While all of Disney+ and Marvel’s character-specific shows have felt like studies of their interior selves, the vibe radiating from the trailers for the MCU’s upcoming Hawkeye series has been a little bit different — less “what makes Clint Barton, the original Hawkeye, tick” and more “of all the original Avengers, what could have possessed Kate Bishop to go up for Clint Barton, the guy with a bow?”
In the time between Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, Barton became a man with a new vigilante persona. As Ronin, he channeled much of the fury and pain he felt over the death of his family into the brutal business of dispatching the Earth’s remaining criminals. Though the Avengers were able to put the world more or less back to the way it was before Thanos’ snap, many of the villains Barton crossed paths with as Ronin still want payback for the trouble he caused them. It’s unclear exactly how Kate first starts masquerading as Ronin herself, accidentally becoming mixed up in Barton’s personal business, but in Hawkeye’s latest trailer, you can see how quickly the two archers shrug their shoulders and decide that they’re better off working together.
Along with new shots of Clint teaching Kate about trick arrows, there’s a brief glimpse of Echo (Alaqua Lopez), another character due to star in her own spin-off series, and the strong implication that Hawkeye’s really meant to work as a way of ushering in more of the next generation of Avengers. As much as the streaming series’ ads have been leaning into the holiday angle, one has to wonder to what degree the show might end up feeling like a Very Special Avengers Christmas spread out over six episodes that begin hitting Disney+ on November 24.