REVIEW -- Hawkeye (Disney+ Exclusive Series) - Episodes 1-6

Hawkeye is an American television miniseries created by Jonathan Igla for the streaming service Disney+, based on Marvel Comics featuring the characters Clint Barton / Hawkeye and Kate Bishop / Hawkeye. It is the fifth television series in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) produced by Marvel Studios, sharing continuity with the films of the franchise and taking place after the events of the film Avengers: Endgame (2019). Igla served as head writer with Rhys Thomas leading the directing team.

Jeremy Renner reprises his role as Clint Barton from the film series, with Hailee Steinfeld joining him as Kate Bishop. Tony Dalton, Fra Fee, Brian d'Arcy James, Aleks Paunovic, Piotr Adamczyk, Linda Cardellini, Simon Callow, Vera Farmiga, Alaqua Cox, Zahn McClarnon, Florence Pugh, and Vincent D'Onofrio also star. Marvel Studios was developing a limited series for Disney+ centered on Hawkeye by April 2019, with Renner returning. The series was officially announced that July and Igla joined in September, with Steinfeld unofficially attached at that point. Thomas and Bert & Bertie joined as directors in July 2020 and filming began in New York City that December. Steinfeld and additional cast members were confirmed, and filming concluded in late April 2021. Additional shooting took place in Atlanta, Georgia. Matt Fraction and David Aja's Hawkeye comic run served as a major influence on the series.

Hawkeye premiered with its first two episodes on November 24, 2021, and ran for six episodes, concluding on December 22. It is part of Phase Four of the MCU. The series received positive reviews, with critics highlighting its action sequences and the lead actors' chemistry. A spin-off series, Echo, focusing on Cox's character Maya Lopez / Echo, is in development.

Premise

One year after the events of Avengers: Endgame (2019), Clint Barton must partner with Kate Bishop to confront enemies from his past as the Ronin in order to get back to his family in time for Christmas.

Cast and Characters:

Jeremy Renner as Clint Barton / Hawkeye:
A master archer and a former Avenger and agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. The series further explores the character's time as Ronin, as first shown in Avengers: Endgame (2019). Renner said that meeting Kate Bishop brings "an onslaught of problems" into Barton's life, as Barton does not understand her obsession with him.

Hailee Steinfeld as Kate Bishop:
A 22-year-old Hawkeye fan who becomes Barton's protégée and is trained to take over the mantle of Hawkeye. She draws the attention of Barton by masquerading as Ronin. Steinfeld described Bishop as "smart and witty" and a "badass", with physical abilities that are "through the roof", while Renner said she has "a wonderfully annoying and equally charming manner about her". Steinfeld learned archery because Bishop is "self-taught" and felt it was an important aspect of her character since she idolizes Barton. Clara Stack plays a young Kate Bishop.

Tony Dalton as Jack Duquesne:
Eleanor's new fiancé and Armand's nephew. The character does not serve as Barton's mentor in the series as he does in the comics.^[14]

Fra Fee as Kazimierz "Kazi" Kazimierczak:
A mercenary for the Tracksuit Mafia. Fee described Kazi as having a "deep sense of loyalty" towards the Mafia but also some frustration at not having a higher position in the gang. He learned American Sign Language for the role. Phoenix Crepin portrays a younger Kazi.

Brian d'Arcy James as Derek Bishop: Kate's deceased father.

Aleks Paunovic as Ivan: An enforcer for the Tracksuit Mafia.

Piotr Adamczyk as Tomas: An enforcer for the Tracksuit Mafia.

Linda Cardellini as Laura Barton: Clint's wife and a former agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Simon Callow as Armand Duquesne III: Jack's uncle.

Vera Farmiga as Eleanor Bishop: Kate's mother and the CEO of Bishop Security.

Alaqua Cox as Maya Lopez: The deaf commander of the Tracksuit Mafia. Darnell Besaw, Cox's cousin, plays a young Maya Lopez.

Zahn McClarnon as William Lopez: Maya's deceased father and a former commander of the Tracksuit Mafia.

Florence Pugh as Yelena Belova / Black Widow:
A highly trained spy and assassin who is hunting Barton for his supposed role in her sister Natasha Romanoff's death. Pugh said that Belova is continuing "what she's good at, and despite her sister not being there, she's back working", though her mission to hunt Barton "sets up a whole different challenge". Her inclusion in the show was a suggestion of showrunner Jonathan Igla, who considered it "the right place for her next chapter", and led to both the creation of the Black Widow post-credits scene setting up Belova going after Barton, and the show's directors receiving an early screening of said film to better understand the character.

Vincent D'Onofrio as Wilson Fisk / Kingpin:
A crime lord in New York who Eleanor has connections with. D'Onofrio reprises his role from the Marvel Television series Daredevil (2015–2018). On Kingpin's portrayal in the series, directors Bert & Bertie said they wanted to take into account the character's presence that was established in Daredevil. D'Onofrio considered the role a continuation of his portrayal in Daredevil, with a difference in physical strength but still operating "through the pain of his childhood". He played the character considering that Fisk had regained power after losing status during the Blip. He added that the portrayal was "done with an eye on connecting as many dots from Daredevil to Hawkeye as possible", but acknowledged that some aspects, such as his enhanced physical strength, could not connect back.

Recurring in the series are Carlos Navarro as Enrique, an enforcer for the Tracksuit Mafia; Ben Sakamoto, Ava Russo, and Cade Woodward reprising their respective roles as Barton's children Cooper, Lila, and Nathaniel from prior MCU films; Jolt, a golden retriever, playing Lucky the Pizza Dog; Clayton English, Adetinpo Thomas, Robert Walker-Branchaud, and Adelle Drahos respectively as Grills, Wendy, Orville, and Missy, all NYC LARPers who befriend and help Barton and Bishop; and Ivan Mbakop as NYPD Detective Caudle.

Also appearing are Jonathan Bergman as Armand VII, the grandson of Armand III, and Franco Castan as Detective Rivera, a member of the NYPD. The fictional Steve Rogers / Captain America musical within the series, Rogers: The Musical, sees stage actors portray Thor (Jason Scott McDonald), Loki (Jordan Chin), Rogers (Tom Feeney), Bruce Banner / Hulk (Harris Turner), Barton (Avery Gillham), Romanoff (Meghan Manning), Tony Stark / Iron Man (Aaron Nedrick), Scott Lang / Ant-Man (Nico DeJesus), and Chitauri warriors. Adam Pascal cameos as Lead Citizen in the musical. Newscaster Pat Kiernan appears as himself.

Episode Summaries:

Episode 1 - "Never Meet Your Heroes"

In 2012, during the Battle of New York, a young Kate Bishop witnesses Clint Barton battling the Chitauri and aspires to become a hero like him after he inadvertently saves her life. In the present, Barton spends time with his children in New York for Christmas. Meanwhile, Bishop attends a charity auction gala with her mother Eleanor and learns that her mother is engaged to Jack Duquesne. Underneath the gala, Bishop stumbles onto a black market auction featuring items recovered from the remains of the Avengers Compound, finding Duquesne and his uncle Armand III among the attendees. The auction is interrupted by the Tracksuit Mafia, who attempt to recover a watch among the items. As Duquesne steals Barton's Ronin sword, Bishop recovers Barton's Ronin suit and defeats the mafia members while wearing it. After rescuing a stray dog she later names "Lucky the Pizza Dog", she escapes to her apartment before tracking down Armand to investigate further, but discovers that Armand has been murdered in his home and is cornered by the Tracksuit Mafia after fleeing the crime scene. Barton, who saw a news report of the Ronin's return, rescues Bishop from the gangsters.

