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The trailer for Hawkeye, Disney+’s newest series set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, finally dropped, and it’s full of fun and action. It stars Jeremy Renner back in his role of Clint Barton, aka Hawkeye, and brings in Hailee Steinfeld as the long-awaited Kate Bishop.

One moment in the trailer shows that the limited series is going to hit at an important comic book aspect of the character, one that fans hoped the MCU would touch on in the beginning: his hearing disability. 

The new ‘Hawkeye’ trailer just dropped and it’s full of holiday cheer and Marvel anticipation

MCU’s Disney+ shows started off with WandaVision, which showed Wanda Maximoff in her own, created universe that she manifested subconsciously from her intense grief. The Falcon & The Winter Soldier followed Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes after Avengers: Endgame as well, as they navigated a world full of people displaced by the Blip and the world’s governments’ poor way of dealing with it. Most recently, Loki showed Loki’s time-variant traveling, which will be more useful later on. 

The Hawkeye trailer finally showed fans that they’re going to hone in on Clint’s loving time with his kids, which includes spending time in New York City during Christmas. The trailer is full of holiday cheer mixed in with tension as his past killings during the Blip come back to haunt him.

Kate is dressing up as his past self, but instead of targeting marginalized crime rings, it seems like she’s going for the regular, ‘ole vigilante route a la Spider-Man. Which is interesting since they’re in the same city. Isn’t that his turf? 

Regardless, the trailer is high energy and the show looks like a lot of fun and will bring Kate into the fold as the new “Hawkeye” like in the comics quite well. 

The trailer shows that Clint Barton has hearing aids; that’s vital to correct character portrayal

Hailee Steinfeld as Kate Bishop and Jeremy Renner as Clint Barton in the new Disney+ series 'Hawkeye'
Hailee Steinfeld as Kate Bishop and Jeremy Renner as Clint Barton in the new Disney+ series ‘Hawkeye’ | Marvel Studios

At about 25 seconds into the trailer for the show, Clint puts his daughter into a car, telling her not to worry about his wellbeing as he goes to search for the person who’s posing as his former self. In his ear, he’s wearing a hearing aid. 

As Inverse reported back in December 2020, thanks to set pictures fans have known about this for a bit. But seeing it now fully confirms that the series is leaning into this version of the superhero from the comics, making it a vital part of correctly portraying this character. 

The character of Hawkeye has been around for decades, since the ‘60s. And it wasn’t until the 1980s that the deaf storyline came into the picture. In that storyline, it’s something that happens later in life from damaged eardrums. It lasts for a little over a decade, but then other runs after the ‘90s show a Hawkeye without hearing impairment. 

However, for the hearing impaired community, that representation meant a lot. When Marvel brought Hawkeye to the big screen, it was a chance to also bring that representation with them. However, that wasn’t the case when that aspect wasn’t a part of Renner’s Clint Barton storyline.

Now that it is going to be a part of Clint’s story, it’s a chance for that representation to make its way into the MCU.

There’s always been a push for better disability rep from Marvel

However, when news hit that Hawkeye was going to introduce the partially deaf storyline for Renner’s Clint, some were a little cautious. The site HearingLikeMe.com, which is a site for anyone whose “lives are affected by hearing loss” asked the question: “How authentic will Renner’s portrayal be of someone – much less a superhero – who is deaf if he is not?” 

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Wanting a deaf actor in Hawkeye’s role has always been the case. As ScienceFiction.com and Teen Vogue reported, deaf activist and America’s Next Top Model alum Nyle DiMarco pointed out back in 2018 that the only way to make Renner’s Hawkeye more palatable would be to have a hearing-impaired actor in his place, showing more visibility to the disability and also being comic-book accurate. He also pointed out that taking out disability representation is diversity as well.

“There are a couple of issues where specifically Hawkeye is deaf,” he said. “And so they brought in an actor who can hear instead. I think it would have made [better movies]… if they brought a deaf person in to play a deaf Hawkeye.”

So while Hawkeye is going to become partially deaf now or fully deaf by the end of the series, the chance to cast an actor with the same disability passed. However, another character in the show, Maya Lopez/Echo, is played by Alaqua Cox who is deaf and Native American like her character.

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