Over the past month, Marvel Studios has given fans a wealth of new content along with three huge trailers for projects coming later in the year. Eternals received its second full trailer only a few days before Spider-Man: No Way Home broke the internet with its first, and now, the MCU fandom's attention turns to the first footage from Jeremy Renner's Hawkeye.
With this series being Clint Barton's first-ever solo project after supporting roles spanning more than a decade, the OG Avenger is primed to take on new challenges in more ways than ever before. Already rumored to be losing his hearing as Barton did in the comics, he will be facing off against terrifying new villains and the daunting task of mentoring Hailee Steinfeld's Kate Bishop.
With this likely being the final Disney+ entry for the MCU in 2021, Marvel is surely looking to end the year with a bang as the archery duo works through their partnership. All of this happening during the holiday season makes the mission that much more important, as was teased in the show's recently released official synopsis.
Merry Christmas, Clint Barton & Crew
Disney and Marvel Studios released the official synopsis for the Hawkeye Disney+ series alongside the show's first trailer.
The plot teased Clint Barton's new adventure after seemingly leaving the Avengers behind, although more from his past looks to be coming back to haunt him. This forces him to team up with "22-year-old archer" Kate Bishop, who has her own superhero aspirations to push for:
"Former Avenger Clint Barton has a seemingly simple mission: get back to his family for Christmas. Possible? Maybe with the help of Kate Bishop, a 22-year-old archer with dreams of becoming a Super Hero. The two are forced to work together when a presence from Barton’s past threatens to derail far more than the festive spirit."
Hawkeye: An Avenger...No More?
Although Avengers: Endgame brought plenty of closure with the death of Tony Stark and Steve Rogers' retirement, amongst more, it appears that the state of the Avengers went into a state of flux after Thanos' defeat. Hawkeye looks to be the first Phase 4 project to tackle that issue head-on, which makes sense considering how long Clint was one of Earth's Mightiest Heroes.
With Wanda Maximoff, Sam Wilson, and Bucky Barnes all trying to work through their own issues after Endgame, Marvel Studios wouldn't have had much reason to bring up the Avengers in either WandaVision or The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. The same case is true with Loki and What If...? due to much more multiversal and time-travel-y reasons.
On the movie side, Black Widow served as a full-blown prequel while Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings largely focused on the new hero traversing his own path to become a hero and escape his father's dark legacy. Eternals will also take on the daunting task of introducing a dozen newcomers, and their story only hinted that they know who the Avengers are rather than having any involvement together.
Looking at Hawkeye, the Christmas theme clearly came into play in the first trailer with the scenery and music, as was Kate Bishop's early journey to becoming a superhero alongside her idol. The biggest surprise from the synopsis came from the fact that Hawkeye has left Earth's premier team of heroes behind.
With only Bruce Banner on the same planet as Barton and the new heroes from Phase 2 and 3 still finding their footing, this separation will be an important plot point for the show to tackle likely in its early episodes. Whenever that plot point comes, it should give plenty of depth to the archer's expanding story.
Hawkeye will premiere on Disney+ on November 24, 2021.