Episode 2 - "Hide and Seek"

Bishop takes Barton back to her apartment, but they are attacked by the Tracksuit Mafia and forced to evacuate, leaving the Ronin suit behind. After relocating to the apartment of Bishop's vacationing aunt, Barton sends his children back home, promising to rejoin them by Christmas Day. He escorts Bishop to her workplace, then recovers the Ronin suit from FDNY member Grills at a LARP event. Later, Bishop fails to convince Eleanor of Duquesne's involvement in Armand's death. After challenging Duquesne to a fencing duel, she tries to contact Barton, not knowing that he has allowed himself to be captured by the Tracksuit Mafia. She tracks down Barton's location, but ends up being captured herself, and the gang informs their boss, Maya Lopez of what happened.

Episode 3 - "Echoes"

Lopez interrogates Barton and Bishop about Ronin, who killed her father years prior. Barton manages to free himself and fend off the Tracksuit Mafia, though Lopez breaks his hearing aid in the process. After Bishop is freed, the pair escape using Barton's trick arrows and get his hearing aid fixed. While moving to another location, Lopez's lieutenant Kazi advises her not to get into trouble with her "uncle". Intending to learn more about the Tracksuit Mafia as well as Duquesne, Bishop convinces Barton to infiltrate Eleanor's penthouse and use her company account to access Bishop Security's criminal database. However, Bishop is locked out of the system while attempting to bypass security while Barton encounters Duquesne, who threatens him with Ronin's sword.

Episode 4 - "Partners, Am I Right?"

Barton defuses the situation after Eleanor and Duquesne recognize him as an Avenger. Eleanor asks him to keep Bishop out of his investigation and later contacts an unknown person to inform them of the situation. With the help of his wife Laura, Barton secretly recovers his sword and discovers that Duquesne is the CEO of Sloan Limited, a shell corporation that launders money for the Tracksuit Mafia, while Bishop deduces that Barton was Ronin. Barton locates Kazi and asks him to talk Lopez out of her vendetta against Ronin while Bishop enlists a group of LARPers in retrieving Barton's trick arrows. Afterwards, Laura informs Barton that the watch the Tracksuit Mafia stole is sending out tracking signals from an apartment building. Barton and Bishop go to retrieve it, but find it in Lopez's apartment, where she also keeps notes on Barton and his family. Lopez attacks Bishop while Barton is ambushed by a masked assassin. A fight ensues between the four combatants, with Bishop injuring Lopez, forcing her to retreat, while Barton unmasks his assailant, Yelena Belova, who also escapes. Barton decides that he cannot keep putting Bishop in danger and breaks off their partnership.

Episode 5 - "Ronin"

In 2018, Belova and fellow Black Widow Sonya, who have been helping deprogrammed Black Widows, reunite with another former Widow, Ana, and Belova becomes a victim of the Blip. In the present, Bishop returns to Eleanor's house and tells her about Duquesne's shell corporation, leading Eleanor to call the NYPD and have him arrested. Bishop returns to her apartment, where she finds Belova waiting for her before the latter reveals her past and mission to kill Barton. Meanwhile, after recovering at Grills' apartment, Barton dons the Ronin suit and confronts Lopez at the auto shop where he killed her father. During the fight, he unmasks himself and attempts to convince her to let go of her vendetta and leave his family alone. He reveals that an informant working for Lopez's boss wanted her father dead, but Lopez initially disbelieves him. Bishop arrives to help Barton escape, while Lopez becomes suspicious of Kazi, who was absent on the night of her father's death. The next day, Belova texts Bishop, revealing that she was hired by Eleanor to kill Barton and that Eleanor is working with Lopez's "uncle", whom Barton identifies as Kingpin.

Episode 6 - "So This Is Christmas?"

