Hawkeye First Half Season Recap and SPOILER Theories!
Welcome back to are weekly HLS Entertainment MCU Show recap and theories blog! If you missed the full show preview and theories blog, you can click here to read what our predictions were! I have missed doing these weekly recaps so much since Loki I couldn't wait to get back into these but Thanksgiving stopped me from having time to put out a recap and theories blog after the first two episodes dropped last week. Well now episode three has dropped and we are back! As a reminder these will be FULL SPOILERS for the entire show (and the MCU) filled with theories. So this is your only spoiler warning.
We are going to speed through the first two episodes and then do a deep dive on episode three. The show opens with Kate in with her parents in their New York City penthouse in 2012. What happened in 2012? Loki's invasion of NYC with the Chitauri, the "death" of Kate's father setting up the driving force in Kate's life. I adore the idea that the MCU has been going on for so long now that KIDS in the MCU are now old enough to have grown up looking up to the Avengers. This started with the fan theory that became confirmed/okayed by Kevin Feige that Peter Parker was the child in the Ironman mask in Ironman 2. But now we get the full story of Kate Bishop being saved by Hawkeye as a child, then spending the next 10+ years training to fight, shoot a bow, fence amongst other things. She felt the need to protect her family, so she put in the work to be able to do so.
We fast forward to 2024, it has been one year since the Blip and the Earth (specifically the people of NYC) are getting back to normal life and are preparing for Christmas. We set the stage that this show starts 5 days until Christmas and will be a rush with Christmas being our finish line. Clint is seen in NYC out and about with his kids spending time with them doing Christmas stuff and seeing the Rodgers musical on Broadway. We get introductions of side characters like Jack Duquesne who has been set up as this mysterious side character that might have killed his uncle (I kind of think he is a red herring but more on that later). Eleanor Bishop Kate's now widowed mother who we find out runs a very top of the line security firm (take that X-Con Security) and seems like she could be shady as well. These two have seemingly fallen for each other very quickly while Kate was away at college for the semester and are now engaged and living together. We also met the bros of the Tracksuit Mafia, which are the loveable dumb criminal gang in the show. I thought it was great directing how when we first see them at the auction, they seem like a serious dark threat to Kate but as soon as Clint is in the same scene with them, we realize their true goofiness.
Speaking of, Kate hides her identity using the Ronin suit that was being auctioned off to fight them and escape. During the process she saves Lucky the Pizza Dog from getting hit by a car and takes him back to her apartment then still in the suit goes to investigate Jack's uncle who was threatening her mother before the auction only to find him dead from a sword stab wound. This obviously put Jack as suspect #1 to Kate and the audience as we see him steal the Ronin sword in the confusion of the auction robbery and he offers her one of the same butterscotch she saw in his uncle's home later on. When Kate left the crime scene she is attacked by the TM (Tracksuit Mafia) and Clint shows up to beat them up and save her.
The pair escape and go back to her apartment where the TM follow and things get fiery, Kate shows off her archery and they have to leave the suit in the apartment as it catches fire. This is where they get "Avengers supplies" from a store where we get the reminder that Tony Stark sold Avenger's tower. Clint "stashes" Kate at her aunt's apartment (tons of Easter eggs here but that isn't what I do I recommend watch New Rockstars videos on YouTube if you like that stuff) and goes back to Kate's to get the suit but realizes one of the firefighters took it to LARP in. Clint goes back to Kate and teaches her the proper way to treat a cut. The next morning Clint sends his kids back home and stays in NYC to fix all this Ronin suit mess. Clint then goes back to get Kate and escorts her to work, during this walk we talk about Clint's hearing loss, being an Avenger and his "brand". I love this conversation about his brand as it is easily one of the best analogies as to why the MCU works and other darker more serious universe attempts have failed.
While Clint goes to the Central Park LARP event to get the Ronin suit back from Grills, the firefighter who stole it, Kate is at work and talks with her mother and Jack. Afterwards Kate gets a phone call from a NYPD detective asking questions about the fire and says to come meet him the next morning. Later on that evening, Jack cooks dinner and Kate is confrontational with him and challenges him to a fencing bout where Kate easily beats him (she is a 2x state champ). Too easily. Kate strikes at him with his mask off and he easily parries knocking her sword away, there is more to Jack than meets the eye. As we discussed in the preview blog his character in the comics is a villain/antihero called the Swordsman. This very easily sets him up to be his uncle's murderer and possible villain of the show, but it just feels too easy, and in murder mysteries like this show there generally is a red herring character to throw off the audience. Jack can easily just be a swords nut and we could get a drop that his friends just jokingly call him "the Swordsman". OR he can obviously still be a villain in the show we do not know yet. After their sparring session is when Jack offers her the butterscotch, which freaks Kate out and she leaves.
