Hawkeye (comics)
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Hawkeye (Clint Barton) is a fictional Marvel Comics superhero, a longtime member of the Avengers. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist Don Heck, he first appeared in Tales of Suspense #57 (September 1964).
Hawkeye is a costumed archer, possessing a variety of specialized arrows. Brash and somewhat cocky, he has often butted heads with teammates but has been a member of some segment of the Avengers fairly consistently throughout the group's history. He also led the Thunderbolts, attempting to guide the former villains to become heroes.
He was also a regular character on the short-lived 1990s animated series Iron Man and The Avengers: United We Stand.
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[edit] Publication history
Introduced as a villain (albeit somewhat unwitting villain) in Tales of Suspense.[1] Upgraded to hero status in Avengers, appearing in Volumes 1, 2 and 3, as well as the current title incarnation, New Avengers. Featured in West Coast Avengers (later retitled Avengers West Coast); concurrently featured in most of the issues of Solo Avengers (later retitled Avengers Spotlight).[2] Featured in three miniseries; Hawkeye V1,[3] V2[4] and V3.[5] Significant presence in Thunderbolts V1[6] and Avengers vs Thunderbolts[7] miniseries.
[edit] Character history
Clinton Francis "Clint" Barton was born in Waverly, Iowa. The second son of an alcoholic butcher/shopkeeper, he was orphaned at age 8, when his parents died in a car accident caused by his father's drunken driving. He ran away from an orphanage as a pre-teen to join the circus as a performer, where he was trained by the Swordsman and Trickshot. When he discovered that his mentors were both criminals he rejected them, leading to a beating by Swordsman which left the teen-aged Clint Barton badly injured and hospitalized. Years later, he decided to become a costumed hero after being inspired by seeing Iron Man in action, but his first attempts were less than successful; he stopped an armed group of jewelry store robbers only to be mistaken by police as the thief himself. On the run from police, he met and came under the influence of the Black Widow, who was a spy for the Soviet Union. The Black Widow's main mission at that time was to steal Stark-developed technology to turn over to her handlers, and she was able to convince the besotted Hawkeye that she was working in the interests of international peace. The pair tangled with Iron Man twice, being defeated (barely) both times. When Hawkeye finally learned the Black Widow's true mission (to steal the technology and destroy Iron Man) he refused to betray his country for her, but was persuaded to help her one last time. When the Black Widow was injured during the last fight, Hawkeye broke off his attack on Iron Man to help her, choosing to withdraw rather than kill Iron Man.
[edit] Avengers membership
Eventually Hawkeye applied for membership in the Avengers (by breaking into the Avengers Mansion and announcing that he wanted to be a part of the group) and was accepted. He served alongside Captain America, Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch as "the New Avengers", or occasionally as "Cap's Kooky Quartet". Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch had also initially been supervillains until realizing the error of their prior actions. Although Hawkeye wanted the Black Widow to join the Avengers with him, several other Avengers were resistant to the idea, given her Cold War spy past, and Black Widow's increasing involvement with S.H.I.E.L.D. also created tension between the pair, finally resulting in a split.
Hawkeye would remain with the Avengers for many years and roster changes, often butting heads with the team's leaders when not leading a branch of the team himself. At several points in time (notably the Kree-Skrull War and Operation: Galactic Storm), he would temporarily adopt teammate Hank Pym's former powers and codename of Goliath, gaining the ability to increase his body to a massive size.
Although Hawkeye was enamored with the Scarlet Witch and very briefly tried to romance her, she eventually married their teammate, the Vision. During a later solo adventure, Hawkeye met the former S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Barbara "Bobbi" Morse, alias Mockingbird while she was investigating Cross Technological Enterprises, Hawkeye's employer at the time. Unknown to Hawkeye, Cross Tech was run by the villain Crossfire, who had a plan to use an aggression-inducing sonic wave against all of New York's superheroes. Crossfire captured the snooping Hawkeye and Mockingbird and tested the sonic wave on them, causing them to fight each other. Hawkeye used a sonic ray arrowhead, hidden in his mouth, to cancel out the sonic waves, freeing himself from the wave's control but ruining his hearing (requiring him to use hearing aides afterward) in the process. After defeating Crossfire, Hawkeye and Mockingbird eloped.
