Hawkeye: Kate Bishop’s role in the Marvel universe, explained

The opening scene of Hawkeye, Marvel’s new Disney Plus series, a young girl looks out from the recently torn-off side of her Manhattan high-rise. Her window provided a great view of Stark Tower in the past. During the Battle of New York, a gaping hole offers a glimpse of the hellish mayhem — and the Avengers in battle. Kate Bishop looks at the war as Clint Barton, also known as Hawkeye, jumps and twirls to place an arrow into the skull of a Chitauri soldier. Over the course of the next nine year, the child will grow up to be a skilled archer. It will be 2021 HawkeyePicks up the phone, Kate Bishop is the little girl, a warrior wannabe.

“It was really important figuring out a way that made the most sense of why Kate idolizes Clint in the way she does, and at what pivotal moment in her life does she witness or encounter this that makes sense for her to start training and learning archery,” Marvel Studios producer Trinh Tran tells Polygon of revisiting the Battle of New York from a new angle. “So it felt like it was the right moment, because it was such a big moment in the MCU, that it would connect with her. She is, in a certain way, the audience’s view of Hawkeye. Hawkeye was viewed by her as someone who had been in that same situation. That was what inspired her to learn this craft. So it was finding an organic way in that made the most sense for the two of them to connect and bond over an ending sort of create that, that chemistry in that partnership along the the mission that they go through.”

Marvel Studios presents us to Kate (played by Hailee Sternfeld) as a college student who is a quiver-wielding, quip-delivering, and whose moment-of-peril intersects with her greatest moment: her meeting Clint Barton, Jeremy Renner). Two episodes from the pilot of The Amazing Race. HawkeyeDisney Plus Series: Avenger Pro and his teenager devotee are on the run against the Tracksuit Mafia. They’re accompanied by buttoned-up bladesmen and maybe a few other strange foes. Hawkeye, despite losing his hearing, knows what he’s doing. Kate’s getting up to speed. It still feels like we are in a transitional moment: Is this the beginning of the Marvel Universe’s future?

It seems possible. Hawkeye is the comics reader who knows Kate.

Kate Bishop is now Hawkeye

Yes, there are two Hawkeyes in the Marvel Universe, and they exist simultaneously — kinda like the two Spider-Mans we all know so well, thanks to Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. Except it didn’t take a multiverse to make Kate Bishop in Marvel comics. It just took Clint Barton’s death.

Clint was killed in 2004 and he was resurrected in 2007. (How all that happened is not really important for our purposes — just take my word for it.) The world went on after he died. A Young Avenger, Kate Bishop, wore purple and used trick bows to pay tribute. Hawkeye became her nickname.

Image: Matt Fraction, David Aja/Marvel Comics

Allan Heinberg wrote and Jim Cheung illustrated Kate. Kate was the son of wealthy parents who were determined to be an archery-based super hero alongside the Young Avengers. Clint was not a big-ego man, but he did see her and thought that she’d done a good job with the name. And he also wasn’t ready to reveal that he was alive again, so he did a stint of crimefighting with a sword under the name Ronin (one of a number of Marvel characters to have taken on this identity). Kate refused to let him go when he was finally renamed Hawkeye. Ever since, the Marvel Comics universe has had two Hawkeyes — or, Hawkeye and Hawkguy, if you really want to disambiguate.

Clint Barton in the MCU has had a very different experience than his comics counterpart. He hasn’t struggled with hearing loss, he was a career SHIELD agent, and he has a wife, three kids, and a midwestern farm. The two-two punch of Avengers: Endgame Hawkeye. Finale debuted Clint Barton’s Ronin costume, complete with samurai sword action. The costume also plays an important role in Disney Plus’s new series. Now he’s living a civilian life with his resurrected family, and lost his hearing due to a string of brutal encounters with the Avengers.

In the comics, Kate and Clint’s modern relationship was really solidified in Matt Fraction and David Aja’s HawkeyeShe was a secondary character in recurring episodes of. Hawkeye Kelly Thompson wrote and Michael Walsh drew this ongoing series. In Los Angeles, she was a private detective who could use a bow but is not an expert.

And now, in Disney Plus’ HawkeyeKate Bishop, the Marvel Comics’ creator of Marvel Comics is back to bring Marvel Comics closer to their vision.

Kate Bishop as Marvel’s new Hawkeye

Image: Marvel Studios

Only four episodes remain after the premiere of double-dip. Hawkeye left before Marvel bounces to whatever’s next (including an Echo spinoff). What is Kate’s importance? Ms. Marvel’s Kamala Kahn to Ironheart’s Riri Williams, to the larger MCU? Tran suggests: very.

“I can’t get into much details about what that is without spoiling anything. However, I will say that it is especially important after. Infinity War EndgameAs you all know characters can come and go. Und [adding new characters] is really about how they would fit into the MCU in a way that leads toward the direction that we want to head and, of course, characters that we’re also passionate about, and want to bring to life on screen […] But much like the audience’s who are watching, there are new waves of folks coming in. Compared to 10 years before, you know, some of these kids have grown into adults, so we want the new voices to come in to represent sort of everybody who loves these characters who loves the Marvel world.”

MCU Kate was created by Marvel Studios and Jonathan Igla. She arrives at a crucial time in the universe.

“She doesn’t stop talking, and she doesn’t stop asking questions!” Tran says with a reasonable glee. “It’s one of the reasons why I think Clint initially finds it a little too much and could come off annoying, in a way. But that’s what makes her really interesting — she speaks her mind. And she’s not afraid to do so. So we do actually use her voice as a guiding post sometimes to bring out those questions that we want the younger voices to ask.”

In the premiere episode of The Secret Life Of Kate, Kate arrives at an auction in fancy attire with her mom. Steinfeld would probably have worn a prom dress if this was a film or a TV show five years ago. But instead, she shows up looking sharp as hell in a traditionally male look, and it throws off Armand Duquesne (Simon Callow), who wonders if she might “wear something more ladylike” next time. Tran doesn’t over-explain the moment when asked, but she says it is indicative of how Kate can rattle the status quo — of the Marvel Universe or otherwise.

“We use Kate as a character to to bring out a particular way of thinking,” Tran says. “We do hint at the fact that she is a young woman coming into this world. How she deals with it, what she sees of the world and how her perceptions are being viewed by others is all explored in this storyline. It is also important to mention her mother’s relationship. The two of them have some of the same opposing opinions about her identity and goals. We hint at that and we find that interesting to create that conflict between the two of them.”

Kate Hawkeye in comics. In Hawkeye, she’s just Kate. However, by the end, everything seems possible. This is based on her heritage, and seems to be exactly what she’s meant to add to any story.