The second episode ends with Clint stashing the suit and then letting himself be captured by the TM. Kate tries to call him to tell him about Jack, but the phone is answered by one of the TM and she tracks down where they are. While being interrogated by the TM in an abandoned toy store Kate falls through the skylight as she tries to rescue him. The episode ends with both of them tied up and teasing the introduction of Maya Lopez aka Echo.
Episode three kicks off in 2007 establishing a young Echo (which also means she and Kate are very similar ages) going to a normal school assumingly in New York (based off everything else seen in the episode being Brooklyn) and we see she is a very smart young girl that at a young age is very adept at lip reading. She has a conversation with her father about not being at a school with other kids like her and he apologizes they couldn't pay for that. He tells her that she is going to have to learn to jump between two worlds just by watching, this is a set up for her powers being able to read people and copy/predict their fighting. This is mirrored in the closer to modern day flashback of her sparring in the gym. But before moving on, the BIGGEST moment of the flashback is her as a child in a karate class where her father says her "uncle" is going to take her home. Her "uncle" assumingly being Wilson Fisk aka Kingpin. All we see of him is a hand grabbing her cheek and a cufflink, but if you watched the Daredevil show on Netflix, you know he very famously wears and toys with his cufflinks. This was all the confirmation the internet and myself needed along with Vincent D'Onofrio's twitter teasing that he is back as Wilson Fisk. I couldn't be happier. One quick thing, them mentioning dragons just made me happy because we just got one in Shang-Chi, and I am all here for more dragons in the MCU.
Still in the flashback Echo shows up to "Fat Man Auto Repair", assumingly the base for her father's gang, during the middle of basically a slaughter by Ronin aka Clint during the Blip. Clint killed her father and assumingly the whole crew. Her father dies leaving a bloody handprint on Maya's face and Echo escapes setting up her goal of getting revenge for her father's death at Clint's hand.
We now jump back to Clint and Kate tied up and before Maya comes out to interrogate the pair, with Kazi's help interpreting, we get a funny moment of one of the TM goofballs talking about getting Imagine Dragons tickets for his girlfriend. Maya sees Clint's hearing aid and tries to sign to him, but we find out Clint is still very new to signing and she mentions he shouldn't rely on the hearing aid. Clint denies that he or Kate is Ronin and lies that it was someone else and that Black Widow killed them. Clint says this all is a misunderstanding and insist Kate had no idea what she was doing putting on the Ronin suit and that she is innocent. Maya of course does not believe this and goes to question Kate but in a fit of rage tries to choke her out, but Kazi stops her. Kazi reasons with her while dad Clint gives yet another pep talk before breaking out of his bindings and runs off to find his bow and arrows. Hawkeye fights off many of the TM including Echo, who smashes his hearing aid. Clint crashes through glass for the millionth time before getting his bow and begins just out classing everyone, beating them easily and running outside with Kate. Side note I am starting to get tired of the someone almost hitting them between the legs while on the floor trope I swear it has been in everything recently.
Time for a car chase. Hawkeye and Clint skip the comic accurate red classic muscle car and grab another one, Clint is trying to get Kate to drive as he hot wires it but by the time he gets it to start the TM are outside shooting at them. This leads to a fun car chase with Kate hanging out the window shooting all sorts of fun trick arrows that are delightful to see on screen. I will make a note here I was very disappointed in the special effects of these scenes, some of it is good some fine but some of it is downright pitiful for MCU standards. This has been a common thing for a couple of the movies that have come out this year for the MCU. Certain spots will look brilliant but others just look like Black Panther final fight scene level of bad. This car chase while very fun, was the worst sequence of CGI in the MCU. I have been curious if there was a decision made to cut back on budget for some of the later shows/films coming out due to Covid and that is where they chose to cut it from. I loved this sequence, but that just needed to be said.
All of that said about the car chase, the way it ended was one of my favorite MCU moments. When I saw the blue glow of the Pym Tech arrowhead I gasped, and it made me forget all about the bad special effects I just saw. Using the now gigantic arrow to stall for time Clint snag the suction cup arrow and Kate holds back the TM and Echo threatening them with a USB arrow. Our pair of heroes dive off the side of the bridge and using Clint's bow and the suction cup arrow manage to escape on the subway train below.
