback and are now easier than ever to read.

Characters

Conclusion

Want more Kate Bishop? Marvel comics is currently releasing a new Hawkeye Kate Bishop 5 issue mini series, written by Marieke Nijkamp and drawn by artist Enid Balám. You can read this on Marvel Unlimited, a new digital comic service from Marvel or by purchasing the single issues at your local comic book store. 

While this show didn’t end with a very satisfying and engaging end credit scene like WandaVision or Loki, the introduction of Kingpin and Echo are daring fans to dream of an MCU Hell’s Kitchen. 

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