'Hawkeye' ('Clint Barton') is a
fictional Marvel Comics superhero, a longtime member of the
Avengers. Created by writer
Stan Lee and artist
Don Heck, he first appeared in ''
Tales of Suspense'' #57 (
September 1964).
Hawkeye is a costumed
archer, possessing a variety of specialized arrows. Brash and somewhat cocky, he has often butted heads with teammates but has been a member of some segment of the Avengers fairly consistently throughout the group's history. He also led the
Thunderbolts, attempting to guide the former
villains to become heroes.
He was also a regular character on the short-lived
1990s animated series ''
Iron Man'' and ''.''
Publication history
Introduced as a villain (albeit somewhat unwitting villain) in ''Tales of Suspense''.
[1] Upgraded to hero status in
''Avengers'', appearing in Volumes 1, 2 and 3, as well as the current title incarnation,
''New Avengers''. Featured in
''West Coast Avengers'' (later retitled ''Avengers West Coast''); concurrently featured in most of the issues of ''Solo Avengers'' (later retitled ''Avengers Spotlight'').
[2] Featured in two miniseries (''Hawkeye V1''
[3] and ''V2''
[4]), a one-shot (''Hawkeye: Earth's Mightiest Marksman''
[5]), and one ongoing (''Hawkeye V3''
[6]). Significant presence in ''Thunderbolts V1''
[7] and ''Avengers vs Thunderbolts''
[8] miniseries.
Fictional character biography
Clinton Francis "Clint" Barton was born in
Waverly, Iowa. The second son of an alcoholic butcher/shopkeeper, he was orphaned at age 8, when his parents died in a car accident caused by his father's drunken driving. He ran away from an orphanage as a pre-teen to join the
circus as a performer, where he was trained by the
Swordsman and
Trickshot. When he discovered that his mentors were both criminals he rejected them, leading to a beating by
Swordsman which left the teen-aged Clint Barton badly injured and hospitalized. Years later, he decided to become a costumed hero after being inspired by seeing
Iron Man in action, but his first attempts were less than successful; he stopped an armed group of jewelry store robbers only to be mistaken by police as the thief himself. On the run from police, he met and came under the influence of the
Black Widow, who was a spy for the
Soviet Union. The Black Widow's main mission at that time was to steal Stark-developed technology to turn over to her handlers, and she was able to convince the besotted Hawkeye that she was working in the interests of international peace. The pair tangled with Iron Man twice, being defeated both times. When Hawkeye finally learned the Black Widow's true mission (to steal the technology and destroy Iron Man) he refused to betray his country for her, but was persuaded to help her one last time. When the Black Widow was injured during the last fight, Hawkeye broke off his attack on Iron Man to help her, choosing to withdraw rather than kill Iron Man.
Avengers Membership
Eventually Hawkeye applied for membership in the Avengers (by breaking into the Avengers Mansion and announcing that he wanted to be a part of the group) and was accepted. He served alongside
Captain America,
Quicksilver and the
Scarlet Witch as "the New Avengers". Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch had also initially been
supervillains until realizing the error of their prior actions. Although Hawkeye wanted the Black Widow to join the Avengers with him, several other Avengers were resistant to the idea, given her Cold War spy past, and Black Widow's increasing involvement with S.H.I.E.L.D. also created tension between the pair, finally resulting in a split.
Hawkeye would remain with the Avengers for many years and roster changes, often butting heads with the team's leaders when not leading a branch of the team himself. At several points in time (notably the
Kree-Skrull War and ), he would temporarily adopt teammate
Hank Pym's former powers and codename of 'Goliath', gaining the ability to increase his body to a massive size.
Although Hawkeye was enamored with the Scarlet Witch and very briefly tried to romance her, she eventually married their teammate, the
Vision. During a later solo adventure, Hawkeye met the former S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Barbara "Bobbi" Morse, alias
Mockingbird while she was investigating
Cross Technological Enterprises, Hawkeye's employer at the time. Unknown to Hawkeye, Cross Tech was run by the villain
Crossfire, who had a plan to use an aggression-inducing sonic wave against all of New York's superheroes. Crossfire captured the snooping Hawkeye and Mockingbird and tested the sonic wave on them, causing them to fight each other. Hawkeye used a sonic ray arrowhead, hidden in his mouth, to cancel out the sonic waves, freeing himself from the wave's control but ruining his hearing (requiring him to use hearing aides afterward) in the process. After defeating Crossfire, Hawkeye and Mockingbird eloped.
