First off, if you haven’t seen The Avengers then stop reading, go see it and then come back. But considering the film broke box office records and made over $200 million in its opening weekend, most of America seems to have seen it.
If you are not one of the happy millions at the theater last weekend, then you may not know much about this superhero team. The Avengers is a Marvel Comics hero team overseen by the intelligence organization SHIELD (which is led by Nick Fury, an eye-patched badass). The Avengers has had a lot of members over its 50-year history, but the movie includes some of its most well known teammates: Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, The Hulk, Hawkeye and Black Widow. Four of these heroes have had solo movies, and Black Widow appeared in Iron Man 2. That just leaves the world at large clamoring to know: who is Hawkeye?
Hawkeye, also known as Clint Barton, is the greatest archer in the Marvel Universe. Don’t let his sometimes campy purple costume fool you; he puts Katniss Everdeen and Legolas to shame. In the main Marvel universe, Clint was trained growing up in the circus and was inspired by Iron Man to become a masked hero. Of course there were some misunderstandings in the beginning, including his being seduced by a villainous Black Widow to steal from Tony Stark. After the femme fatale ditched him, he decided to be a real hero. Not long after, he was invited to join The Avengers, where he befriended Captain America.
Like all heroes, Clint’s had his ups and downs. He’s had to fight his brother Barney, who is a villain. He’s had a tumultuous love life, though he did settle down and marry the heroine Mockingbird, whose real name is Bobbi Morse. And, sadly, Hawkeye was killed in a battle with some Kree aliens. Luckily he was resurrected some time later by teammate with reality-altering powers, as death in comics never sticks.
After his return, Clint put away his Hawkeye persona and became Ronin, a title passed down through elite martial artists. He still fought alongside The Avengers, but eventually returned to his original Hawkeye identity.
In the Avengers movie, as in his Ultimate Marvel Comics incarnation, Hawkeye is a SHIELD agent before joining the team. Played by action star Jeremy Renner, the cinematic version of Hawkeye, who appeared briefly in Thor, is just as kick ass his all of his comic manifestations.
Though he doesn’t have powers or gadgets like many of his teammates – and he has yet to have a non-Avengers movie – Hawkeye is without a doubt both a valuable member of the team and a pretty awesome superhero.