‘Hawkeye’ Fans Call Hailee Steinfeld ‘a Prodigy’ and Say She Deserved More From the Oscars
After many years, Hawkeye is finally headlining a Marvel property on Disney+. In typical Hawkeye fashion, the Avenger seems poised to take a backseat to another character in his own show. The real star looks to be Hailee Steinfeld’s new character, and she’s got comics fans excited.
Steinfeld is playing the newest Hawkeye
There’s a lot to get excited about now that the first trailer for Hawkeye has dropped. For one, the show seems poised to finally give Clint Barton’s character the writing he’s needed as the most underwritten Avenger. He seems to have a hearing aid, an aspect of the character from the comics that fans have sorely missed.
The show marks the official arrival of Kate Bishop to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Created by Allan Heinberg and Jim Cheung for the Young Avengers comic in 2005, Kate joined the team of teenage heroes after a chance encounter inspired her to a life of super-heroics. Like Hawkeye, whose gear she partially stole for her initial costume, she’s a prodigy with a bow and arrow, eventually sharing the name of Hawkeye with Clint.
While Kate’s Marvel Cinematic Universe origins are naturally a little different, the show looks to be pulling a lot from the 2012 Hawkeye series. The two heroes regularly work together. If so, it’s going to be a fun ride.
Fan reaction to the new show has been extremely positive so far
So far, everyone seems to be excited for Kate’s entrance into the universe, with plenty excited over Steinfeld’s casting. The young actor is an incredible talent. One user on Reddit describing her as a “prodigy.” In her short career, she’s already starred in films like Romeo & Juliet, Pitch Perfect 2 and 3, and The Edge of Seventeen. She’s also taken the lead role of Emily Dickinson in Dickinson.
Most relevant to today’s proceedings, though, are her major roles in two geek-focused franchises. Her role as Charlie, the human lead of the film Bumblebee, is one of many reasons fans consider that film to be the best live-action Transformers movie of all time. Closer to home, she then went on to play the alternate universe, Gwen Stacy, in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, a role she’s set to reprise in its 2022 sequel.
Hailee Steinfeld is another Oscar-nominated MCU actor, but part of that has some miffed from years back
While several other actors in the Marvel Cinematic Universe have been nominated for or even won an Oscar at some point in their careers, Steinfeld’s situation is slightly different. She’s not only Oscar-nominated but she was nominated for her first fundamental role as an actor.
At barely 14-years-old, she acted beside some of the best actors in Hollywood in the 2010 remake of True Grit. Most harrowing of all, she had Jeff Bridges as her main co-star. Keeping up with someone like him sounded like an impossible task for a kid to pull off.
Amazingly, she did just that. Most would say she stole the whole show. It was an intense and jaw-dropping performance for any actor to give, let alone someone so young. Thankfully, she was recognized for doing so well at a young age by being nominated for Best Supporting Actor. But was that good enough?
She was the protagonist and in almost every scene. Some accused that her association with supporting actor was agist. It simply didn’t make much sense. Funnily enough, this whole scenario could be seen as a trial run for Hawkeye, with Steinfeld acting opposite a much more experienced male actor as co-leads of a production. Hopefully, we’re more ready to see her as a star in her own right, rather than just a supporter to another.