[edit] West Coast Avengers
Under the direction of then-Avengers chair The Vision, Hawkeye and Mockingbird subsequently founded the West Coast Avengers and served as two of the most prominent members of that team. The husband-and-wife duo had a rocky relationship caused by a falling-out over the issue of killing. During a time travel adventure while Hawkeye was bargaining for his life and the lives of the rest of his team with the Eyptian god Khonshu, Mockingbird was drugged into forgetting about Hawkeye and into believing she was in love with the western anti-hero known as the Phantom Rider. When she was free of the drug's influence she fought the Phantom Rider and allowed him to fall to his death, declining the opportunity to save him. As part of the agreement with Khonshu, Hawkeye crafted several weapons for Khonshu's present day avatar Moon Knight, who with the assistance of Dr. Pym helped bring the wayard avengers back to their own time. When the details of Phantom Rider's death were finally revealed (by the Rider's vengeful ghost), the couple split. During a temporary reconciliation, they also briefly served with the much less prominent and unofficial Great Lakes Avengers team, after which Hawkeye returned to the West Coast Avengers, alone.
While a member of the West Coast Avengers, Hawkeye found his leadership usurped by other experienced heroes such as Dr. Pym and USAgent. His personality clashes with USAgent led to the two men coming to blows on more than one occasion.
In the late 1980s a new Avengers comic called Solo Avengers came out, later retitled Avengers Spotlight. Each issue of the comic featured two stories, each starring an Avenger in solo adventures. Marvel Comics held a contest to determine the most popular Avenger who didn't have their own series, and Hawkeye won. In response, Marvel made Hawkeye the regularly featured character in the first story in each issue, with the star of the second feature rotating with each installment. Towards the end of its run, Avengers Spotlight dropped the Hawkeye feature and had full-length stories featuring different Avengers.
A short-lived change of direction for Hawkeye began in the pages of Avengers Spotlight. Hawkeye became involved in battling Los Angeles street gangs and in the process was himself ambushed and gunned down. Once he recovered, he donned a suit of "battle armor" and became a dark streetfighting character in the vein of the Punisher or Daredevil. This change of direction was short-lived and Hawkeye regained his normal costume and attitude.
After Operation: Galactic Storm, Hawkeye and Mockingbird finally permanently reconciled, only to have Ultron kidnap Mockingbird to use her brain patterns to create his "perfect wife," Alkhema (also known as "War Toy"). Feeling that his behavior had been less-than-professional during the rescue, Hawkeye stepped down from chairmanship of the West Coast Avengers and Mockingbird announced that she would be changing to "reserve" status. They had one last adventure as Avengers together, during which Mockingbird was killed by the demon Mephisto.
After her death Hawkeye left the team and the West Coast Avengers were disbanded. While most of the former West Coast Avengers went on to form a new team led by Iron Man called Force Works, Hawkeye began a life of aimless wandering, embittered by Mockingbird's death. His adventures during this period, which included a clash with Viper and his old enemy Trick Shot, are chronicled in the second Hawkeye limited series.
He finally returned to the Avengers shortly prior to the battle with Onslaught, after which the Avengers (including Hawkeye) were presumed deceased for a time. In actuality, they were revived in a pocket dimension created by Franklin Richards for the events of "Heroes Reborn", and returned to Earth-616 during "Heroes Return". As a part of the "return" process, Hawkeye's deafness was cured.
[edit] Thunderbolts
Shortly after Hawkeye's return, he was sucked into an alternate universe adventure with many other Avengers. Afterwards, after a disastorous multi-hero fight against the villain Whirlwind, he found that Justice and Firestar had snuck away and defeated the man themselves. Impressed, he convinced the others to let the two in. After another adventure or two, including confronting the (again) brainwashed Squadrom Supreme, he left officially. He then became affiliated with the Thunderbolts, a group of former supervillains who had apparently turned over a new leaf by battling menaces such as Graviton. He joined the team as their de facto leader and mentor, ultimately helping several members obtain pardons for their past crimes. In once incident, mocking the tendency to dramatically change costumes, Hawkeye dramatically revealed his...new belt buckle insignia. During one adventure, Hellstorm sent them to Mephisto's Purgatory, where they attempted to rescue Mockingbird's soul but instead returned Hellcat to the land of the living. Hawkeye later entered a romantic relationship with his teammate, Moonstone.
After the Thunderbolts defeated the Scourge and Henry Peter Gyrich, both of whom were under Baron Strucker's domination, the Thunderbolts were offered a full pardon for their actions under two conditions: Hawkeye turn himself in for incarceration, and the other Thunderbolts retire permanently. They accepted, and Hawkeye went to prison, but later helped SHIELD by infiltrating a jailbreak that was led by Mentallo at the behest of Justin Hammer. Meanwhile, half of the Thunderbolts were teleported by Graviton to Counter-Earth (the "Heroes Reborn" world, now in orbit around the Sun opposite the Earth). Hawkeye led the remaining Thunderbolts, plus several of the escaped criminals and some former members of the Crimson Cowl's new Masters of Evil team, to form a new Thunderbolts team. Once this team was reunited with the lost members, they together defeated the Crimson Cowl, but several Thunderbolts were returned to government custody for violating the terms of their pardon. Hawkeye then left the team and rejoined the Avengers, giving Baron Zemo the opportunity to assume leadership of the Thunderbolts. After the next meeting between the Avengers and Thunderbolts, the Thunderbolts were again disbanded, although this would again prove temporary.
