Setting Hawkeye in arguably the Marvel Cinematic Universe's capital city has made the sharpshooter series ground zero for bigger picture connections. In the MCU's 13 years of projects, New York City has hosted battles in Spider-Man: Homecoming, Avengers: Infinity War, and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. Marvel Studios brings its characters across the globe, and even throughout the galaxy, but Earth's Mightiest Heroes always seem to find themselves back in the Big Apple eventually.
Hawkeye has already begun to tie its debuting NYC residents to past MCU conflicts set in Manhattan. The show's opening scene showcases a young Kate Bishop staring on in horror as the Chitauri ravage through the concrete jungle during the Battle of New York in 2012's The Avengers, before Jeremy Renner's Clint Barton saves her from an imminent chariot attack, even if it doesn't line up perfectly.
While the opening scene spotlighted a pivotal MCU moment, subsequent references to the greater universe have been smaller in scale. Still, Hawkeye is making efforts to familiarize its audience with the world around it, and that continued with a sneaky web-slinging tie in its most recent episode.
Spider-Man's Subtle Connection to Hawkeye
Peter Parker's fingerprints are everywhere this time of the year.
In Hawkeye's third episode, Clint Barton and Kate Bishop engage in a car chase with Alaqua Cox's Echo and the Tracksuit Mafia.
During the chase, Barton and Bishop briefly pass a Rainbow store. Marvel fan @spideymemoir pointed out this is the same shop where Spider-Man webs up a bike thief in 2017's Spider-Man: Homecoming.
Despite the Rainbow store making two appearances in the MCU's NYC, this specific shop is located in the real world's Atlanta, GA.
Hawkeye Grows the MCU's NYC
Consistency is the key to continuity. The Marvel Cinematic Universe has prided itself on that principle throughout its 13 years, even if that means bringing a store 870 miles north of its real-world location once again to maintain continuity.
This isn't the first time an Atlanta location has migrated itself to Manhattan for a couple of MCU projects. Earlier this year, Atlanta's Woodruff Park popped up in Episode 5 of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, retaining its NYC placement first seen in 2018's Avengers: Infinity War.
While Rainbow's MCU return is far from confirmation that Spider-Man will show face in Hawkeye, the timing is noteworthy. Both Hawkeye and Spider-Man: No Way Home are set during Christmastime 2024 in New York City. Peter Parker has his own perils to pursue come December 17, but this nod to his first MCU solo outing reminds fans that the web-head is never too distant from everyone's favorite arching pair.
Hawkeye's first three episodes are streaming now on Disney+.