West Coast Avengers
Under the direction of then-Avengers chair The Vision, Hawkeye and Mockingbird subsequently founded the
West Coast Avengers and served as two of the most prominent members of that team. The husband-and-wife duo had a rocky relationship caused by a falling-out over the issue of killing. During a time travel adventure while Hawkeye was bargaining for his life and the lives of the rest of his team with the Egyptian god Khonshu, Mockingbird was drugged into forgetting about Hawkeye and into believing she was in love with the western anti-hero known as the
Phantom Rider. When she was free of the drug's influence she fought the Phantom Rider and allowed him to fall to his death, declining the opportunity to save him. As part of the agreement with Khonshu, Hawkeye crafted several weapons for Khonshu's present day avatar Moon Knight, who with the assistance of Dr. Pym helped bring the wayard avengers back to their own time. When the details of Phantom Rider's death were finally revealed (by the Rider's vengeful ghost), the couple split. During a temporary reconciliation, they also briefly served with the much less prominent and unofficial
Great Lakes Avengers team, after which Hawkeye returned to the West Coast Avengers, alone.
While a member of the West Coast Avengers, Hawkeye found his leadership usurped by other experienced heroes such as
Dr. Pym and
USAgent. His personality clashes with USAgent led to the two men coming to blows on more than one occasion.
In the late 1980s a new Avengers comic called
Solo Avengers came out, later retitled
Avengers Spotlight. Each issue of the comic featured two stories, each starring an Avenger in solo adventures. Marvel Comics held a contest to determine the most popular Avenger who didn't have their own series, and Hawkeye won. In response, Marvel made Hawkeye the regularly featured character in the first story in each issue, with the star of the second feature rotating with each installment. Towards the end of its run,
Avengers Spotlight dropped the Hawkeye feature and had full-length stories featuring different Avengers.
A short-lived change of direction for Hawkeye began in the pages of
Avengers Spotlight scripted by
Steve Gerber. Hawkeye became involved in battling Los Angeles street gangs and in the process was himself ambushed and gunned down. Once he recovered, he donned a suit of "battle armor" built by
Tony Stark and became a dark streetfighting character in the vein of the
Punisher or
Daredevil. This change of direction was short-lived and Hawkeye regained his normal costume and attitude.
After , Hawkeye and Mockingbird finally permanently reconciled, only to have
Ultron kidnap Mockingbird to use her brain patterns to create his "perfect wife,"
Alkhema (also known as "War Toy"). Feeling that his behavior had been less-than-professional during the rescue, Hawkeye stepped down from chairmanship of the West Coast Avengers and Mockingbird announced that she would be changing to "reserve" status. They had one last adventure as Avengers together, during which Mockingbird was killed by the
demon Mephisto.
After her death Hawkeye left the team and the West Coast Avengers were disbanded. While most of the former West Coast Avengers went on to form a new team led by
Iron Man called
Force Works, Hawkeye began a life of aimless wandering, embittered by Mockingbird's death. His adventures during this period, which included a clash with
Viper and his old enemy
Trick Shot, are chronicled in the second Hawkeye limited series.
He finally returned to the Avengers shortly prior to the battle with
Onslaught, after which the Avengers (including Hawkeye) were presumed deceased for a time. In actuality, they were revived in a
pocket dimension created by
Franklin Richards for the events of "
Heroes Reborn", and returned to
Earth-616 during "
Heroes Return". As a part of the "return" process, Hawkeye's deafness was cured.
