Should disability be a part of the diversity discussion? Nyle DiMarco certainly thinks so.
The model and disability activist has brought attention to Hawkeye’s deafness in certain strains of the comic book and wonders why this hasn’t been incorporated into the Marvel Cinematic Universe yet. Furthermore, with Avengers 4 now looming on the horizon, is there any chance of getting some disability representation in our comic book movies?
Talking to Mic, the digital news company who champion diverse perspectives, DiMarco explained the following:
“So many times people forget the disability conversation in diversity. They think diversity has to do with race [and] gender, but there’s so much more to it. We are part of diversity as people with disabilities and the danger is that we get excluded.
“There are a couple of issues where specifically Hawkeye is deaf. And so they brought in an actor who can hear instead. I think it would have made [better movies]… if they brought a deaf person in to play a deaf Hawkeye.
“I mean, no offense, but Hawkeye in the Avengers is boring. A lot of people don’t even like him… Let’s have a deaf actor in there instead, why not?”
Of course, as comic book readers will know, DiMarco refers to specific storylines where Hawkeye’s been presented as being severely hearing impaired, most notably in 1983’s Hawkeye #4 by Mark Gruenwald. Here, the archer inadvertently deafens himself to avoid falling victim to Crossfire’s sonic weaponry.
This narrative arc would certainly add layers to a character whom, alongside Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow, has more often than not been lost in the shuffle. However, with Avengers 4‘s filming already completed and the pic scheduled for a 2019 release, we’ll have to hope Hawkeye survives well into Phase 4 to see if Marvel can replicate the representation we saw they were capable of in Black Panther.
