Hawkeye (Marvel Comics)

Hawkeye (Clint Barton), also known as Ronin and Goliath, is a fictional character that appears in the comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in Tales of Suspense #57 (Sept. 1964) and was created by writer Stan Lee and artist Don Heck.

Publication history
Hawkeye was introduced as a reluctant villain in Tales of Suspense #57 (September 1964), and after two more brief appearances in Tales of Suspense #60 and 64 (December 1964 and April 1965), joined the Avengers #16 (May 1965). Hawkeye was a perennial member, and has appeared in three volumes.

Hawkeye featured in two four-issue miniseries, published in 1983 and 1994 respectively. The first was written by Mark Gruenwald and the second by Chuck Dixon. This was followed by a one-shot publication, Hawkeye: Earth's Mightiest Marksman (1998), written by Tom DeFalco and penciled by Jeff Johnson. In 2003 there was an attempt at an ongoing series written by Fabian Nicieza, but the title was canceled after only eight issues.

Hawkeye featured prominently in the West Coast Avengers limited series — #1–4 (September 1984 – December 1984) — before appearing in the ongoing title, which ran for 102 issues (including 8 annuals) from October 1985 - January 1994. The title was renamed "Avengers West Coast" from #46 (Aug. 1989). Hawkeye also starred concurrently in almost every issue of Solo Avengers which ran for 40 issues from December 1987 – January 1991 (the title was renamed Avengers Spotlight from #21 (August 1989).

From 1998, Hawkeye featured significantly in issues #20–70 of the title Thunderbolts, written by Kurt Busiek and Fabian Nicieza.

Biography
Clint Barton was an orphan, and ran away from the orphanage as a pre-teen to join the circus as a carnival performer, where he was trained in the use of the bow and arrow by the Swordsman and Trickshot. When he discovered that his mentors were both criminals he rejected them, leading to a beating by Swordsman which left Barton badly injured and hospitalized. Years later, he saw Iron Man in action, and was inspired and decided to become a costumed hero called Hawkeye. However, there is a misunderstanding on Hawkeye's first outing and he is believed to be a criminal, accused of theft.

On the run, the naive Hawkeye meets the Black Widow, a spy for the Soviet Union, whom he falls in love with. She tricks him into helping her to steal technology developed by Tony Stark, Iron Man's alter ego. After several battles with Iron Man — who defeats the pair on every occasion — the Black Widow is injured and Hawkeye flees with her, deciding to go "straight" from then on. Hawkeye later "applies" for membership in the superhero team the Avengers, by breaking into Avengers Mansion and binding and gagging the team's butler, Edwin Jarvis. Hawkeye is accepted, and together with leader Captain America and mutant siblings Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch become the new team when the original members take a leave of absence.

Avenging Archer and Giant
Hawkeye remains a constant in the team for many years, and when his bow breaks at a crucial moment decides to use Pym particles to become the second Goliath. During this time, Barton suffers a personal setback as his brother Barney is killed by the villain Egghead, whom Goliath brings to justice. At the conclusion of the Kree-Skrull War Barton resumes the identity of Hawkeye in a new costume, and after a rift with teammate the Vision over the affections of the Scarlet Witch, he resumes his old costume and resigns from the team. On a whim Hawkeye returns to the Black Widow and briefly battles her current love, Daredevil. Hawkeye then assists the Hulk against the monster Zzzax, and then follows the Hulk back to the mansion of Doctor Strange, where after a skirmish Hawkeye joins the "non-team" the Defenders for a short period.

Hawkeye then drifts for a time, returning briefly to the Avengers to attend the wedding of the Vision and the Scarlet Witch. Together with the Two-Gun Kid and Ghost Rider, Hawkeye defeats the monster the Manticore before returning to the Avengers to assist when members of the team begin to mysteriously disappear. The remaining Avengers discover it to be the work of the Collector of the Elders of the Universe. After his teammates are all captured, Hawkeye single-handedly defeats the Collector, and joins the team for the final battle against Korvac. Hawkeye's victory is dashed when the Avengers new government liaison Henry Peter Gyrich, limits the roster and replaces him with the Falcon, in an attempt to make the team more "politically acceptable". After initially failing to find work in his civilian identity, he successfully applies for work at Cross Technological Enterprises as Hawkeye, and then battles the Shi'ar villain Deathbird. Hawkeye returns to Avengers mansion several months later for a brief visit "induced" by the heroine Moondragon before rejoining for a sustained period. It is at this time that Hawkeye inadvertently avenges the death of his brother. The villain Egghead, having been exposed for framing Henry Pym, attempts to shoot Pym but Hawkeye jams the barrel of the weapon with an arrow. The weapon is an energy pistol and explodes, killing Egghead instantly.

Hawkeye then meets former S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Barbara "Bobbi" Morse, codenamed Mockingbird. She is investigating the company Cross Technological Enterprises, which employs Hawkeye as a security consultant. The company is revealed to be owned by the villain Crossfire, who plans to use an aggression-inducing sonic wave against all of New York's superheroes. Hawkeye infiltrates Cross Technological Enterprises with Mockingbird to defeat Crossfire. During this encounter, Hawkeye takes one of his sonic arrows into his mouth to counter the effects of Crossfire's sonic weapon; as a result he suffers major hearing loss and is forced to wear hearing aids. Hawkeye and Mockingbird fall in love and elope immediately after.

