After a long career spent as the butt of Marvel fans’ jokes, Clint Barton’s Hawkeye is finally preparing to pass the baton—but not before he attempts to prove his worth in one last cinematic showing. He’s more than the guy with the arrows, folks. He’s the guy with the arrows and his own TV show.
The Disney+ series Hawkeye is set to premiere this fall, and if Black Widow‘s post-credits scene is any indication, the show could be one of the better Phase 4 Marvel Cinematic Universe installments yet. As always, Disney and Marvel are keeping plot details close to the chest, but here’s what little we do know so far.
When will Hawkeye air on Disney+?
Marvel has confirmed that Hawkeye will air in “late 2021.” If the series follows in the footsteps of Loki, it’s likely episodes will drop on the streaming platform weekly each Wednesday morning.
Who’s in the cast?
Jeremy Renner is confirmed to return as the archer Avenger, but he’ll be joined by several new faces, including Hailee Steinfield (Dickinson) as his protege, Kate Bishop. Florence Pugh will return as Yelena Belova; Vera Farmiga will play Eleanor Bishop; Alaqua Cox will tackle Maya Lopez, aka Echo, a deaf superhero and member of the Cheyenne Nation; and Fra Fee will play an unknown character named Kazi. Tony Dalton, Zahn McClarnon, and Brian d’Arcy James will also make appearances.
What will Hawkeye be about?
The only details revealed so far are that the show will be an “adventure series in which Clint Barton, a.k.a. Hawkeye, will pass the torch to Kate Bishop,” according to Variety. But for those with an eye for design—and a more-than-passing knowledge of Marvel Comics—there’s reason for further speculation.
In a clip Renner shared on Instagram from San Diego Comic Con in 2019, you can catch a few seconds of Hawkeye‘s credits, sketched in a style very similar to David Aja and Annie Wu’s drawings from the 2012-2015 Hawkeye run by Aja, Wu and writer Matt Fraction.
It might surprise some MCU fans to learn that this Hawkeye run was one of Marvel’s most popular comics series at the time—so much so that legions of fans declared Hawkeye one of their favorite heroes. As Entertainment Weekly reported, “The book exploded, and in turn, Marvel’s sales skyrocketed, drastically changing the way its comics were received.”
If Disney+’s Hawkeye is taking design ideas from the Fraction run, it’s likely the show will also pull story concepts. If that’s the case, we could be in for a much more humanized version of Clint Barton—a flawed, sometimes even bumbling hero with a penchant for spilled coffee and disappointing his sidekick, who fights beside him regardless against petty criminals. Although the MCU’s Barton has a family (and thus will require a level of maturity Fraction’s Barton didn’t), we could at least get a cameo of Lucky the Pizza Dog. That idea alone is worth tuning in.
How will Black Widow tie into Hawkeye?
Black Widow‘s post-credits scene features an interesting moment in which the mysterious Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) appears beside Pugh’s Yelena Belova at Natasha Romanoff’s graveside. She asks Yelena if she’d like to get revenge on the man responsible for Natasha’s death, then shows the young assassin a photo of Clint Barton. Of course, we know Clint actively fought to keep Natasha alive during that pivotal scene in Avengers: Endgame. But Yelena hasn’t a clue.
Given that Pugh is confirmed to appear in Hawkeye, this tease hints Yelena won’t appear in the Disney+ series as an immediate ally. In fact, there’s a strong chance she’ll play the show’s main villain. But until Disney finally loosens its lips and lets spill more details, we’ll be left drumming up theories.
Lauren Puckett-Pope
Associate Editor
Lauren Puckett-Pope is an associate editor at ELLE, where she covers news and culture.
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