As Eleanor meets with Kingpin to break off their partnership, Barton and Bishop watch a recording of them and learn that Eleanor killed Armand and framed Duquesne. On Christmas Eve, Barton and Bishop attend Eleanor's holiday party, where Bishop confronts her mother and learns her father owed money to Kingpin, leading to Eleanor working with him. Kazi attempts to assassinate Eleanor on Kingpin's orders, but targets Barton instead. Barton enlists help from Grills, the LARPers, and Duquesne to evacuate the party before rejoining Bishop to defeat the Tracksuit Mafia. After Lopez incapacitates Kazi, Bishop attempts to look for Eleanor while Barton is confronted by Belova, who demands the truth of Natasha Romanoff's death. They fight, but he reminds her of his friendship with Romanoff and her sacrifice to save the entire universe.^[b] Belova spares him and leaves. Kingpin tries to stop Eleanor from escaping, but Bishop arrives and incapacitates him with Barton's trick arrows. Afterwards, Eleanor is arrested by the police for Armand's murder. Kingpin escapes, but is confronted by Lopez as a gunshot is heard. The next day, Barton returns to his family with Bishop and Lucky, returns the watch to Laura, and burns the Ronin suit.

The Verdict:

My thoughts on this series, much like Loki (a review that I will wrap up after a recent rewatch), won't be too long as I don't have too much to say about this series. I was initially very excited for this show to premiere as I was in the middle of reading the first volume of the Matt Fraction and David Aja's Hawkeye comic run while I was on vacation throughout most of the time that this series was airing. To my disappointment, this show cherry picks elements from that comic that are far and in-between. From start to finish, this entire show is a complete bait and switch.

On the surface, Hawkeye sets out to be a street level TV miniseries for arguably the most underrated member of the founding Avengers. Viewers are fooled into believing that this show will be the platform for one of the founding Avengers, who has been missing in action for most of the Infinity Saga after Captain America: Civil War and didn't have a hand to play in the conflict with Thanos until after the Snap in Avengers: Endgame. This show tries to convince the audience that Clint's past as Ronin during the Snap where he took matters into his own hands and ruthlessly killed criminals as this masked vigilante, would be focal point of this series where his past would come back to haunt him in present day. Clint's past as Ronin involved killing Maya Lopez's father and his supposed role in the death of Natasha Romanoff. The latter accusation audiences will immediately know to be complete bullshit, as "Val" put Yelena Belova up to this task with this misinformation in the post-credits tease at the end of Black Widow. Maya Lopez's involvement here merely sets her up to be a much bigger player in the scope of the MCU as this series plays out. Maya's involvement turns this show more into a pseudo-origin story and backdoor pilot for her spin-off series, ECHO, that has already been greenlit for Disney+ in the near-future.

More importantly, this show is more of an origin story for Hailee Steinfeld's Kate Bishop who becomes Clint Barton's unwanted protégé after getting in over her head by attracting the unwanted attention of the Tracksuit Mafia after wearing the Ronin costume that was on sale, along with some other miscellaneous items that were for sale in a black market auction. Steinfeld is delightfully charming in this role, whether when she is fangirling at meeting and hanging out with her idol or when she's interacting with Florence Pugh's Yelena Belova. I swear, if we don't get something with Yelena and Kate together in a buddy team-up of sorts, then these people are goddamn fools. Those two really play off of each other very well. By the end of this series, I definitely wanted to see more of Kate Bishop and that's a good thing. It just felt like she was another component - much like the previously mentioned Maya Lopez/Echo - that was used to shove Clint Barton into the background of his own show. This fact was made painfully apparent in the series' final battle, where Kate Bishop squared off against the Kingpin.

Yes, the same Kingpin/Wilson Fisk played by Vincent D'Onofrio from the Daredevil series on Netflix that ran for three seasons. D'Onofrio claims that this iteration of that character is the same one from that series, so that makes the Netflix shows officially canon in the MCU if we were to tie in Charlie Cox's cameo in Spider-Man: No Way Home later that same month as well.

While I was thrilled and very happy to see Vincent D'Onofrio come back to reprise this role, I was a little underwhelmed at the use of Kingpin here. His appearance in this series merely contributed more to Maya Lopez's backstory while simultaneously shoving more of Clint Barton's story to the background. Kate Bishop is the one who ultimately defeats him (and we're going to talk about how absurd that fight is shortly...) despite Clint being the one who was manipulated by him to kill Maya's father in this first place. I get that Kate had a good reason to be one who brought him to justice, especially when it was revealed that he was in league with her own mother's criminal activities, but I don't see why this couldn't have been a team effort after Clint reasoned with Yelena Belova about the truth surrounding Natasha's death.