Shortly before the Avengers' assault by the Scarlet Witch, he had a brief fling with team member Wasp.
[edit] Avengers Disassembled and House of M
During the Avengers Disassembled storyline, the Scarlet Witch becomes insane and uses her reality-manipulation powers to create deadly threats to her teammates. Hawkeye dies in one of the battles, sacrificing himself to destroy a Kree starship and save his fellow assembled Avengers.
However, during the House of M, he is alive once more in the Scarlet Witch's mutant-dominated altered reality, with no memory of the previous reality. When a young mutant named Layla Miller gave several of the heroes the ability to remember the way the world once was, Hawkeye and the others were horrified at what the Scarlet Witch had done. He travels to Genosha and, as Dr. Strange is trying to get the truth of the altered reality from the Scarlet Witch, Hawkeye shoots her in the back, apparently aware that it would not harm her. He demands to know why she killed him. In the course of their argument, one of her re-created children becomes angry and simply dissolves Hawkeye into nothing.
Immediately after the altered reality is terminated and the world restored, sans most of the mutants, the dispirited New Avengers answer an intruder alarm at the ruined Avengers Mansion, and find only Hawkeye's costume and a newspaper cutting about his death, pinned to the ruins by Hawkeye's trademark purple arrows.
In a She-Hulk story set shortly after "Disassembled" and "House of M," Hawkeye is seen again, brought into the present time from the past to serve as a juror in a time-travel-based case. Despite She-Hulk's attempts to warn him of his fate in his own timeline, he is returned to the past, unaware of his future fate.
[edit] New Avengers
In a stand-alone issue (New Avengers #26) the newly-resurrected (post "House of M") Hawkeye seeks the truths of his deaths and resurrections at the hands of the Scarlet Witch. What he finds appears to surprise and dismay him and leaves him in an ambiguous position in the Marvel universe.
[edit] Powers and abilities
Hawkeye has no superhuman powers (although he uses Pym particles to become Goliath on occasion). He possesses exceptional strength, endurance, and stamina. His reflexes and agility represent the absolute pinnacle of human perfection. He is capable of acrobatic maneuvers that would put an Olympic gold medalist to shame. His accuracy as an archer is virtually unerring. He is also a highly competent strategist, tactician, and field commander. He is an exceptional hand-to-hand combatant, having been trained by Captain America.
His primary weapons in crime-fighting are a long bow and an arsenal of arrows, often 36, carried in a back quiver. Half of them have either target or blade points, while the rest carry a wide variety of customized special heads: high explosive, acid, cable (for climbing or crossing gaps), webs and bolas (to entangle suspects), and smoke and freeze arrows are just a few samples. For emergency use, Hawkeye has several spare arrowheads in his costume's belt and straps, enabling him to refit the target point arrows into Trick Arrows if need be.
Hawkeye also has a sky-cycle that he sometimes uses.
[edit] Kate Bishop
In the time period between Avengers Disassembled and the House of M events, when Clint Barton was believed dead, Kate Bishop, a member of the Young Avengers, adopted the codename "Hawkeye" at Captain America's suggestion. As explained to Kate by Jessica Jones, Kate reminded Captain America of the first Hawkeye not only because of her skill with a bow and arrows but because she was unafraid to stand up to Captain America for what she thought was right, as the first Hawkeye had often done.
[edit] Alternate versions
[edit] Marvel MAX
In the Marvel MAX series U.S. War Machine, Hawkeye appeared alongside Captain America and The Falcon; he and Falcon served as Captain America's backup and wore no costumes, only being addressed by their real names. In this reality, Captain America was actually Bucky wearing the Captain's uniform as here the Captain had died in World War II in his stead.
[edit] Marvel Zombies
In Ultimate Fantastic Four/zombie crossover, Hawkeye is one of the first heroes to be infected. Later, in the Marvel Zombies miniseries which spun out of the crossover, he is one of the zombie pack hunting the uninfected Magneto. During the fight between the pack and Magneto, he is decapitated by Colonel America's shield, thrown by Magneto. Beheaded, he is presumably inactive as a zombie.
[edit] Ultimate Hawkeye
In the Ultimate Marvel Universe, Ultimate Hawkeye is a member of the Ultimate version of the Avengers, the Ultimates, where he is the partner of the Ultimate version of the Black Widow. The Ultimate versions of these characters are much more ready to use lethal force than are their normal Marvel Universe counterparts.
