Kate Bishop arrives to the Marvel Cinematic Universe in Hawkeye, and in developing the franchise’s new archer, the filmmakers leaned into her scrappy nature. In an interview with The Digital Fix, director Rhys Thomas compares her to action movie legend Jackie Chan.
“Whereas Clint would walk into a situation with a plan, he’d understand, he’d know his way out, he’d know what he could use, with Kate it’s just free-flowing almost,” Thomas tells us. “It’s almost like the way that Jackie Chan approaches action that it’s just whatever is at hand, and you just keep moving.” Thomas credits the process of finding Kate’s rhythm to stunt coordinator Heidi Moneymaker, saying the idea was to give her some “element of chaos”.
Kate has plenty of training, but also comes from an upper-class, sheltered background, and part of her story is coming to grips with opponents that don’t fight fair. “She’s a rich girl, and took the classes and all the things that felt relevant. But then, confronted in a real world situation, it’s ‘how do you use that?’,” Thomas says. “You know, when someone is not playing by the rules, and there’s no referee.”
Hailee Steinfeld is playing Kate, alongside Jeremy Renner, who returns to portray Clint Barton. Hawkeye is the first time Renner’s headlined an MCU project, the last of the original six MCU Avengers to do so.
The sci-fi series has Kate get herself into a sticky situation such that Clint has to step in and help. Even at Christmas, sometimes you got to be a hero! Vera Farmiga, Fra Fee, and Brian d’Arcy James are among the supporting cast, with Florence Pugh’s Yelena from Black Widow due to appear as well.
Hawkeye premieres on streaming service Disney Plus with the first two episodes on Wednesday, November 24. You can learn more about what’s coming to the MCU with our guide to Marvel Phase 4.