Clint and Kate on the subway basically saying the exact same thing to each other spontaneously was lovely, they already think so much alike. Love that Clint's respect for her is pushed hard, especially with how serious Clint takes the whole speech of 'the moment I put that suit on I knew who I am supposed to be' from Kate. Hero-ing comes at a price, he tries to warn her but not dissuade her. Clint says he is not a role model, but that is based on his Ronin past, and I am sure some things he did with S.H.I.E.L.D.. The pair talk through the entire situation, we get hints at Kingpin, before the pair decide to head back to Kate's family home to use her mother's security mainframe to get more information. They finally get to her mom's place to use her mainframe, but the episode ends on Jack holding Hawkeye at sword point. Now wouldn't this be a beautiful classic trope of "I never taught you to let your guard down so easily" line to start episode 4 off with? I personally am not sold on Clint and Jack having a prior relationship like in the comics, but it sure seems we will find out very quickly.
Also expect some BIG introductions for this next episode. The timing of a few hints and rumors this week has me pondering a lot of things. Yelena has to be brought in soon, Fisk was just hinted at and could finally be revealed, and my absolute favorite marvel casting, Charlie Cox was just confirmed to be returning as Daredevil in the MCU by Kevin Fiege himself... Weird timing, no?
Thoughts and Theories
First off elephant in the room, "Uncle" is definitely Wilson Fisk aka Kingpin. This is all but confirmed for me it between all the teasing and rumors, then the chuckle and cufflink. I am ready to call it Vincent is back, and Netflix Marvel is so close to be back. I am so excited.
They are setting up the West Coast Avengers. This one hit me like a ton of bricks. Hawkeye was the founding member and leader of the West Coast Avengers in the comics. Him using the Pym Tech arrow is what made it click in my head. Hank and Janet could be the homebase of the operation that runs the West Coast Avengers or even a Young Avengers team. We know Kate moves out west in the comics and if we find out her mom is involved in the criminal conspiracy (like her father is in the comcis), she might want a change of scenery and move out west to join fellow Young Avenger Cassie Lang aka Stature/Stinger.
Okay I wouldn't be doing my job if I did not bring it up, people have been theorizing that that was NOT Clint in the suit for the flashback where we see Echo's father get killed. So here are a few ideas:
1. What if Kazi was in the Ronin suit: Kazi aka the Clown in the comic was a much bigger deal than just the side character, he was the main deadly threat in the comic run this show is based on. He was actually the one who took Clint's hearing. So, what if he was making a play for being the new boss of the TM but missed Echo. But we run into the issue that we were told the suit and sword were recovered from the Avengers Compound wreckage. It raises the question of when that would fit into the timeline of the show.
2. The second option I have seen people run with is Yelena is in the suit to frame Clint. I really don't get this theory for the same reason for Kazi, it just does not fit the timeline BUT it makes a hell of a lot more sense that Yelena would be able to sneak it back into the wreckage. But she did not even know to do that until AFTERWARDS because it had been long enough for Natasha to get a funeral and headstone back in Ohio. Doesn't fit.
3. This one, does fit. We do not know the specific timeline of WHEN they were killed, we just assumed during the blip. What if this was actually BEFORE the blip and it was Jack. We know Jack's comic character is the Swordsman, what if they mixed Swordsman with Ronin. This would establish Ronin as a mantle (like the show has hinted at with Kate being assumed to be Ronin) and maybe we can keep the backstory of Clint being trained by him. My personal head cannon until we find out has been after Clint's family was snapped away, he went to find his old mentor to seek help in Jack aka Swordsman aka Ronin, found him dusted as well, Clint sees his suit and sword and takes up the mantle. The timeline issue is still the same but different, now it is just wait how old is Echo in that scene? I guess that could be sorted out saying SHE was dusted by Thanos and Kazi ran the crew while she was gone, but when she returned, she took it back over so there could be some hidden animosity? I would be there for it; it would also be another push for Echo towards to light to get betrayed by Kazi.
To round out this scene, I think this IS Clint in the suit, and we will find out Fisk basically sacrificed the TM and Echo's father to Ronin to get him off his back. This opens the door for Echo to turn hero or at least anti-hero going against Fisk in her own show.
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