Hawkeye’s Heroism

Jeremy Renner rocked his bow and arrow (and an admittedly non-purple jumpsuit). There’s a community college and newspaper named after him (well…they have the same name so maybe). Hawkeye has been kicking ass since his first appearance in 1964, but not as a clean-cut, all-American super hero. His heroism has some bite, and that’s why he’s a fan favorite.

Clint Barton (created by Stan Lee and Don Heck) started out like a stock super hero: he was orphaned, ran away to the carnival, was trained by masters in weaponry, wrestled with a hot temper, and injured his brother in a case of mistaken identity. And while not having any superpowers, he’s a master archer and exceptional fencer and, in later stories, trained thoroughly by Captain America in all things combat. It sounds like a pretty solid start to becoming Batman, Robin, or half the DC lineup.

His choice to become a costumed crime-fighter came after seeing Iron Man save people at a carnival he was working at, already in costume and going by “Hawkeye.” As is par for a hero’s course, he bumped into then-Soviet-spy Black Widow and was convinced he should take Iron Man down. After a few attempts and extensive thought on the subject, Barton chose to abandon his quest and instead asked Iron Man to join the Avengers.

Since joining the Avengers team officially in Avengers #16 (May 1965), he’s fought with West Coast Avengers, New Avengers, and Thunderbolts. He’s held key roles in Secret Wars, House of M, Secret Invasion and Siege story lines.

So what makes him an uncommon hero? His temperament and ego.

Hawkeye is kind of an ass. A charming and talented ass, but a hot-headed jerk who thinks he’s the most fantastic thing tights. After leading the West Coast Avengers, he was reunited with the main Avengers team but couldn’t make do with being a “regular” member. This worked out for the best in the end, as he was instead given the opportunity to help lead the Thunderbolts, a team of villains looking for a new start.

In the Kree-Skull War, Hawkeye was asked to sit out while the Avengers went to work since he had no actual superpowers. But his attitude kicked in and he borrowed some of Hank Pym‘s particles to turn himself into Goliath. In the end it helped, but his motivations were more “not being left out” than saving the world.

That’s what makes him so endearing. Yes, he does some things for very foolish reasons, but they turn out to be good decisions in the end. He’s a hero we can relate to. If any normal person had incredible abilities (as so many of us like to think) and a troubled past (as so many of us do), Hawkeye’s attitude and actions would be the ones they’d adopt. He likes saving people, certainly, but he also wants to be told how great he is.

And we want a hero that we can relate to. Captain America is a perfect ideal, but would a normal person live up to that? Iron Man is witty, but was born into piles and piles of money. Pym didn’t start out with powers, but was a genius, so close enough. (Though Thor is only a God, so that’s pretty relate-able.) And Clint Barton was a dude from Iowa who had nothing fantastic about him until he worked his ass off.

What could be more super than that?