Hawkeye with Jeremy Renner and Hailee Steinfeld joined the Marvel Universe with the release of the first two episodes of a six episode mini-series on Disney+. The first two episodes were the opening of the origin story as we learn how Kate Bishop becomes Hawkeye.
Hawkeye itself, as a Marvel tale, isn’t the big draw for me. It’s Hailee Steinfeld I’m here to see. I distinctly remember seeing her in True Grit way back in 2010 and thinking, “This girl is terrific.” Since then, watching her grow has been fun. I especially loved her in Dickinson. She’s proved herself outstanding many times over now.
Seeing Kate shoot arrows into bell towers and use martial arts in a ninja suit is icing on the cake. Bonus points because Florence Pugh is joining as Yelena Belova in the next 4 episodes. Bonus points as well for representation for the deaf and hard of hearing. Clint wears a hearing aid in the series, and Marvel is introducing a deaf character here in future episodes: Echo (Alaqua Cox).
Kate runs into her hero and role model, Clint Barton (Renner) after a gala event in New York City. She’s there with her mother Eleanor Bishop (Vera Farmiga) and her mom’s sketchy new boyfriend Jack Duquesne (Tony Dalton). She happens onto an illegal auction in the basement where Avengers artifacts are for sale.
Clint sees Kate on the TV news in his ninja suit after an explosion at the gala and they have their meet cute. A one-eyed dog is involved, as are a group known as the track suit mafia and a batch of role players who meet in the park to act like superheroes.
Clint does not want to be busy recovering ninja suits and figuring out what the heck Kate is doing with it. He wants to be home with his wife, Laura (Linda Cardellini), and his three kids to celebrate Christmas.
The first two episodes were fun, Hailee Steinfeld is awesome, and I’ll keep watching. Are you interested in this addition to the Marvel universe?