Clint Barton’s Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) is just the latest Avenger to receive a series run on Disney+, following in the footsteps of Wanda Maximoff, Vision, Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes. However, he is the first – and likely the only – of the ‘original six’ to get his own show; though Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) will appear in She-Hulk, the story will belong to the Hulk’s cousin, Jennifer Walters (Tatiana Maslany).
Hawkeye will also serve to introduce Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld) to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, a young woman who adopts the Hawkeye mantle after Barton in the comics. The archer, first seen in Thor and properly introduced in The Avengers, will have to contend with Maya Lopez/Echo (Alaqua Cox), a deaf athlete and martial artist capable of perfectly mimicking others’ movements and Yelena Belova/Black Widow (Florence Pugh), who has been led to believe Barton is responsible for Natasha Romanoff’s (Scarlett Johansson) death on Vormir and seeks revenge.
It’s an exciting slate of characters to introduce and develop as Marvel ploughs ahead with Phase Four; Steinfeld already dazzled many with her performance in Bumblebee, and Pugh’s Yelena rapidly became a fan favourite as Natasha’s quippy little sister in Black Widow.
What’s particularly exciting however, is the casting of Cox as Echo, hailed on social media as a great step forward towards redressing the MCU’s representation and diversity imbalance. Cox is of the Menominee and Mohican nation, was born Deaf and is an amputee, which is in line with Maya/Echo’s comic book characterisation as a Native American woman and one of the very few deaf comic book characters. Renner’s Clint is also shown to be wearing a hearing aid in the trailer, a nod to his comic book arc which had thus far been ignored in the MCU portrayal.
In the comics, Maya is also the one to hand the Ronin identity over to Clint, which he embodied in the years between the events of Infinity War and Endgame. The new trailer, however, suggests the show might not keep this canon.
Another series centring on Echo is currently in development.
Hawkeye will debut on Disney+ from November 24th. Watch the trailer below: