Hawkeye's MCU Show Is Marvel's Daredevil Replacement
Disney+ is setting up Hawkeye as the Marvel Cinematic Universe's replacement for Netflix's Daredevil. While WandaVision will bend reality and play with classic TV rom-com tropes, and Falcon and the Winter Soldier will deal with international espionage and Captain America's legacy, Hawkeye looks to be the kind of grounded, gritty action-packed series that fans loved about Daredevil.
Daredevil was the much-loved flagship Marvel Netflix series and it was the core of their Defenders lineup, which included Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist. Daredevil was the only Netflix show that ran for three seasons and it thoroughly explored the violent and chaotic life of Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox), as well as his friends like Karen Page (Deborah Ann Woll) and Foggy Nelson (Elden Henson), and his many foes like Elektra (Elodie Yung), Bullseye (Wilson Bethel), and Wilson Fisk AKA the Kingpin (Vincent D'Onofrio). Daredevil was also a grim and starkly violent series that put Matt Murdock through the wringer physically, emotionally, and spiritually as his crusade to protect Hell's Kitchen cost him everything he held dear. Recently, Daredevil's rights reverted to Marvel Studios, but, until they decide what Matt Murdock's MCU future will, Hawkeye is poised to be the next best thing.
Hawkeye will be much closer to the Daredevil mode of storytelling than the expert marksman's adventures fighting robots, aliens, and traveling through time and outer space with the Avengers. The Disney+ series will see Clint Barton (Jeremy Renner) training a young protege, Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld), and the two Hawkeyes' adventures appear to closely resemble the critically-acclaimed Marvel Comics run by Matt Fraction and David Aja. Indeed, Clint and Kate adopt a dog named Lucky aka Pizza Dog, and the photos from the set reveal the action takes place in Brooklyn, just like in the comics. Of course, there will be guest stars from the MCU movies, most notably Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) who fans will meet in Black Widow, but at its core, Hawkeye will be a character-driven, street-level show about vigilantes, like Daredevil was.
Hawkeye also marks a return to New York City as a setting, which has mostly been the territory of Spider-Man (Tom Holland) and Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) ever since the Avengers left their midtown Manhattan tower and moved to their upstate New York compound. Despite being a husband and father who keeps his beloved family safe in a rural farmhouse, Clint Barton has actually been a world-traveler as an Agent of SHIELD and an Avenger, so it will be fascinating to learn what brings him to NYC and for the two Hawkeyes to have their adventures in Brooklyn, which is just across the East River from Daredevil's old stomping grounds.
Indeed, Hawkeye will also tackle similar themes as Daredevil. When last fans saw Clint Barton, he was a tortured soul who went on a bloody five-year global rampage against international criminals as he dealt with his grief over his family dying from Thanos' (Josh Brolin) Infinity Gauntlet snap. Although he helped save the world with the Avengers, Clint had to watch Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson) sacrifice her life for the Soul Stone. Hawkeye is confirmed to take place in 2025, two years after Avengers: Endgame, and Barton will still be processing losing his best friend and part of his soul - a spiritual journey that echoes the constant inner turmoil Matt Murdock coped with in Daredevil.
The presence of Jack Duquesne AKA Swordsman (Tony Dalton) in Hawkeye also means that Clint will be dealing with his own origin story since Swordsman was his mentor who trained Barton to be one of the world's greatest archers. However, Hawkeye and Swordsman are usually enemies and this echoes Daredevil where Matt Murdock's teacher Stick (Scott Glenn) was no friend but was instead a brutal taskmaster who continually tried to manipulate Murdock into joining his war against the ninja clan called the Hand. Meanwhile, Clint becomes the mentor to Kate Bishop but he may not always serve as the most shining example of heroism himself. Like Daredevil, one of Hawkeye's dramatic tropes will be the scars mentors can leave on their students, which should be a thrilling dynamic to see played out between the world's two best marksmen named Hawkeye.