Clint Barton, aka Hawkeye, has been the butt of a lot of jokes over the years, mostly because his skills with a bow and arrow seem pretty underwhelming on paper compared to the abilities of his super-powered peers. But as we await Jeremy Renner’s return to the franchise in next year’s Avengers: Endgame, one fan on Reddit has made the case that the Phase 1 hero may be a lot more important to the team than many of us realize or appreciate.
The post from user Ak32009 consists of a chart showing all of Hawkeye’s MCU appearances (excluding his blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo in 2011’s Thor), along with a verdict on how Earth’s Mightiest Heroes fare in each film. For The Avengers and Avengers: Age of Ultron, Clint has a ‘big’ role, and it just so happens that each story ends in victory.
For Captain America: Civil War, on the other hand, the character’s part is relatively limited, and as you may recall, things don’t go so well for our heroes this time round, with half the gang getting locked up while a rift is formed in the team. As for Avengers: Infinity War, Hawkeye is a complete no-show, and the result is by far the greatest defeat for the gang to date.
Fortunately, Clint will be returning to the action in next year’s release, and will hopefully be able to sort out the mess left in his absence. Earlier this month, the film’s first trailer confirmed the popular theory that the character would be suiting up in his new Ronin persona, though it remains to be seen whether the old speculation about Clint’s family being killed in the Decimation is also true. We’ll surely find out when Avengers: Endgame hits theaters on April 26th, 2019.