Thunderbolts
thumb
Shortly after Hawkeye's return, he was sucked into an alternate universe adventure with many other Avengers. Afterwards, after a disastorous multi-hero fight against the villain Whirlwind, he found that
Justice and
Firestar had snuck away and defeated the man themselves. Impressed, he convinced the others to let the two in. After another adventure or two, including confronting the (again) brainwashed Squadrom Supreme, he left officially. He then became affiliated with the Thunderbolts, a group of former
supervillains who had apparently turned over a new leaf by battling menaces such as
Graviton. He joined the team as their ''de facto'' leader and mentor, ultimately helping several members obtain pardons for their past crimes. In once incident, mocking the tendency to dramatically change costumes, Hawkeye dramatically revealed his...new belt buckle insignia. During one adventure,
Hellstorm sent them to Mephisto's
Purgatory, where they attempted to rescue Mockingbird's soul but instead returned
Hellcat to the land of the living. Hawkeye later entered a romantic relationship with his teammate,
Moonstone.
After the Thunderbolts defeated the
Scourge and
Henry Peter Gyrich, both of whom were under
Baron Strucker's domination, the Thunderbolts were offered a full pardon for their actions under two conditions: Hawkeye turn himself in for incarceration, and the other Thunderbolts retire permanently. They accepted, and Hawkeye went to prison, but later helped
SHIELD by infiltrating a jailbreak that was led by
Mentallo at the behest of
Justin Hammer. Meanwhile, half of the Thunderbolts were teleported by Graviton to
Counter-Earth (the "Heroes Reborn" world, now in orbit around the Sun opposite the Earth). Hawkeye led the remaining Thunderbolts, plus several of the escaped criminals and some former members of the
Crimson Cowl's new
Masters of Evil team, to form a new Thunderbolts team. Once this team was reunited with the lost members, they together defeated the Crimson Cowl, but several Thunderbolts were returned to government custody for violating the terms of their pardon. Hawkeye then left the team and rejoined the Avengers, giving
Baron Zemo the opportunity to assume leadership of the Thunderbolts. After the next meeting between the Avengers and Thunderbolts, the Thunderbolts were again disbanded, although this would again prove temporary.
Shortly before the Avengers' assault by the Scarlet Witch, he had a brief romantic relationship with team member
Wasp.
Avengers Disassembled and House of M
During the
Avengers Disassembled storyline, the Scarlet Witch becomes insane and uses her reality-manipulation powers to create deadly threats to her teammates. Hawkeye dies in one of the battles, sacrificing himself to destroy a
Kree starship and save his fellow assembled Avengers.
However, during the ''
House of M'', he is alive once more in the Scarlet Witch's mutant-dominated altered reality, with no memory of the previous reality. When a young mutant named
Layla Miller gives several of the heroes the ability to remember the way the world once was, Hawkeye and the others are horrified at what the Scarlet Witch has done. He travels to Genosha and, as Dr. Strange is trying to get the truth of the altered reality from the Scarlet Witch, Hawkeye shoots her in the back, apparently aware that it would not harm her. He demands to know why she killed him. In the course of their argument, one of her re-created children becomes angry and simply dissolves Hawkeye into nothing.
Immediately after the altered reality is terminated and the world restored, sans most of the mutants, the dispirited New Avengers answer an intruder alarm at the ruined Avengers Mansion, and find only Hawkeye's costume and a newspaper cutting about his death, pinned to the ruins by Hawkeye's trademark purple arrows.
In a
She-Hulk story set shortly after ''Avengers Disassembled'' and before ''House of M'', Hawkeye is seen again, brought into the present time from the past to serve as a juror in a time-travel-based case. Despite She-Hulk's attempts to warn him of his fate in his own timeline, he is returned to the past, unaware of his future fate.
New Avengers
In a stand-alone issue
[9] set a few months prior at the end of
House of M, Hawkeye is seen being deposited a few short blocks away from the ruins of Avengers' Mansion. He strips away his uniform and walks up on the property, triggering the alarm. Throwing a random newspaper reporting his death as well as his old uniform in the air, he fires off a few arrows into them, pinning them to the front door of the mansion and walks off to reveal his 'resurrection' to Dr. Strange. These, of course, explain the last few panels at the end of House of M. Hawkeye remains with Dr. Strange for a few months, keeping his 'resurrection' a secret from the remainder of the superhero community at large. The newly-resurrected Hawkeye seeks the truth of his deaths and resurrections at the hands of the Scarlet Witch. After seeking advice from
Dr. Strange, he travels to
Wundagore Mountain and finds the
Scarlet Witch living a normal life with no memory of her heroic past and apparently without any kind of mutant abilities. They become intimate and he leaves the next morning, after turning away from the chance to test the truth of her new life.
