Hawkeye Comics to Read Before the Marvel Disney+ Series Premieres

In the early ’60s, Iron Man and Captain America shared stories in a comic called Tales of Suspense. The two costumed Avengers eventually got their own titles, but in an early Iron Man issue, Tales of Suspense #57, Tony Stark faced off against a new foe: Hawkeye.

Yes, created by Stan Lee and artist Don Heck, Clint Barton, a.k.a. Hawkeye, was originally introduced as an antagonist. Hawkeye attempts to become a crime fighter, is misunderstood by the police, and then tries to defeat Tony Stark in order to impress Black Widow (who was also a villain at the time). Read it here.

Later that same year, in Avengers #16 (1964), Hawkeye tells Iron Man that he was just trying to become a crime fighter like him, and that his relationship with the Black Widow was short-lived.

Hawkeye asks to become an Avenger, and after the group thinks it over, he joins the second lineup of the team alongside Captain America, Scarlet Witch, and her brother Quiksilver. Read it here.

For the next decade, Hawkeye is part of the Avengers team, taking part in various colorful stories against classic villains such as Kang the Conqueror, Ultron, the Skrulls, and his mentor the Swordsman.

For a time, Hawkeye even takes up the mantle of Giant-Man from the original Ant-Man, calling himself Goliath.

Tony Dalton, best known for his role as Lalo Salamanca from Better Caul Saul, will play Jacques Duquesne , a.k.a. the Swordsman, in the MCU’s Hawkeye series. Read Avengers here.

Written by Mark Gruenwald, Hawkeye received his first four-issue miniseries in 1983. He teamed-up with Bobbi Morse, a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent who goes by the name of “Mockingbird.” As the two enter into a romance, they try and take down Crossfire, an ex-CIA marksman turned criminal.

Mockingbird was portrayed by Adrianne Palicki in the ABC series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., where a prior relationship with Hawkeye was replaced for one with fellow-agent Lance Hunter. Read Hawkeye here.

After the success of Gruenwald’s Hawkeye miniseries, Marvel sent Clint Barton and his new romantic partner, Mockingbird, to the West Coast to lead a new branch of the Avengers.

Forming his own team, the West Coast Avengers team included Wonder Man Simon Williams, Tony Stark’s sidekick James Rhodes in an Iron Man suit, femme fatale cat-woman Tigra, and later Scarlet Witch and Vision.

When Thanos acquires all of the Infinity Stones (called Gems in the comics) and snaps his fingers erasing half of all life in the universe, Hawkeye is sadly one of the erased heroes.

Unlike his role in the MCU’s Infinity War, which is based on the Jim Starlin story The Infinity Gauntlet (1991), Hawkeye is blipped out of existence and misses the entire fight against the Mad Titan, coming back once Thanos is defeated.

When the events of House of M are reversed, Hawkeye returns to existence with no memory of his life. He and Scarlet Witch have a brief and awkward romance in the pages of New Avengers #26 while he searches for meaning and comes to terms with his second chance at life.

Meeting Echo, an assassin who can mimic the actions of any foe she sees in action (much like the villain Taskmaster, who made an appearance in MCU’s Black Widow film), Hawkeye takes up the guise of Ronin and later rejoins the New Avengers team.

In the background of the MCU’s recent Disney+ television series, Marvel has slowly been hinting at various Young Avengers team members.

In WandaVision, we were introduced to Scarlet Witch and Vision’s children, Billy and Tommy (who grow up to become Wiccan and Speed), and in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, we met Elijah Bradley (who becomes the Patriot), the grandson of Isaiah Bradley, the first Black Super Soldier.

Teaming up for a 22-issue series, Kate Bishop and Clint Barton, back in his role as Hawkeye, go on various missions together for what will presumably make up for most of Marvel’s Disney+ Hawkeye television series.

Kate Bishop is set to be played by Hailee Steinfeld, with Jeremy Renner returning as Clint Barton.

Though not an essential Hawkeye story, a quick five-issue miniseries in 2017 paired Hawkeye up with the Winter Soldier as they track down Black Widow, believed to be either dead or A.W.O.L. Both heroes are also former flames of the female Avenger, and are secretly hoping to win back her love as well.

Heartwarming and comical, the sometimes silly short story was presumably partial-inspiration for The Falcon and the Winter Soldier show title, as well as the idea of partnering up two buddy-cop-like heroes for a short-lived televised adventure. Read it here.

Moving to Los Angeles, like Clint Barton did in the ’80s to start the West Coast Avengers, Kate Bishop starts up “Hawkeye Investigations” under the tutelage of Marvel P.I. Jessica Jones.

Written by Kelly Thompson, the series delves further into Kate Bishop’s family, her battles with Madame Masque, and her relationships with mentors Jessica Jones and Clint Barton.