Kate Bishop’s mysterious aunt Moira in Hawkeye was a West Coast Avenger

Kate Bishop’s mysterious aunt in HawkeyeThis is sweet. “M. Brandon” lives in modestly sized apartment somewhere in the Generic Walk-Up (GenWU) neighborhood of downtown Manhattan. It is filled with old memories and tchotchkes. The house is also overstuffed with pans and pots. It’s a New York life, only understood to outsiders through accumulation.

Funny thing is, Moira was actually a character in the comics. She first appeared with Hawkeye in West Coast AvengersIn the 1990s. This apartment is an excellent tip of our hat. Hawkeye’s writers. Moira isn’t home when Kate and Clint first get to her apartment in Hawkeye episode 2 — naturally, she winters in Florida — but her place is one big comic nod.

Moira is a former B-movie actress. Now, she proudly displays the legacy through movie posters. There are other things. Love is possible (above), which sounds like a bit more of a romp than Moira’s other work, we see Creature of the Dark Galaxy, a Marvel Cinematic Universe-creation that you bet Steve Rogers would have been lined up for day one if he’d been around for release.

A poster is also shown. The Savage HyraxThis is particularly frightening, considering that hyraxes can be herbivorous.

Moira may also keep a photo of her older self up on the wall. Perhaps to inspire her in auditions now? Go get ‘em, Moira!

Image: Marvel Studios

In episode 2, Clint asks, “Are there cats in here?” To which Kate replies, “Just cat hair.” Everything begins to make sense when we get this shot of a cat poster on the wall (and our main actress, sure, but let’s focus on the cat on the wall).

It’s old lady 101. The old TV couldn’t possibly be connected to a DVD player, which would have allowed Moira access to her extensive collection of standard definition films. Marvel must introduce Forge to the MCU, just like the RCA cables.

It all amounts to an extended appearance by someone who is unlikely ever to appear in actual Hawkeye show. But it’s true to the character. In Avengers West Coast (Vol. 2) #100, Moira is a golden age starlet who’s down in her luck, a Norma Desmond-type who is easily threatened by the villain Crossfire, who asks her to user her influence to get Hawkeye and his wife Mockingbird to buy her mansion as a home base for the West Coast Avengers. Comics!

Moira smokes a cigarette and talks to the West Coast Avengers in West Coast Avengers #100 (1993).

But Moira doesn’t want to be a pawn in some diabolical scheme. In fact, she’s always wanted to be brave — so she picks up a goddam crossbow and gets it done! Then she nearly collapses.

Moira shoots Crossfire with a crossbow in West Coast Avengers #100 (1993).

The entire episode takes place in flashback, and when the action returns to present-day Clint, he’s in tears remembering how happy Moira’s final years were after she realized the bravery was insider her all along. He made Moira an honorary West Coast Avenger. Very nice man.

Hawkeye makes Moira Brandon an honorary Avenger in West Coast Avengers #100 (1993).

There seems to be very little chance that the Moira of Kate Bishop’s family tree will also shoot a man in the chest before becoming a founding member of the West Coast Avengers, but weirder things have happened. With suspicions rising over Kate’s mom as a potential evil-doer — do we really think Jack Duquesne is capable of being the ultimate villain lurking in the shadows? — we may get a physical appearance by Moira sometime before the last two episodes to clarify where the family stands when the dust settles. Marvel clearly cast someone for that headshot.

Do we want Moira to be our friend? While the comeback story of an aging actor sounds ripe for the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s televisions, one frame in Hawkeye left me a little dubious. Moira, like many septuagenarians, seems to be getting into strange politics due to her haphazard use of social media. I don’t know why she owns a “Thanos Was Right” mug, and I don’t know if I want to know.