The Avengers are known for their bravery and tenacity in the fight against evil but when it comes right down to it, one Avenger is braver than the others- Hawkeye. Hawkeye is a regular human on a team of supersoldiers, armored geniuses, and gods who regularly fight evil space gods, superpowered dictators, and indestructible robots and he use a bow and arrow. That takes some chutzpah.
Hawkeye has also been one of the most entertaining Avengers over the years as well, always ready with a killer quip and prepared to sass Captain America... just because. There's no doubt that Hawkeye is one of the coolest characters in the Marvel Universe. This list is going to look at the best and worst versions of the character.
10 Best: MCU Version
Jeremy Renner's version of Hawkeye is the one that most casual fans are familiar with. First debuting in 2011's Thor, fans wouldn't get their full look at the character until The Avengers, where he would show just how awesome he could be. Even though he spent a lot of the movie under Loki's control, he still made an impact.
Later movies would flesh out the character, giving him a family... and then (SPOILERS for a movie that everyone in the world has seen) taking them away in one of the most emotionally affecting scenes in Avengers: Endgame and showing his reaction. His arc was perfect.
9 Worst: Debut Hawkeye
The Hawkeye who first debuted in the Marvel Universe was a very different character from the one fans would grow to love, although the building blocks were there. Manipulated by Black Widow, who was a Communist spy at the time, he fought Iron Man.
Just about everything that fans would love about the character wasn't around yet. He wasn't exactly a bad character but more like a block of marble that had just started to be sculpted.
8 Best: The Ultimate Universe Version
As great as the MCU version of the character is, that version of the character owes a lot to the version introduced in Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch's The Ultimates. Debuting with that universe's version of Black Widow in issue 7, they were the leaders of the black ops branch of the Ultimates.
This wasn't your father's Hawkeye, as he had no qualms about killing and also wasn't the mile a minute quip machine he was in the 616 Marvel Universe. This was also the first portrayal of Hawkeye with a family, something that would be played to perfection in the movies.
7 Worst: Hawkeye's Early Avengers Years
Hawkeye joined the Avengers way back in Avengers #16, on the first roster shake-up the team ever had. He would be joined by Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver and led by Captain America. This version of the character would be the originator of the Hawkeye fans would come to know and love but there was a problem and that's Stan Lee.
Stan Lee gets a lot of love and credit (some would say too much, especially fans of Kirby and Ditko), but go back and read his dialogue. It's bad. So bad. So while this version of Hawkeye wasn't the worst, the hokey things coming out of his mouth just kill anything good about the character.
6 Best: Leader Of The Thunderbolts Hawkeye
The Thunderbolts weren't the first team Hawkeye ever led- that's the West Coast Avengers- but his time as leader of the team showed just how a great a leader he could be. Taking over the team after a fight with the post-Heroes Return Avengers once the 'Bolts they ousted leader Baron Zemo, he taught the team of reformed villains what being a hero was all about.
It also helped that he was written by Kurt Busiek during this time, one of the best Avengers writers of all time.
5 Worst: Married Leader Of The West Coast Avengers Hawkeye
Hawkeye's first stint as a team leader was... look it's kind of hard to describe. There's nothing wrong with character progression, so giving Hawkeye a wife in Mockingbird and a team of his own is a pretty good thing. It's the execution that was the problem.
This Hawkeye just didn't feel like Hawkeye. Gone was the happy go lucky man of the past and in his place was someone different. There's a way to grow a character without sacrificing too much of what makes the character great and this wasn't it.
4 Best: Kate Bishop Hawkeye
Legacy characters can be a tough sell, especially when the two characters exist at the same time. Kate Bishop debuted as Hawkeye in the pages of Young Avengers while Hawkeye was dead and immediately proved that she was worthy of the mantle.
Once Hawkeye returned, he and Kate would begin to work together and formed a great working relationship. For a lot of fans, Kate Bishop is a much better Hawkeye than Clint and even Clint partisans have to admit how great she is.
3 Worst: Hawkeye As Ronin
Brian Michael Bendis's stint as writer of the Avengers kicked off with a lot of deaths, one of the biggest of which was Hawkeye's. Bendis would resurrect him at the end of House Of M and he would rejoin his Avengers teammates in New Avengers #27 but he wouldn't be Hawkeye- he'd be Ronin.
Let's be real- no one has ever cared about Ronin. Bendis kept trying to make the concept work and no. One. Cared. It seems like he had hoped to put Hawkeye in the costume would make fans care but they wanted Hawkeye, not Ronin.
2 Best: Matt Fraction Run Hawkeye
Everyone who has read it agrees- Matt Fraction's Hawkeye is the pinnacle of Hawkeye. It captures everything that is great about the character, as Hawkeye gains ownership of an apartment building and has to protect it from the Russian Mafia with the help of Kate Bishop and Lucky the Pizza Dog.
Fraction's Hawkeye is pitch-perfect. He never gives up and is constantly covering up his fear and inadequacies with his jokes. He's tough as nails. He is the quintessential Hawkeye.
1 Worst: Hawkeye As Goliath
So, one of Hawkeye's defining characteristics is that he doesn't have superpowers. He's an exceptionally brave man who uses one of mankind's oldest weapons in his battle against evil. So, in 1969, it was decided to give him superpowers.
He began to use Pym Particles to increase his size and give him super strength, taking on the name Goliath and basically taking away everything great about the character. Plus, the costume he wore was completely and totally hideous. The weird thing is Roy Thomas was writing the book at the time and he should have known better.