The MCU has kept Clint Barton’s history and reasons for becoming Hawkeye a mystery so far, but with the new Disney Plus series on its way, his story and his connections to the bigger universe will become clearer.
Clint Barton has a long and complicated history in the comics to pull from, and the comics could give hints at what to expect from Clint and Kate Bishop in the series, but there are a lot of questions that MCU fans probably have about Marvel’s best archer. Whether it’s his circus history, his time as a villain, or his connections to SHIELD, Hawkeye’s story is anything but boring.
10 Was Hawkeye Deaf?
The short answer is yes, but through Clint’s history, this has been a complicated path through canon. Originally, Clint lost his hearing in an act of self-sacrifice. While held captive by Crossfire and forced to fight Mockingbird through the use of a sonic emitter, Clint bit down on a sonic arrowhead to block the sound and stop the fight. It permanently damaged his hearing.
This was retconned during the Heroes Reborn era but brought back in Matt Fraction and David Aja’s Hawkeye series where the abuse Clint suffered as a child caused some hearing loss and a fight with the tracksuit mafia cost him his hearing.
9 Did Hawkeye have a family in the comics?
Yes and no. In the Ultimates comics, Clint Barton has a wife and three kids who were very similar to the family he’s had in the MCU so far. That family, however, was murdered by the double agent, Black Widow.
In the 616, however, Clint does not have a family, though, during Secret Invasion, it was revealed that he and Mockingbird tried to have a baby, but she suffered a miscarriage. So far, the closest Clint has come to having a family are the Avengers and Kate Bishop.
8 Who is Barney Barton?
Barney, or Trickshot, is Clint’s older brother. He has been an ally and an enemy in Clint’s superheroing. He’s worked with Baron Zemo against Clint during Hawkeye: Blindspot, and he turned against Clint much earlier during their days with the circus.
That said, since the Fraction-Aja run, the two men have started to rebuild a relationship on healthier terms. Clint even relies on Barney when he lost his hearing and Barney was in a wheelchair.
7 Where did Lucky come from?
Lucky the Pizza Dog has been a huge part of both Clint and Kate’s story since his introduction. Lucky originally belonged to the head of the Tracksuit mafia, but he worked his way into Clint’s life. Lucky was, in the Fraction-Aja run, a standout addition to Clint’s support team.
Lucky has been more tied to Kate, with her looking for dog sitters on the west coast, Clint was the one that rescued Lucky in the first place from his bad situation, and Lucky helped Clint lift himself out of the rut he’d been in.
6 Who has Hawkeye been in a relationship with?
Clint does surprisingly well with the ladies, especially those ladies that can take him in a fight. His closeness to Natasha Romanov started from his first appearances, and because of her, he came up against Iron Man. He also married SHIELD agent and fellow Avenger Mockingbird and they founded the West Coast Avengers together.
He’s had shorter-term relationships with Spider-Woman, Echo—who will be appearing in the Hawkeye series—and the occasional supervillainess like Moonstone. There was also a one-night stand with someone who may or may not have been a Doombot that looked like Wanda Maximoff.
5 Who are his closest allies?
Clint is very tied to the superhero community. He’s got ties to almost everyone who has served as an Avenger. He’s particularly close to his fellow teammates from the Cap’s Kooky Quartet days, and the West Coast Avengers. Steve Rogers and James Rhodes have been some of his closest supports in his darkest moments, along with Natasha.
During the Death of Captain America and New Avengers: Dark Reign arcs, he and Bucky Barnes also became close, even though Clint objected to Bucky taking up Steve’s shield at first.
4 Was he almost Captain America?
After the death of Steve Rogers, Tony Stark went looking for the right man to fill the red, white, and blue tights. Clint was in between super-identities and Tony thought he would be a good fit. Clint was handy with the shield but admitted it felt wrong to be using it.
He spent one night patrolling as Captain America before he was confronted by the Young Avengers Patriot and Hawkeye—the Kate Bishop version—and he couldn’t justify upholding the Superhero Registration Act. He turned in the shield and quit.
3 Has he ever died?
Yes, multiple times. During the Avengers: Disassembled event, Clint sacrificed himself during a battle against the Kree Armada. His quiver caught fire and he flew on the back of a Kree soldier into the ship, blowing it up. He was resurrected during House of M but died again when he confronted Wanda about his first death.
Going back further, he was seemingly dead during the original Onslaught event, but later it turned out that he, the other Avengers and the Fantastic Four were saved by Franklin Richards and tucked away in a pocket reality.
2 Did he kill the Hulk?
Months before Bruce Banner’s death, Clint said that Bruce had come to him and asked him to kill him in the event that something went wrong. He gave him a secret weapon that Clint used months after that meeting to end Bruce’s life before the Hulk could emerge again.
The plan didn’t work long term though. In fact, this act proved that the Hulk was indeed immortal. He came back in Avengers: No Surrender. The Hulk does point out to Clint that Bruce would have done better with therapy rather than a kill shot.
1 Has he always worked with SHIELD?
Clint’s connections to SHIELD have been a fairly new addition to his character. Prior to his work with the Secret Avengers, his connections to SHIELD were through Mockingbird and Black Widow more than his own work in the 616.
In the Ultimates though, he was a SHIELD agent from the get-go and worked closely with Nick Fury and Black Widow on the Ultimates project. This is where his origins in the MCU have come from.