In '' #3, "Bargaining," Clint Barton confronts
Tony Stark over the death of Steve Rogers. Upon confirmation of Barton's identity, Stark offers him Captain America's costume and real shield. Stark takes Barton out on patrol and they discover
Elijah Bradley and the new Hawkeye,
Kate Bishop, defeating the supervillain
Firebrand. Stark confronts the duo about their violation of the Super Hero Registration Act. Dressed as Captain America, Barton confronts Bishop about her assumption of the Hawkeye mantle. Unaware of who he truly is, Kate berates Clint, saying that she took Hawkeye's name to honor him but didn't copy his costume as that would be shameful; she further states that "if Hawkeye were alive, I'd call myself something else." She also states that it was the REAL Captain America who gave her the name Hawkeye as a tribute to his friend. Her words convince Clint to return the shield and costume to Tony Stark, condemn Stark for his role in the Civil War, and go his own path. Stark vows to pursue Barton if he sides with the New Avengers.
In ''
New Avengers'' #30, Clint Barton returns to speak with
Dr. Strange, meets the New Avengers, and ends up donning the
Ronin costume to assist them, accompanying the team to Japan to rescue
Echo (Who later officially hands the Ronin costume and identity over to Barton). The New Avengers are driven by two goals; to save people "the way [they] want to", and to investigate the reason why the world has been turned upside-down recently. After a confrontation with
Elektra and the
Hand to rescue Echo, the team discover that Elektra had been replaced with a
Skrull some indeterminant time ago, but whether more prominent figures in the Marvel Universe have been replaced with Skrulls by this point is unclear.
This revelation, plus hints from writer Bendis, has led to speculation about the next 'big' event, and who else could be a Skrull. In a question about who could possibly be a Skrull, Bendis hinted "Anyone with a wobbly resurrection is suspect." This prompted someone to ask about the former Hawkeye and current Ronin, Clint Barton, who has been recently resurrected. Bendis said he's a prime suspect to be a Skrull.
[10]
In ''
World War Hulk'', Ronin attempts to defend
Rick Jones from Hiroim and Elloe of the Hulk's Warbound during their attack on the Sanctum Sanctorum to capture Doctor Strange. Along with Iron Fist and Echo, he is defeated and captured.
Powers and abilities
Hawkeye has no superhuman powers (although he uses
Pym particles to become Goliath on occasion) but is a peak-athlete. He possesses exceptional strength, endurance, and stamina. His reflexes and agility represent the absolute pinnacle of human perfection. He is capable of acrobatic maneuvers that would put an Olympic gold medalist to shame. His accuracy as an archer is virtually unerring. He is also a highly competent strategist, tactician, and field commander. He is an exceptional hand-to-hand combatant, having been trained by
Captain America.
His primary weapons in crime-fighting are a long bow and an arsenal of arrows, often 36, carried in a back quiver. Half of them have either target or blade points, while the rest carry a wide variety of customized special heads: high explosive, acid, cable (for climbing or crossing gaps), webs and bolas (to entangle suspects), and smoke and freeze arrows are just a few samples. For emergency use, Hawkeye has several spare arrowheads in his costume's belt and straps, enabling him to refit the target point arrows into
trick arrows if need be. The arrows do not sit loose in the quiver, but rather are held in place by clips at the bottom. In this manner, Hawkeye is able to always know what arrow he is reaching for without having to pause to look and see. Also, in his quiver is an arrow from the Greek god, Cupid, given at the end of an Avengers Annual story, said to call the Greek god to the Avenger's aid.
Hawkeye also has a
sky-cycle that he sometimes uses.
