Seventeen days from now, Hawkeye premieres on Disney Plus with a bumper two-episode debut, officially kicking off the festive season for Marvel Cinematic Universe fans everywhere.
We’ve seen odd couple dynamics before in the franchise, most notably between bickering duo Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes, while Tony Stark and Rhodey weren’t shy about throwing barbs in each other’s direction either, but the relationship between Jeremy Renner’s Clint Barton and Hailee Steinfeld’s Kate Bishop is altogether different.
She’s a huge fan of the Avenger, and can barely contain her excitement at getting to be his protege, while Clint believed he was retired for all intents and purposes to live a quiet life with his wife and kids before being drawn back into the action.
In an interview with GamesRadar+, directorial duo Bert and Bertie explained that they deliberately sought to upend the traditional MCU formula, no matter how well it’s served the series over the last thirteen years.
“[Executive producer Trinh Tran’s] got her own strong opinions on things, but instinctively, she knows what feels right for the Marvel universe as well. As we’ve all been seeing with TV, it’s a bit about breaking the mold at this point, so Trinh was never about sticking to the old plan or sticking religiously to a character’s backstory. Hawkeye, for instance, is a little bit unlike we’ve seen him. But Jeremy was fully invested in this tone, so she’s always been about the freshness of it.”
A buddy cop-influenced superhero show set around the holidays that revolves around a middle-aged husband and father taking an excitable young woman under his wing to battle against a shared threat definitely sounds different enough, and let’s not forget Hawkeye even comes packing an adorable animal sidekick.
