'Hawkeye' production art confirms a comic favorite's long-awaited debut
It also hints the Disney+ series will draw from a hugely popular comic arc.
Marvel fans found out earlier this year that the spotlight will (finally) be planted firmly on Hawkeye in an upcoming Disney+ series. Featuring the return of Renner as Hawkeye, it will also showcase the debut of Kate Bishop, a teenage girl who takes over the mantle of Hawkeye from time to time in the comics. The debut of Kate seemed to imply that the series would draw more inspiration from Matt Fraction and David Aja’s acclaimed run on the comic, which began in 2012. A piece of production art revealed in the new Disney+ series Expanding the Universe, seems to have confirmed as much.
Expanding the Universe features an image that seems to confirm the debut of Lucky, Clint Barton’s pizza-munchin’ dog, in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Given the relationship between Clint, Lucky, and Kate, it feels like another big hint the show will draw from the beloved comic arc.
Through Fraction and Aja’s lens, Clint Barton finally seemed to coalesce as a character. He’s the one Avenger who’s just a regular guy, so they created a story in which he deals with both ordinary and extraordinary problems, with the juxtaposition between that normalcy and heightened stakes serving as great fodder for comedy.
'Hawkeye' Production Art
Their version of Clint is an utter mess of a human being. He’s disorganized and slovenly. He spills coffee frequently. He lives on pizza and his only social outlet is a dog he rescues from the mob in the first issue of the series. The series proved revelatory and took home countless awards over the course of its run, including many for its now-iconic issue Hawkeye #11 which is told entirely from the perspective of Lucky, Clint’s dog.
Unfortunately, the book debuted about a year after actor Jeremy Renner’s first appearance as Hawkeye in the MCU. As such, Marvel Studios was stuck with this depiction of Hawkeye for a while. Rather than the comedy-heavy straight man to the Avengers’ overall ridiculousness, he became a black-ops dude with a bow and arrow, somewhat vaguely defined and largely just taking up spacefor most of the series’ run.
There will likely have to be some changes made for the Disney+ series, given that Clint is very much living the bachelor lifestyle in the comic, but Lucky’s debut bodes well for Hawkeye’s future in the MCU.
Hawkeye is slated to come to Disney+ in fall 2021.