Kate Bishop
Main articles: Hawkeye (Kate Bishop)
In the time period between ''
Avengers Disassembled'' and the events of ''
House of M'', when Clint Barton was believed dead, Kate Bishop, a member of the
Young Avengers, takes up Hawkeye's bow and general appearance as a superhero. She later (between the formation of the New Avengers and Civil War) adopted the codename "Hawkeye" at
Captain America's suggestion. As explained to Kate by
Jessica Jones, Kate reminded
Captain America of the first Hawkeye not only because of her skill with a bow and arrows but because she was unafraid to stand up to Captain America for what she thought was right, as the first Hawkeye had often done.
Other versions
Heroes Reborn
An archer character named Hawkeye appears in the
Heroes Reborn version of the Avengers, but wears a full mask and is never shown without it. In the original Heroes Reborn run, it was hinted that the man under the mask might be Simon Williams a.k.a.
Wonder Man, while in the
2007 Onslaught Reborn saga, it is hinted that it might be
Wolverine.
JLA/Avengers Crossover
In the ''
JLA/Avengers'' crossover, Hawkeye becomes the first Marvel character to ever be inducted into the
Justice League of America.
Marvel MAX
In the
Marvel MAX series
U.S. War Machine, Hawkeye appeares alongside
Captain America and The
Falcon; he and
Falcon served as
Captain America's backup and wore no costumes, only being addressed by their real names. In this reality,
Captain America was actually
Bucky wearing the Captain's uniform as here the Captain had died in
World War II in his stead.
Marvel Zombies
In the "Crossover" arc in ''
Ultimate Fantastic Four'', Hawkeye is one of the first heroes to be infected. Later, in the
Marvel Zombies miniseries which spun out of the crossover, he is one of the zombie pack hunting the uninfected Magneto. During the fight between the pack and Magneto, he is decapitated by Colonel America's shield, thrown by Magneto. He is assumed dead, as opposed to Colonel America, who continues to live after having his head decapitated (partly) by the same shield (although he died later when the rest of his brain was pulled out), and the Wasp (who kept on talking even after Giant-Man bit her head off).
Ultimate Hawkeye
Promotional art for 'Ultimates' #9. Art by
Bryan Hitch.
In the
Ultimate Marvel Universe, ''Ultimate Hawkeye'' is a member of the Ultimate version of the Avengers, the
Ultimates, where he was introduced as the partner of the Ultimate version of the Black Widow. The Ultimate versions of these characters are much more ready to use lethal force than are their normal Marvel Universe counterparts. The character has also had guest appearances in
Ultimate Spider-Man,
Ultimate Extinction and
Ultimate Power.
Powers
Ultimate Hawkeye, although human, has a nearly metahuman-level of accuracy and speed, an ability resembling that of the
616 character
Bullseye. Essentially, he can turn any object, however small, into a precisely-aimed deadly projectile. This ability extends to a seemingly superhuman-effectiveness with firearms and bow weapons, as well as a number of improvised weapons like silverware, plates, and in one case, his own fingernails. According to the
Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe, his fighting skills are rated at 6, making him a master of multiple forms of fighting. He is also a field commander and fighter pilot.
His Ultimates "field" costume is a black sleeveless bodysuit with silver-ridged body armor on the chest and red insets at the back and sides. In many scenes he wears S.H.I.E.L.D. fatigues or uniform instead of his Ultimates costume.
Background
Clint "Hawkeye" Barton lives with his wife (initially introduced as his girlfriend, later described as his wife) and three children in the suburbs of New York, in commuting distance from S.H.I.E.L.D.'s headquarters, the Triskelion. A long-time black-ops agent, Hawkeye served with Nick Fury during the formation of S.H.I.E.L.D. and in most of the world's political "hot spots." In
Ultimate Secret he claims to dislike working with superheroes, openly criticising Captain America, Iron Man and the Fantastic Four.
Ultimates 1
Brought up from S.H.I.E.L.D. field agent to the Ultimates, Hawkeye and occasional field partner
Black Widow lead a team of Black Ops S.H.I.E.L.D. personnel into a sleeper colony of Chitauri agents operating out of two New York City office buildings. The mission subsequently goes bad, killing all but Hawkeye and a single soldier, with Black Widow rescuing the pair in a dramatic aerial stunt.
