‘Hawkeye’: Jeremy Renner Says the Archer Has Fangirls, But Actual Marvel Fans Aren’t Convinced
Shows like What If…? and Loki push the boundaries of viewers’ beliefs, but surprisingly, it’s the description for Hawkeye that’s leaving Marvel fans questioning how realistic the franchise is. That’s because the upcoming Disney+ show paints Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld) as a Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) “fangirl.” Actual Marvel fans flocked to the internet to question whether the archer would actually have in-universe fans. As it turns out, not all of them are convinced.
Marvel fans have mixed feelings about the MCU’s Hawkeye
Hawkeye gets a bad rap among the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s heroes, and that can be attributed to the franchise’s take on the character. The MCU’s Hawkeye is noticeably different from his Marvel Comics counterpart, especially when it comes to his backstory. For that reason, fans tend to heavily criticize him.
Some of the complaints to follow the Renner’s rendition of the archer label him “useless” or “boring.” Although the earlier Avengers films hyped him up as a critical member of the team, Renner’s archer plays a much smaller role in more recent phases of the MCU.
“In the movie, he falls into Boba Fett and Darth Maul Syndrome,” one Reddit user explained. “He did not have much screen time, hardly said a word, and allowed a lot of people to project their own power fantasies onto him.”
That said, some fans hope the Disney+ series turns things around for Hawkeye. Although the MCU receives many complaints about its treatment of the character, it could make up for past projects by doing Hawkeye’s comic character justice in the show. As one Reddit user put it:
“I hope this show makes up for the total lack of justification Clint got in the MCU. Hes definitely tied for first as much fav hero and they just wasted him again and again. As Hawkeye fan it hurt. He was pretty awesome in Endgame tho.”
Hailee Steinfeld’s Kate Bishop is a big fan of Hawkeye’s character
Perhaps because Marvel fans themselves don’t love the MCU’s Hawkeye, they’re having a hard time believing Kate Bishop would label herself a fangirl. However, in an exclusive for Entertainment Weekly, that’s exactly how Renner described her character:
“[Kate is] a 22-year-old kid and she’s a big Hawkeye fan. She has a wonderfully annoying and equally charming manner about her, because she’s such a fangirl of Hawkeye. The relationship grows from that, but the biggest problem for Clint is Kate Bishop and the onslaught of problems that she brings into his life.”
Viewers have seen fans of the Avengers in passing, but thus far, the MCU hasn’t introduced many dedicated followers of the team. Spider-Man’s (Tom Holland) idolization of Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) probably comes the closest. With Hawkeye stepping back from the hero team prior to Avengers: Endgame, though, would anyone truly be so invested in his character?
Marvel fans are questioning if Jeremy Renner’s archer really has fangirls
Many Marvel fans aren’t buying the image of Kate as a Hawkeye fangirl. Following Renner’s description of the character, Reddit and Twitter users questioned if such a dynamic would be realistic — or even accurate to the comics.
One Reddit user wrote, “I can accept the existence of gods, aliens, sorcerers and super soldiers, but I still find it kind of hard to believe that this Hawkeye has actual fans in-universe.”
That sentiment made its way to Twitter as well, with fans wondering at the believability of Kate as a Hawkeye fan. “Marvel trying to convince themselves there’s fangirls for Hawkeye is sending me,” one person tweeted.
Additionally, the notion of Hawkeye having fangirls isn’t the only thing bothering fans. Some pointed out that portraying Kate in such a way goes against the nature of her comic character. One Reddit user explained that Kate doesn’t appear as an “annoying sidekick” on the page:
“The problem is that a big part of Kate Bishop’s appeal is the fact that she kind of subverts that trope. She’s never the ‘annoying sidekick’ character, she’s an equal to Clint and in many ways even more mature than him.”
Hopefully, Kate’s fangirlish nature is simply Renner’s perception of the character. It would be a shame if fans found themselves disappointed by the MCU’s take on both archers.
