Following the Episode 1 introduction of Lucky The Pizza Dog, Hawkeye‘s second episode saw Clint go against at least a few vans worth of Tracksuit Mafia bros. This sequence bears some fairly obvious similarities with the one from Hawkeye #6 (probably one of the best issues of the entire run), where Clint Barton presented himself in a way the Mafia couldn’t miss him, inviting a much-needed confrontation.
In the Disney+ series, Clint made this decision as a way of getting to the bottom of the issues Kate stirred up by wearing the Ronin suit out in public. By facing the Mafia head-on, allowing them to take full control of the situation, he managed to get himself caught without much hassle. Finding himself in their hideout will then lead to uncovering the woman making all the calls, someone he’ll have to go through to make it home for Christmas. What he didn’t count on was that by not making his intentions clear to Kate Bishop, his actions might have ended up making her find herself in a much more dire situation than the one he was trying to get her out of.
Just like in the series, the comics show Clint placing himself in harm’s way by tacking on the Tracksuit Mafia head-on to protect people he learned to care about. By issue #6, we’d come to realize how Clint had become somewhat protective towards his neighbors with who he shared a building. With the Mafia endangering their enjoyment of the holiday season, he stepped up. As two full vans of Tracksuit bros drove up to the building he, unlike in the Hawkeye series, put up a fight and got himself captured against his will. He is then dragged to the Mafia’s hideout and we see him, much like we did in Episode 2, tied up to a chair as the Mafia brings forth their leader who presents Clint with an ultimatum: Leave the city in 24h or all-out war against himself will be a reality.
Episode 3 isn’t out yet so we’re yet to know what happens to Clint and Kate. In the comics, Barton is released and decides to, once again, stand his ground by not leaving town and living up to the idea of what a hero should do by protecting those who can’t protect themselves. In Hawkeye that would mean again postponing his trip back home and putting an end to the Ronin mix-up once and for all.
