Criminal. Mentor to Clint Barton. Avenger. Strategic genius. Father of the Celestial Messiah (in a really creepy way). In the comics, Jacques Duquesne, the master of bladed weapons known as Swordsman, was all these things before he ultimately gave his life in defense of the love of his life, Mantis.
Broke rich guy. Witless buffoon. Guy who bought a book on being a step-father. In the Marvel Studios streaming series Hawkeye, Jack Duquesne, the avid collector of bladed weapons known as, well, Jack, was all these things before he was used as a fall guy by the love of his life, Eleanor Bishop, to cover her tracks.
Hawkeye showrunner Jonathan Igla and directors Rhys Thomas, Bert and Bertie did the character of Jacques Duquesne dirty over the course of the six-episode series; however, the series’ finale did redeem the loveable moron and provide an opportunity for the character, played wonderfully by Tony Dalton, to return down the road. And should we see this daringly-different Duquesne again, whether it be in a second season of Hawkeye or another project, the creatives also left him in the perfect position to suit up as his swashbuckling self from the comics.
Desperately in need of some new friends after being manipulated and used by his fiancee, Duquesne finds himself in the company of one of the show’s First Responders, Adetinpo Thomas’ Wendy, following the big events of the finale. Before becoming distracted by the blood on his tie (Balls!), Duquesne was talking with Wendy about a potential “leisure activity”: LARPing.
Throughout the series, the window to the First Responders’ hobby provided comic relief and Clint’s original meeting with them provided fruit down the road as not only did they help out the heroes in the final battle, but also created the great new outfits for Clint and Kate. And while Jacques and Wendy don’t get to finish their conversation, the creatives of Hawkeye have certainly set the table for Jack to give LARPing a shot if/when we see him again. And if we do see Jack (there’s no way they don’t bring Dalton back if there is a Season 2) and we do see him LARPing, the creatives could do the character a solid (though a ridiculous looking solid) by having his LARP in something resembling his classic Swordsman suit, first seen in Avengers #19.
At this point, it seems obvious that the Duquesne of the MCU won’t ascend to the ranks of Avenger and he likely won’t have his dead body possessed by a tree-alien who then uses it to copulate with Mantis (he could, however, meet Mantis, I suppose, if the Guardians where to say, come to Earth at some point) and conceive a child. But we saw enough from the guy over the course of the season to know that he has a big heart, probably way too big, and is always up for a good time. Given that (and the fact that the creatives actually included Hawkeye’s original comic book costume in a LARPing scene before cutting it), it doesn’t seem to far-fetched of an idea at all that we might see a swashbuckling Swordsman braving the battlefield with bladed weapons some time down the road. En garde!
