(Spoiler Warning!!)
The new MCU Disney+ series, Hawkeye, premiered on November 24th with two episodes. I’ll try to shorten each newsletter because I want to get them out in time before the third episode on Wednesday. Before going into the series, I was looking for a more grounded and enjoyable marvel show. I wasn’t too fascinated with the Hawkeye character beforehand, and I don’t know much about the character in general. I have a couple of comics with both of them in them, but no solo runs. I’ll be learning more about Hawkeye and Kate Bishop as the series goes on while doing some research myself. I will say that I enjoyed both episodes. I hope that each of them gets better than the previous one. So, let’s get into some Hawkeye stuff!
Right off the bat, the episode started off strong. We get a new point of view from the 2012 Battle of New York. Kate Bishop’s home is damaged by the Chitauri army, and before she gets attacked, she is saved by Hawkeye. I appreciate getting different angles and shots of previous scenes that we have already seen. Kate’s father was killed by the attack, so she believed it was her duty to protect her family. Marvel used a clever way of showing her development throughout the opening credits. It was done so well. In the present day, she damaged a clock and part of a tower at her campus because of a bet she lost. It felt random at the start of the scene, but you got to see how well her archery skills are. In another part of New York, Clint was attending the Rogers’ musical with his kids. There was one moment of him focusing on Nat’s character, and you felt that wave of sadness. I hope to see him talk more about how her death affected him. We got confirmation that Clint has hearing aids now. It makes sense because in the comics, I know he deals with hearing loss. When he went to the bathroom, there was writing on a urinal about how Thanos was right. I know people in real life would have taken Thanos’ side, and those people would be the ones to write it on a urinal of all places. I feel like each new project in some way has to talk about the Snap because of how devastating it has to be for the whole world and universe.
Kate met with her mother, Eleanor, at their home. She insisted that Kate attend a charity event with her and her boyfriend, Jack. I wasn’t expecting her boyfriend to be a character from the comics, which is the Swordsman. His name is Jack, and he has a fine collection of swords. It wasn’t hard to put two and two together. I actually have the first issue of his appearance, and I wonder if he will become the Swordsman in this series. Clint was having dinner with his family, and he promised them they were going to have a great Christmas in New York. But we know that isn’t going to happen. At the charity event, Kate learned from Armand Duquesne III that her mother and Jack were engaged. Further proving Jack is a Duquesne, so he is, in fact, the Swordsman. It broke her heart since her father was a big part of her childhood. Kate went outside to get some air, and she met a lovely dog before it ran off. In Fraction’s run, I remember seeing Lucky the pizza dog, and later on, we found out it was Lucky from the comics. She went back inside and witnessed Armand arguing with Eleanor for some reason. Armand is shady, and I have a feeling Eleanor is too. Kate kept an eye on Armand’s movement, which led her to a black market auction. Jack was there as well. They auctioned off Ronin’s sword and outfit. Before the bidding could start on the outfit, a group bombed the place. The group was looking for a watch. They were in tracksuits, so I’m 100% sure they were the Tracksuit Draculas. They were created by Fraction and Aja; they first appeared in their Hawkeye run in 2012, bro. Kate took the opportunity to wear Ronin’s outfit to hide her identity from the other attendees.
The way Kate used the wine bottles to fight off the tracksuit guys was incredible. I was so pleased with that. During the bombing, Jack took Ronin’s sword. Will it come back into play? Kate was able to escape the room and attacked the last guy who got the watch they were looking for with the help of the dog. While all this happened, Clint was getting back home. He saw the news report of Ronin’s appearance. There was a sense of confusion and unease. He made a lot of mistakes during his time as Ronin, so he had to figure out who this person was. Kate saved the dog and brought it back to her apartment; she even gave him pizza to eat. She left quickly to find Armand to get answers. Kate broke into his home but found him dead. Who could have it been? She escaped before one of his workers saw her there. On her way back to her apartment, the tracksuit guys found her. She didn’t back down from them. She held her own for a while before Clint saved her. Clint unmasked her to be a bit disappointed, but Kate was in shock to see her idol standing right in front of her. And that’s it for this episode!
Final Thoughts
I’m not going to say much for this episode because I want to wait until I get my second newsletter out. In the second one, I’ll discuss both episodes one and two as a whole. I will say that I love the Christmas spirit of the show so far. I feel like it was a great choice to have this series take place during the holiday. Hailee Steinfeld is brilliant as Kate Bishop; I’m so glad she said yes to this character. The episode wasn’t focusing much on Clint. It was more of a way to introduce Kate. It sort of felt like the first episode of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. Before teaming up your two main characters, you wanted to establish where they were and how they fit into each other’s story. It was a compelling first episode, but I feel like releasing two, at the same time, helped kick off the series to a great start. We’ll get into it more when I publish my newsletter for the second episode.
Hello there! I’m happy you took the time out of your day to read my post. Remember if you have any questions or want to have a discussion, leave a comment! I’ll try to release my next newsletter on episode two tomorrow or Tuesday. Stick around and find out! Happy days and take care!