[edit] Powers
Ultimate Hawkeye, although human, has a nearly metahuman-level of accuracy and speed, an ability resembling that of the 616 character Bullseye. Essentially, he can turn any object, however small, into a precisely-aimed deadly projectile. This ability extends to a seemingly superhuman-effectiveness with firearms and bow weapons, as well as a number of improvised weapons like silverware, plates, and in one case, his own fingernails. According to the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe, his fighting skills are rated at 6, making him a master of multiple forms of fighting. He is also a field commander and fighter pilot.
His Ultimates "field" costume is a black sleeveless bodysuit with silver-ridged body armor on the chest and red insets at the back and sides. In many scenes he wears S.H.I.E.L.D. fatigues or uniform instead of his Ultimates costume. He often - but not always - wears glasses or sunglasses, although it hasn't been stated why (or if) he needs them to correct his vision.
[edit] Background
Clint "Hawkeye" Barton lives with his wife (initially introduced as his girlfriend, later described as his wife) and three children in the suburbs of New York, in commuting distance from S.H.I.E.L.D.'s headquarters, the Triskelion. A long-time black-ops agent, Hawkeye served with Nick Fury during the formation of S.H.I.E.L.D. and in most of the world's political "hot spots."
[edit] Ultimates 1
Brought up from S.H.I.E.L.D. field agent to the Ultimates, Hawkeye and occasional field partner Black Widow lead a team of Black Ops S.H.I.E.L.D. personnel into a sleeper colony of Chitauri agents operating out of two New York City office buildings. The mission subsequently goes bad, with Black Widow rescuing Hawkeye in a dramatic aerial stunt.
As part of the later fight against the Chitauri at an Air Force base in New Mexico, a wounded Hawkeye is responsible for sedating and immobilizing the rampaging Hulk after the invasion is quashed.
[edit] Ultimates 2
In issue #7, Hawkeye's home is invaded and his family is murdered by masked agents. The issue ends with the implication that Hawkeye was about to be killed as well, though in the next issue his body was missing. The true identities of the killers and their leader was not revealed. In issue #8, members of S.H.I.E.L.D. watch a security video that shows what seems to be Captain America killing Hawkeye and his family.
At the beginning of issue #9, it is revealed that Hawkeye was not killed, but had been shot with tranquilizers. After regaining consciousness, Hawkeye learns that over the previous three days, he had been drugged, tortured, and the security codes to the Triskelion were ripped from his mind.
In the absence of any nearby weapons, and demonstrating his remarkable accuracy and pain resistance, Hawkeye tears his own fingernails off and uses them as lethal projectiles, flicking them into his captors' mouths, choking and immobilizing them. The squad of soldiers that arrives to contain Hawkeye find him freed from confinement and surrounded by the bodies of his captors. Hawkeye shoots and kills the second squad with weapons taken from the first set. He then makes his way to the White House to aid in protecting the president, and joins his Ultimates teammates in the battle against the Liberators.
For reasons of pacing he was not featured in the animated film Ultimate Avengers, nor in the sequel.
[edit] Appearances in other media
[edit] Television
- Hawkeye was a regular character on the animated programs Avengers (voiced by Tony Daniels) and Iron Man (voiced by John Reilly).
[edit] Video Games
- Hawkeye is a playable character in the video game Captain America and the Avengers. He is also playable in the coin-operated Spider-Man: The Video Game.
- Hawkeye is a playable character in the PSP version of Marvel: Ultimate Alliance, and has been announced as one of the add-on characters in the expansion pack for the Xbox 360 version.
[edit] See also
- Golden Archer - a codename used by Hawkeye later adopted by a member of the Squadron Supreme
- Hawkeye (Kate Bishop) - member of the Young Avengers who adopted Hawkeye's codename in issue #12 of that series
[edit] Notes
- ^ Tales of Suspense #57 (1964), #60, #64
- ^ Solo Avengers (Avengers Spotlight) (1990) issues 1-36; series canceled at #40
- ^ Hawkeye V1 (1983) 4 issue miniseries written and pencilled by Mark Gruenwald.
- ^ Hawkeye V2 (1994) 4 issue miniseries written by Chuck Dixon and pencilled by Scott Kolins.
- ^ Hawkeye V3 (2003) 8 issues; launched as ongoing but canceled at issue 8; written by Fabian Nicieza, art by Steffano Raffaele (issues 1-6) and Joe Bennett (issues 7-8).
- ^ Thunderbolts V1 (1997), especially issues #20-#70; written by Kurt Busiek (issues #20-34) and Fabian Nicieza (issues #34-70); various artists.
- ^ Avengers vs Thunderbolts (2004), 6 issue miniseries. Written by Kurt Busiek and Fabian Nicieza; art by Barry Kitson and Tom Grummett.