As for that fight itself, that was some next level bullshit from start to finish. The only way that I could expect the Kingpin to take that much physical abuse and punishment from that battle, especially after being wounded by several of Kate's trick arrows and hit by a car no less, is that he's still wearing that custom-made protective lightweight body armor that he received (or rather stole) in Daredevil Season 1 that was made by Melvin Potter. Don't forget that Potter is the one who designed and made Daredevil's protective armor too, along with the costumes worn by Elektra and later the "fake" Daredevil in Daredevil Season 3. Fisk was able to endure an insane amount of punishment in Daredevil too, but by the end of this battle, I was rolling my eyes at how comical this was becoming with Fisk being some sort of a damage sponge of a final boss in a video game.

I don't blame Marvel Studios for using this opportunity to garner more interest into this series with the high-profile return of this beloved villain, especially when it looks like any signs of the Marvel Netflix shows getting revived in any capacity looks more and more bleak as time goes on. This was a nice sign of good will from Marvel Studios that they aren't going to allow those shows and characters just fade away into the ether. Besides, Echo/Maya Lopez's character has direct ties to Kingpin in the comics continuity, so they essentially HAD to reintroduce the character in some capacity, especially when it was already announced that she was getting her own spin-off. I had already expected that Kingpin would have a major role to play in her series and his return/reintroduction that character just solidified my predictions on that matter.

The name of this show is just simply "Hawkeye", but upon closer inspection by the end of this series, it felt like it should have been named Hawkeye(s) with another "S" at the end. Like previously mentioned, this series is essentially Kate Bishop's origin story as well as miniseries starring Clint Barton as the titular two main characters. The show literally opens with Kate Bishop's origin story and history playing out during the Battle of New York during the original Avengers film before fast forwarding to present day. This show is mostly Kate's story with Clint Barton being dragged along for the ride... and that's not necessarily a bad thing.

Hailee Steinfeld is a welcome addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe in this role. If they are grooming her for a potential Young Avengers team-up for this next generation of heroes in the wake of the Infinity Saga, then I'm all for it. She shines in every scene she's in and has a natural charisma and chemistry with a lot of the cast that is hard to replicate.

As Kate Bishop, I was really worried that she was going to devolve into a typical Mary Sue by the time that this was over, but holy shit, that fight between her and Kingpin is going to be the talk of the town for a bit from how absurd it was. To be fair though, Kate got her ass kicked for majority of that fight, even after Eleanor Bishop hit that big bastard with her goddamn car and he was still mostly unfettered by it. I did appreciate that while Kate trained to get herself in shape and to get her marksmanship onto par with Clint Barton's as close as humanly possible, she was still flawed in a sense. She still had to practice to get some of his rebounding shots and trick shots down instead of coming off naturally exceptionally gifted at everything like Rey was in the Star Wars' sequel trilogy.

There were parts of this where I feared that Kate's "fan-girling" over her hero and idol, Clint Barton/Hawkeye, was going to wear out it's welcome well before the MCU introduces Ms. Marvel/Kamala Khan to their continuity and that's really a lot of her gimmick is when she meets a lot of the other Avengers, especially Captain Marvel/Carol Denvers herself. It didn't get to the point where it was cringe-worthy to watch play out, so I gave them a pass as Kate's hero worship was more of this show borrowing ideas from the comics that inspired it. She grows from being Clint's unofficial, annoying sidekick and unwilling partner during this holiday-themed mission, only for her to address and grow from her shortcomings and bumbling efforts to impress him to become his protégé in her own right. It was a fun journey to see her relationship with Clint Barton evolve from one-sided hero worship while Clint was annoyed to even be around her to slowly coming around to the idea that she could be an asset to him by the time it was all said and done.

