Jeremy Renner has been speaking to GQ about the character of Hawkeye and what Clint having a family brings to both the role and the wider MCU – “it’s a grounding rod.”
Renner says; “In Age of Ultron, when Hawkeye had a family that no one knew about and this farm in the middle of nowhere – that was very telling. I don’t know if that was written because that’s what my life is, because I’m a single father. Doesn’t matter if it’s cart before the horse, the chicken or the egg, it’s still there and I love that it was implemented.”
He continues; “It created such a wonderful grounding rod, for people that fly around, the guy with the hammer or the laser beams. There’s just a wonderful grounding rod. Here’s a guy with no superpowers, he’s got a stick and string. He’s got a family, right? That said a lot to me, set an intention of where that character’s going and ultimately to where we’re at now, with this series. It’s no different to that basic principle. A stick and a string, a family and it’s Christmas.”
In the Hawkeye Disney Plus show, Clint Barton is once again separated from his family (for plot reasons) and is in New York at Christmas time. It is Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld) who fills in that ‘teen daughter’ type relationship. However, Clint’s family is still a driving force for everything he does and is always there in the background for the character. Clint just wants to get back to his kids in time for Christmas.
In the comics, Hawkeye marries a former SHIELD agent, Bobbi Morse, also known as Mockingbird and has a brief romantic relationship with the Wasp (played in the MCU by Evangeline Lilly). So – Kevin Feige, Joss Whedon and the rest of the MCU creative team obviously chose a different path for Clint to the one in the comics. Clint’s family definitely gives things different stakes and Avengers: Endgame certainly wouldn’t have had the same impact if we didn’t see Clint’s entire family get snapped right in front of his eyes.
Hawkeye is currently dropping weekly episodes on Disney Plus, catch up with our latest review of Episode 4.