WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Old Man Hawkeye #7 by Ethan Sacks, Ibraim Roberson, Marco Checchetto, Andres Mossa and Joe Caramagna, in stores now.


The alternate world of Old Man Logan and Old Man Hawkeye is one born of awful tragedy. It's a dark future, where almost all of the superheroes were wiped out in a single night, where America is a broken wasteland, and where the super-villains of the Marvel Universe rule over all under the leadership of the Red Skull.

Decades later, an aging Wolverine and Hawkeye go on their respective quests for revenge. Both characters are haunted by a dark and mysterious past, a weight they carry on their shoulders in a dystopian world no longer their own. While we didn't know how the superheroes of the world fell, we did learn in Mark Millar and Steve McNiven's original Old Man Logan story that is was Wolverine who had killed the X-Men, after being tricked by the master of illusion, Mysterio.

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But what of the rest of the Avengers? They were all killed, too, but until now, how Earth's Mightiest Heroes fell remained a mystery. In Old Man Hawkeye #7, we flash back 45 years, to the fateful night the supervillains of the world united to kill the Avengers. And while the issue may not show every single death that went down, what we do witness is pretty darn horrible. Issue #2 of the series gave us a glimpse of the violent fall of the Avengers, and now. we experience how everything seen on that splash panel came to pass.

Old Man Hawkeye dead Avengers

When the flashback sequence begins, the Avengers have already been dispatched across the world to deal with the Red Skull's coordinated attack. We follow the action through the lens of Hawkeye's team, which consists of Thor, Black Widow, Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver, Falcon, Tigra, War Machine and the Thunderbolts. The other Avengers are splintered into teams, with Captain America, Black Panther and Captain Marvel all leading their own respective squadrons.

We don't see what becomes of the three other teams, but we're told that they've all been taken out by the villains, a revelation that only works to add to the horrors Clint Barton goes through. Seeing the shocking events of that day through his eyes only, and hearing about the death of the other Avengers from his perspective adds weight to the proceedings, and an element of fright, of utter defeat and desperation.

What we do see, however, is the death of Clint's team.

Old Man Hawkeye Scarlet Witch death

It all starts with the terrible death of War Machine, who is burned alive inside of his own armor. Then, tragedy only keeps striking with the arrival of Magneto, who proves to be perhaps the most brutal and heinous super-villain to walk the Earth when he proceeds to murder his own daughter, the Scarlet Witch, by impaling her with sharp pieces of metal. It doesn't matter that he cries while he does it, the act itself is abhorrent enough to make this one of Magneto's most monstrous moments, one we, frankly, have difficulty comprehending considering his personal history in World War II's concentration camps and the Skull's nazi roots.

And yet, somehow, it only grows worse from here.

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This is the moment that the Thunderbolts decide to turn on Clint, and once again join the side of the supervillains. With that surprise, what remaining Avengers are left are swiftly taken care of. The giant Atlas grabs Black Night by the cape, and cuts him down with his own sword before crushing Quicksilver under his massive foot. Moonstone and Beetle both shoot Sam Wilson's Falcon from the back, and Morgan le Fay decapitates Tigra.

Old Man Hawkeye Thor death

As for Thor, well, as you'd expect, he happens to be a lot harder to put down. But make no mistake, in this issue, Thor Odinson dies, and at the hands of Carl "Crusher" Creel, aka the Absorbing Man, no less.

On any given day, Thor would easily dispose of Creel -- but this isn't any normal day. This is the day the Avengers fell. Since Magneto took out his own daughter, Creel was able to absorb the Scarlet Witch's magic powers. On top of that, the Absorbing Man gets a secondary power upgrade, once again thanks to Magneto, who redirects Thor's lightning blast onto him. Therefore, Creel now has the combined might of Thor and the Scarlet Witch -- something that effectively makes him a god. With these power levels, Creel is able to stand toe-to-toe with the God of Thunder. Thor may put up a good fight, but Creel's overwhelming abilities manage to give him the upper hand. Then, the villain just smashes, and smashes, until Mjolnir drops to the ground, never to be picked up again.

And this brings us to Hawkeye's then-girlfriend, Black Widow.

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In a moment where everything is already lost, Natasha Romanoff gets stabbed from behind by Citizen V, to Clint's absolute horror. However, the real truth is even more maddening: the Thunderbolt known as Citizen V was actually killed a few weeks prior. When he removes his mask, the person inside the suit is revealed to be Baron Zemo, who plotted this entire intricate revenge on Hawkeye for stealing the Thunderbolts from under him.

Old Man Hawkeye Black Widow death

The death of the Avengers was no accident. The Red Skull took out the other teams, but it was Zemo who disposed of some of the superheroes' biggest guns. It was all a calculated strike, planned by Zemo and facilitated by the Thunderbolts, who used their proximity to Earth's Mightiest Heroes to learn and then exploit all of their weaknesses. Thanks to them, Zemo found a way to kill Thor, to compromise War Machine's armor, etc. The Avengers never stood a chance -- their defeat was caused by a betrayal that cost them everything.

Now we know the full story behind Hawkeye's quest for revenge. In retrospect, you can safely say that Clint was more than justified when he took out his former Thunderbolt friends in prior issues of Old Man Hawkeye. But there is still one man on his list -- one man who deserves everything that's coming to him: Baron Zemo.

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