Director Rhys Thomas says Hawkeye's production team snuck a reference to an essential Kate Bishop appearance into the series.
Talking to Metro, Thomas explained that when Hailee Steinfeld's Kate and Jeremy Renner's Clint Barton are bound by the Tracksuit Mafia in Hawkeye's second and third episodes, the lights behind them flicker in a distinct sequence. The pattern can be deciphered using Morse code and calls back to an important date from the comics. "That light is actually flickering the date of the first Kate Bishop issue of Hawkeye," claimed Thomas, who credited the reference to the show's board operator, who has pulled off similar tricks in other movies. However, Thomas doesn't expect fans to see it right away, saying, "that's one that I think people would be very hard-pressed to spot."
This deep-cut is one of the many references that Hawkeye's creators snuck into the series. Previously, Thomas has publicly cited the work of Matt Fraction and David Aja as a significant influence on Hawkeye, with multiple characters from the comic appearing throughout the Disney+ series. Additionally, the show's stars brought some ideas to the table, including actor Vincent D'Onofrio, who based Kingpin's tropical attire from the Hawkeye finale on Gabriele Dell'Otto's cover for Amazing Spider-Man: Family Business.
Still, Thomas admits that the creative team couldn't fit all of their ideas into Hawkeye. Though the show was able to give Clint a Pym Particle arrow, there was no room for a small appearance from Ant-Man. Thomas says there were talks about bringing in Paul Rudd's Scott Lang for a brief cameo, but the team nixed the idea to prioritize Hawkeye himself. "Ultimately, we had a lot of characters in the show, [so we decided] we're going to keep it focused [on] him," Thomas said.
As fans pore over the details of Hawkeye for more references, the future of the series' stars remains a mystery. Reports from Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness suggest that both Hawkeyes will appear in the film, while Steinfeld was recently by herself on the set of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. Collectively, these rumors could allow Kate to cross paths with Xochitl Gomez's America Chavez and Kathryn Newton's Cassie Lang, leading towards a Marvel Cinematic Universe take on the Young Avengers. Furthermore, many speculate that Kate and Clint will be featured players in Echo, which directly spins out of Hawkeye.
All six episodes of Hawkeye are streaming now on Disney+.
Source: Metro