With Kate Bishop slated to make her Marvel Cinematic Universe debut in the upcoming Disney+ original series Hawkeye, a new Marvel video offers a crash course in the Young Avenger's comic book origins.
Hosted by Lorraine Cink, the video is currently available on the official Marvel Entertainment YouTube channel. It recounts Kate's early years as the daughter of Derek Bishop -- a wealthy but "often-absent" New York magnate -- and Eleanor Bishop. Kate endures hardship in the form of her mother's death, as well as an incident in which she was attacked in Central Park. However, she manages to get back on her feet after attending therapy and self-defense classes.
With her newly-acquired skills, Kate was able to spring into action when her sister's wedding was attacked by criminals -- though she had some help from the Young Avengers. After the fact, Kate managed to track down and join the fledgling superhero team, fashioning herself a new costume from the belongings of Hawkeye and Mockingbird, who were MIA at the time. After Captain America came around to the idea of a young superhero team, Kate was officially given the Hawkeye moniker by Jessica Jones. When the original Hawkeye, Clint Barton, returned, Kate became his protégé, with the two even adopting a pizza-loving dog.
Kate Bishop was originally created by Allan Heinberg and Jim Cheung, and first appeared in 2005's Young Avengers #1. Kate starred in her own Hawkeye series from 2016 to 2018, which writer Kelly Thompson and artist Leonardo Romero launched as part of the Marvel NOW! event. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse's Hailee Steinfeld will star as Kate opposite Jeremy Renner's Clint Barton in Marvel Studios' Hawkeye series, which started filming in December 2020 and is expected to premiere on Disney+ later this year. A spinoff show starring the character Echo is also reportedly in the works.
Interestingly enough, Kate isn't the first Young Avenger to join the MCU. Thomas and William Maximoff were featured in Marvel's debut Disney+ series WandaVision, though did not take on their superhero alter egos of Speed and Wiccan. More recently, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier introduced Eli Bradley, who leads the Young Avengers as Patriot in the comics. Another key Young Avenger has actually been in the MCU for a while, with Cassie Lang (aka Stature in the comics) having appeared in 2015's Ant-Man, 2018's Ant-Man and the Wasp and 2019's Avengers: Endgame. Cassie will return in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.
Hawkeye stars Jeremy Renner as Clint Barton, Hailee Steinfeld as Kate Bishop, Jolt as Pizza Dog/Lucky, Vera Farmiga as Eleanor Bishop, Florence Pugh as Yelena Belova, Fra Fee as Kazi, Tony Dalton as Jack Duquesne/Swordsman, Alaqua Cox as Maya Lopez/Echo and Zahn McClarnon as William Lopez. The Disney+ series has yet to receive a premiere date.
Source: YouTube