Tag: Marvel

With the finale in the rearview mirror, Marvel Studios’ Hawkeye series has come to a close. Each week we have looked at ways in which the live-action series has adapted parts of the Matt Fraction and David Aja Hawkeye comic book run. Between the origins of Lucky the Pizza Dog, Clint’s capture by the Tracksuit Mafia, Episode 3’s car chase and trick arrows, the connection between the live-action LARPERs and the comics’ neighbors, and Kingpin’s role, the series has covered a lot of ground. Looking at the finale episode of Hawkeye, a few things stand out as having strong ties to the source material: (1) the importance of Kate taking on the “Hawkeye” mantle; (2) the six-day Christmas-themed adventure; and (3) Kate’s parents’ role in the organized crime that the Hawkeyes go up against.

Hawkeye and Hawkeye

A clear goal of the live-action Hawkeye series was to introduce and establish Kate Bishop as the next “Hawkeye.” While the show follows Kate from her pre-superhero days through her first adventure with Clint, in the Hawkeye comic she is already established as Hawkeye alongside Clint’s own Hawkeye persona. While the series finale ended just shy of officially referring to Kate as Hawkeye, it’s almost certain that the next time we see Hailee Steinfeld’s character there won’t be any question about her superhero identity.

The live-action and comic Hawkeye stories also both seem to have built a greater appreciation for Kate’s character over time. While both the series and comic are premised on Clint Barton’s story, Kate is a major character throughout his story. The Hawkeye series of course ends in a way that reflects Kate’s new role in Clint’s life and as a hero. The Hawkeye comic ends with a similar acknowledgment of the significance of the relationship between the two. On its final page, it also calls the Hawkeye comic run a “Clint Barton/Kate Bishop Comic Book,” giving further credit to Kate being deserving of the Hawkeye mantle on the same level as Clint.

Six Days of Christmas

Hawkeye made itself a Christmas show, and it made sure you knew how Christmas-y it was as often as it could. The series was clever to use its six episodes to cover the six days leading up to Christmas, which served as a countdown for Clint to get home to his family for the holiday. Not only did the second issue of Hawkeye explore a heavy Christmas theme, it also specifically looked at the six days of Clint’s life during that time. The comic version of the six days of Christmas had cameos from Tony Stark, Wolverine, and Spider-Man, which obviously the series did not. But it did heavily feature Kate, as well as the Tracksuit Mafia like the live-action series, did. In Hawkeye, the six days were presented out of order, and that added to the intrigue of the narrative––it’s interesting to think about how the Hawkeye series would have played out if its reveals and investigative themes were similarly distorted in order.

Both six-day stretches end with Clint having company for Christmas. In the Hawkeye series, Clint makes it home to Missouri with Kate to spend Christmas with his wife and kids. Comic Clint has a much different family life than MCU Clint, though. He is divorced with no children and is living alone. At the end of his six days, a family that lives in his apartment building comes to keep him company in a warming moment for the self-deprecating and down-on-his-luck archer.

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Bishop Family Values

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One of the major reveals of the Hawkeye series was that Kate’s mother Eleanor Bishop was working for Wilson Fisk, also known as Kingpin, and her ties to New York City’s criminal underground was essentially the catalyst for the entire series. In the comics, Kate Bishop’s mother is the one who is presumed dead, and her father Derek Bishop raised her. In the live-action series, of course, the parents’ statuses are reversed, but in both iterations, they made deals with Kingpin among other criminal figures and organizations that ultimately impacted Kate and her safety.

In any event, the Bishops were a wealthy family which gave Kate the status as a socialite on top of being a superhero. As a result, we get to see Kate bring Clint to a fancy event in a skyscraper in order to investigate some criminal activity in both the comic and the series.

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The Hawkeye series finally introduced none other than Kingpin at the very end of its penultimate episode, after quite some time teasing the villain’s introduction. While Kingpin did not play a particularly central role in the Matt Fraction and David Aja My Life as a Weapon comic, it’s clear that his role in both the comics and show has some major overlaps worth exploring. Is the Kingpin, better known as Wilson Fisk, just the man behind the curtain, or is he more involved than it seems?

In the comic he is heavily involved in three major areas of interest: (1) he’s at the top of the Tracksuit Mafia food chain; (2) he was at a black-market auction to buy incriminating evidence on Clint Barton; and (3) he was involved in hiring an assassin to kill Clint Barton. This article will explore each of these elements in turn and how they relate to the Hawkeye series.

The Guy Clint’s Been Worried About

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One thing we know about Kingpin in every adaptation is that he is at the top of the New York City criminal organization pyramid. We know little so far from the Hawkeye series, but in the comics, Kingpin is a general presence that overshadows much of the crime syndicates below him. In both the series and the comic, Clint is hesitant to work with Kate or go about his general business, not because of the Tracksuit Mafia, but because of who they work for. In the series, Clint tells Kate that they do not want to get too involved, because they could run into the “Big Guy”. In the comics, Kingpin delivers a speech to a cohort of villains that “Clint Barton must die,” for interfering with their plans. The Tracksuit Mafia makes it pretty clear the Clint that they work for someone much more powerful. Later on, it’s obvious that Fisk is at least one of who they are referring to. As seen below, the comics make it much more explicit than the Disney+ series does.

The Auction

Curiously, both the comics and the series feature a black market auction for Barton and Avengers-related items. In the series, of course, we see people bid on the Ronin sword, but the Tracksuit Mafia break into the event to grab the still-mysterious Avengers-related watch before it goes up for sale. While Clint tells Kate that the watch could blow the cover of his friend, in the comics a tape of Clint assassinating targets on behalf of S.H.I.E.L.D. goes up for auction. Kate manages to buy the tape – in disguise as Madame Masque – and, you can guess, Kingpin is not too happy.

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In the series, the first episode shows Jack and Armand Duquesne at the said auction that featured several items found from the destroyed Avengers compounds, including Ronin’s sword, suit, and the mysterious watch. While we did not see Kingpin physically at the auction, we know the Tracksuit Mafia—that he controls—broke in to steal the watch. As little as we know about the watch, it’s clear it might have the same effect on the owner and Clint’s tape in the comics did on him.

The Assassin

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In the comics, Kingpin is one member of a group, including the Tracksuit Mafia, that decides to hire an assassin to kill Clint Barton. He hires Kazimierz Kazimierczak in the comics, who is otherwise known as the Clown. The Kazi in the series definitely strays from the Kazimierz in the comics, so we have not seen any elements of the “Clown” at this point. But in the series, Episode 5 tells us that Kate’s mother Eleanor hired Yelena Belova to kill Clint. Shortly after, we find out that Eleanor appears to be working with Kingpin, begging the question as to whether he was involved in the live-action scheme to take down Clint Barton.

While Kingpin’s introduction was fairly small in Hawkeye Episode 5, it’s worth noting the connections he has to the Fraction-Aja comics. We’ll find out more about Kingpin’s involvement in the Hawkeye finale on Wednesday, December 22, 2021, when it airs on Disney+.