As part of the later fight against the Chitauri at an Air Force base in New Mexico, a wounded Hawkeye is responsible for sedating and immobilizing the rampaging
Hulk after the invasion is quashed.
Ultimates 2
In issue #7, Hawkeye's home is invaded and his family is murdered by masked agents. The issue ends with the implication that Hawkeye was about to be killed as well, though in the next issue his body was missing. The true identities of the killers and their leader was not revealed. In issue #8, members of S.H.I.E.L.D. watch a security video that shows what seems to be Captain America killing Hawkeye and his family.
At the beginning of issue #9, it is revealed that Hawkeye was not killed, but had been shot with tranquilizers. After regaining consciousness, Hawkeye learns that over the previous three days, he had been drugged, tortured, and the security codes to the Triskelion were ripped from his mind.
In the absence of any nearby weapons, Hawkeye tears his own fingernails off and uses them as lethal projectiles, flicking them into his captors' mouths, choking and immobilizing them. The squad of soldiers that arrives to contain Hawkeye find him freed from confinement and surrounded by the bodies of his captors. Hawkeye shoots and kills the second squad with weapons taken from the first set. He then makes his way to the White House to aid in protecting the president, and joins his Ultimates teammates in the battle against the Liberators, an invading army of foreign superhumans.
In issue #13, after the defeat of the Liberators, Hawkeye tracks the Black Widow down, intent on revenge for her actions as a
mole for the Liberators; after pinning her wrists to a wall with a pair of arrows, he responds to the Widow's taunting remarks about his murdered family by killing her with a single arrow to the head.
Hawkeye is shown in the promotional poster for Ultimates 3, but whether he is in Ultimates 4 is unknown.
For reasons of pacing, Hawkeye was not featured in the animated film
Ultimate Avengers, nor in the sequel.
In other media
Film
Hawkeye is set to be one of the properties that
Marvel Studios will produce as a film.
[11]
Television
★ Hawkeye was a regular character on the animated programs '' (voiced by
Tony Daniels) and ''
Iron Man'' (voiced by
John Reilly).
Video games
★ Hawkeye is a playable character in the video game ''
Captain America and the Avengers''. He is also playable in the coin-operated ''.
★ Hawkeye is a playable character on the
Xbox 360 (As a downloadable character) and
PlayStation Portable version of ''.
★ Hawkeye can be summoned as a striker in on the SNES/Sega Genesis
Notes
1. ''Tales of Suspense'' #57 (1964), #60, #64
2. ''Solo Avengers'' (''Avengers Spotlight'') (1990) issues 1-36; series canceled at #40
3. ''Hawkeye V1'' (1983) 4 issue miniseries written and penciled by Mark Gruenwald.
4. ''Hawkeye V2'' (1994) 4 issue miniseries written by Chuck Dixon and penciled by Scott Kolins.
5. ''Hawkeye: Earth's Mightiest Marksman'' (1998) written by Tom DeFalco, penciled by Jeff Johnson.
6. ''Hawkeye V3'' (2003) 8 issues; launched as ongoing but canceled at issue 8; written by Fabian Nicieza, art by Steffano Raffaele (issues 1-6) and Joe Bennett (issues 7-8).
7. ''Thunderbolts V1'' (1997), especially issues #20-#70; written by Kurt Busiek (issues #20-34) and Fabian Nicieza (issues #34-70); various artists.
8. ''Avengers vs Thunderbolts'' (2004), 6 issue miniseries. Written by Kurt Busiek and Fabian Nicieza; art by Barry Kitson and Tom Grummett.
9. ''New Avengers #26''
10. http://www.newsarama.com/heroes_philly07/Marvel/sat/bendis.html
11. Marvel Updates Its Film Slate
External links
★
Hawkeye on the Marvel Universe Character Bio Wiki
★
Ultimate Hawkeye on the Marvel Universe Character Bio Wiki
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