Predicting Hawkeye's Villain In His Disney+ Show: Marvel's Best Options
Marvel has some exciting options available when it comes to picking the villain for the upcoming Disney+ series, Hawkeye. Since this is the only Marvel Cinematic Universe project so far to revolve around Clint Barton (Jeremy Renner), this will be the first time the MCU version of Earth Mightiest Marksman faces his own personal villain. Whoever his opponent will be, he’ll likely be fighting them alongside his young protégé, Kate Bishop.
In the MCU movies so far, the only characters Hawkeye has had a chance to fight are foes of the Avengers. Unfortunately, the situation for his comic book counterpart isn’t much different. Through most of his 56-year history in Marvel Comics, Clint Barton has acted as a supporting hero in the pages of The Avengers. Though he has certainly received his share of the spotlight in the Avengers comics, nearly all of his biggest battles take place with Hawkeye just being a member of a team. In other words, Hawkeye doesn’t have a long list of his own villains. His enemies are the Avengers’ enemies, like Kang the Conqueror, Ultron, Egghead, and more.
However, Marvel has occasionally given the character his own solo adventures, though most of them are short-lived. So while Hawkeye admittedly doesn’t have a deep rogues’ gallery, he does have at least a few villains who have set their sights on him, rather than the Avengers. This gives Marvel a few strong candidates for the show’s main villain. Here are some of the characters who could challenge Clint Barton and his young protégé Kate Bishop in Disney+’s Hawkeye.
Instead of creating an all-new character, Marvel could reuse an existing one, specifically Black Widow’s Taskmaster. If he lives through the movie, he could return in Hawkeye to fight Clint, a character with whom he has often clashed with in the comics. Hawkeye could learn about an old enemy of Black Widow’s resurfacing, and take it upon himself to defeat him. Completing this task won’t be easy, especially since his abilities have allowed him to mimic Hawkeye’s skill with a bow. Against Taskmaster, he’d be battling someone who can do everything he can and more. Also, he’d be up against someone with a strong connection to the recently deceased Black Widow. Fighting Taskmaster could potentially give the series an opportunity to acknowledge the friendship between Clint and Natasha (Scarlet Johansson), especially since the character died in Avengers: Endgame.
Hawkeye could introduce Crossfire, the cousin of Ant-Man’s main villain, Yellowjacket. In Marvel Comics, Crossfire was a villain who had a plan to brainwash superheroes. In Hawkeye’s first ever miniseries, Crossfire targeted Clint Barton simply because it was his belief that Hawkeye was the weakest Avenger and the easiest team member to take down. His opinion of Hawkeye reflected a problem that Clint had faced his entire life, which was not being taken seriously as a superhero. Hawkeye overcame that and proved himself by defeating Crossfire and his minions. Marvel could tell a similar story by making use of his character. If so, the show might even tie into Ant-Man through the relationship between Crossfire and Yellowjacket.
In 1965, Marvel introduced Swordsman aka Jacques Duquesne, a highly-skilled fighter who wielded a sword imbued with the powers of the Mandarin’s ten rings. He arrived at Avengers Mansion as a glory-seeking opportunist hoping to become an Avenger, but purely for selfish gain. His membership was quickly opposed by Hawkeye, who explained that he had a prior history with Swordsman. Apparently, Clint was an orphan living in Iowa when he came across a carnival. While there, he caught Duquesne (the carnival’s sword expert), stealing from the paymaster. To keep Clint quiet, he offered to make him his assistant. After teaching his skills to Clint, they became partners. When Clint realized just how unscrupulous the man really was, he turned his back on Swordsman and fled the carnival.
A “master vs. student” conflict arose when Swordsman became an enemy of the Avengers, ending with Hawkeye eventually defeating his former mentor. In time, Swordsman walked away from his villainous lifestyle and managed to redeem himself as a member of the Avengers, up until his untimely death in the 1970s.
If Marvel were to use Swordsman and his role in Hawkeye’s origin story – which will be explored in the series at least to some degree – his inclusion can accomplish two goals: fill in the blanks in Hawkeye’s past and explain his sword-fighting skills from Avengers: Endgame. Depending on the show’s approach to Swordsman, Hawkeye could leave the door open for a heroic turn at some point down the line.
In the 1980s, Marvel retconned Hawkeye’s origin story by exploring a question that fans had frequently asked about Hawkeye’s archery: how did Clint become Earth’s Mightiest Marksman by training under a sword expert? The answer is that he didn’t. The person who trained Hawkeye in how to use a bow was actually Swordsman’s partner-in-crime, Trick Shot. Swordsman, having seen Clint’s aptitude with bows, requested that Trick Shot handle that aspect of his training. Years later, Trick Shot sought out Hawkeye and forced a duel-to-the-death between the two. As it turned out, he was dying of cancer and was looking for Hawkeye to finally surpass him and kill him in battle.
It would make sense for Marvel to adapt some version of Trick Shot when it explains how Hawkeye learned archery, and it’s also possible that this character will end up serving as the main antagonist. It could be that the plot of the show will involve Hawkeye battling the man who taught him everything he knows.
Another revision that Marvel made to Hawkeye’s backstory came in the form of Barney Barton, Clint’s brother. After running out on him over a disagreement regarding Clint’s decision to stay loyal to the Swordsman, Barney became an FBI agent. He supposedly met his end shortly after reuniting with Hawkeye and getting involved in a fight with Egghead. Years later, Marvel brought back Barney and revealed that he secretly survived the fight. After murdering the original Trick Shot, Barney took his place and became a dangerous new enemy for Hawkeye. Pitting Clint against his estranged brother would be an interesting direction for the show to take. Plus, it would allow for the series to deliver a deeply personal, tragic story that revisits the regrets that Clint has about his past, as the comic book version of Hawkeye always had a great deal of remorse about how his relationship with Barney turned out.