Let's not gloss over the fact that Kate got them both two pretty sweet looking costumes that were as close to their comic book counterparts' designs without looking silly as we're going to get. (Laughs) I'm glad that they took a moment to poke fun at how absurd Clint's comic book costume would look in reality too. A lot of people tend to overlook the fact that a LOT of these "comic book-accurate" costumes would look insanely stupid in a real-life setting.

Florence Pugh's portrayal of Yelena Belova carries over from her debut in 2021's Black Widow, but I have to admit that she doesn't come off as entertaining/funny as she did in that film. Don't get me wrong. I still liked seeing her in this series, but it just didn't feel like her material hit as well as it did in Black Widow.

I get that she buys into Val's story about Clint Barton being the one who killed Natasha, but the nature how she does it so blindly without digging into the details makes her come off really stupid here. Natasha was an Avenger, with the events of Black Widow taking place between Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War, so it was a rather tough sell that Natasha wouldn't be talking about her best friend from all of those years away from her family, Clint Barton/Hawkeye, who she has shared so many life-threatening experiences with to her sister while she was on the run from violating the Sokovia Accords. Let's not forget that Yelena herself is no stranger from being manipulated after being cut loose from the Black Widow program that the Red Room had her and several other Widows around the world enslaved to. One would think that she would approach this situation with an open mind, wanting to know the full story about what happened between Clint and Natasha that led to her untimely demise before going in for the kill blindly.

Hawkeye marks for the first time in the Marvel Cinematic Universe that Clint Barton is partially deaf and requires the use of a hearing aid. This revelation brings him closer to his comic book counterpart and I would like to safely assume that within the MCU, his deafness is result of prolonged exposure and tenure on the battlefield. I can't fathom how many times he's had explosions going off all around him in the field during his line of work, even BEFORE he became an Avenger while working as a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent.

The whole plot revolves around Clint Barton being dragged into this ordeal, no thanks to Kate Bishop stealing his Ronin costume that was on sale at a black market auction and luring a lot of unwanted attention to the pair. Clint finds himself in a race against time as he attempts to resolve this matter to be home for Christmas with his family.

I was really disappointed that we didn't get a MUCH bigger scope of what Clint was doing as Ronin during those five years after the Snap. Sure, we got to learn about his involvement in the death of Maya Lopez's father, but really not much else outside of what we saw in Avengers: Endgame. We didn't even get to see a flashback of what Clint and Natasha did in Budapest either. I guess that's going to stay being an inside joke/reference between them that Natasha took with her to the grave that no one else is going to know about except for Clint... and maybe his wife.

Speaking of Clint's wife (Laura Barton), she had another task for him to take care of, if his plate wasn't full enough already. Among the items that were confiscated from the Avengers compound, a Rolex watch that belonged to her was among those items. Throughout the entire series, it was surrounded in mystery about the significance of this watch until it was revealed that it was Laura's S.H.I.E.L.D.-issued watch when she was "Agent 19". For those who don't know, Agent 19 was codenamed Mockingbird AKA Barbara "Bobbi" Morse. Bobbi Morse was Hawkeye's wife at one point in the comics, but the MCU never went that route as Bobbi Morse appeared in Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. without any ties to Clint Barton whatsoever. She never used the Mockingbird codename/moniker either. By this point, it should be apparent that Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. exists in its own continuity now from the events that splinter it away from the mainline MCU timeline and continuity before that series came to an end, so they should be free to use Mockingbird and revamp her backstory as they see fit. What does this mean? It means that Laura Barton was simply "Agent 19" when she was a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent and married Clint Barton much like her comic book counterpart, Mockingbird/Bobbi Morse. If anything, we could imply that they are two separate characters in this continuity if they don't want to confuse people instead of them being the same character like in the comics. I thought it was a clever little Easter egg for fans of their pairing in the comics. I've raved about the West Coast Avengers comics a lot on this blog in some fashion or another, so it definitely got the nod of approval from me. It shows that they cared enough to give Laura Barton some sort of backstory in this continuity to say that she's been married to Clint for all of this time and we've only seen her twice since the events of Avengers: Age of Ultron and Avengers: Endgame.