At the direction of then-Avengers chair Vision, Hawkeye and Mockingbird establish the team the West Coast Avengers. An adventure through time is significant and brings changes as Hawkeye forges the weapons that the modern hero Moon Knight will eventually use, and Mockingbird allows the Old West hero the Phantom Rider to fall to his death. When Hawkeye discovers this (through machinations of the ghost of Phantom Rider), he breaks off their relationship. Hawkeye then encounters and battles his old mentor, Trickshot and meets and inadvertently encourages a group of minor heroes to form the Great Lakes Avengers. Together with Mockingbird and Trickshot, Hawkeye battles a number of minor villains and then redesigns his costume after being shot by a criminal and battles Los Angeles street gangs.

Hawkeye and Mockingbird reconcile, but soon after the robot Ultron kidnaps Mockingbird and copies her brain patterns to create a "wife" — Alkhema (also known as "War Toy"). Although Mockingbird is rescued, she is killed soon afterwards by the demon Mephisto. Embittered by Mockingbird's death, Hawkeye leaves the team (disbanded almost immediately afterwards) and drifts until forced to stop the villain Viper and old mentor Trick Shot. Hawkeye then returns to the Avengers just prior to the battle with the entity Onslaught, in which the Avengers (including Hawkeye) are apparently killed. Franklin Richards, however, transported them all to a pocket universe where the heroes led altered lives. After several months, the heroes learned the truth and they were returned to the mainstream universe. Hawkeye's hearing was fully restored as, when Franklin Richards recreated the heroes in the new universe, he based them on how he remembered them (also restoring Tony Stark to adulthood following his replacement by "Teen Tony" from an alternate timeline).

Thunderbolts, Death, and House of M
Hawkeye then rejoins the Avengers, and after several adventures resigns to assume leadership of the first generation of the Thunderbolts, who have broken away from the influence of Baron Helmut Zemo. Hawkeye trains the team in the fashion of former teammate Captain America, and shapes the team into a cohesive fighting unit. There are two significant events for Hawkeye during this period. The first involves entering Hell and battling the demon Mephisto to try to save the soul of his deceased wife, Mockingbird. He rescues Patsy Walker, but fails to see Mockingbird. This event gives Hawkeye some closure and he begins a romantic relationship with his Thunderbolt teammate, Moonstone.

The team reforms after a series of battles with another version of the Masters of Evil. Hawkeye eventually leaves the team, relinquishing leadership to Citizen V, whose mind was under control of Baron Helmut Zemo. Hawkeye joins the Avengers once more, and has a brief romantic relationship with team member the Wasp. Hawkeye eventually dies during the chaos caused by the breakdown of the Scarlet Witch, sacrificing himself to destroy a Kree spaceship and save his teammates.

When the Scarlet Witch inadvertently alters reality, Hawkeye is resurrected with no memory of previous events. When a young mutant named Layla Miller gives several heroes - including Hawkeye - the ability to remember, he is horrified at the Scarlet Witch's actions. Hawkeye shoots Wanda in the back with an arrow, and in retaliation one of her recreated children wipes him from existence. When the Scarlet Witch's reality is eventually undone, Hawkeye is still presumed dead, and the recently formed New Avengers find his bow and arrows on the site of the old Avengers Mansion, pinning up an article about his death. Hawkeye is also plucked from time by the Time Variance Authority to serve as a juror in a case involving former Avengers teammate She-Hulk. She-Hulk tries unsuccessfully to warn Hawkeye as to his future.

New Avengers
Unknown to the New Avengers, Hawkeye is resurrected once reality was restored, and seeks out Doctor Strange, who offers Hawkeye shelter while he comes to terms with his new life. On the advice of Dr. Strange, Hawkeye eventually travels to Wundagore Mountain and finds the Scarlet Witch living a normal life with no memory of her past and apparently without mutant abilities. The two become intimate and Hawkeye then leaves Wanda to her normal life.

Once Hawkeye discovers that Captain America has apparently been killed, he confronts Tony Stark, who offers him Captain America's shield and costume. As Iron Man, Stark accompanies Barton — now dressed as Captain America — on patrol. They meet the new Hawkeye, Kate Bishop, defeating the supervillain Firebrand. Barton confronts Bishop about her assumption of the Hawkeye mantle. Unaware of his true identity, Bishop berates Barton and states that she adopted Hawkeye's name to honor him, and that if Hawkeye were alive, she would adopt another name. She also affirms that the "real" Captain America gave her the name Hawkeye and his old bow as a tribute to his dead friend. Bishop's words convince Barton to return the shield and costume to Stark, and condemn him for his role in the Civil War.

Barton returns to speak with Dr. Strange, and to protect himself from recognition adopts the identity of Ronin and joins the New Avengers. As Ronin, he accompanies the team on a journey to Japan to rescue the heroine Echo. Echo—the original Ronin—later gives Barton her blessing to adopt her old identity.

The Secret Invasion limited series features an alien Skrull ship crashing in the Savage Land, with Barton battling Skrulls impersonating Mockingbird and himself. He is reunited with the real Mockingbird during a final battle with the Skrulls.

The limited series New Avengers: Reunion depicts Barton's successful attempt to reunite with Mockingbird, who rekindle their relationship.

During the Dark Reign storyline, the character publicly denounces Norman Osborn (and ally the Hood); takes over leadership of the New Avengers and makes an abortive attempt at killing Osborn, being defeated and captured by Ares before being freed by team mates.

Powers and abilities
While Hawkeye has no superhuman powers (with the exception of the period when using Pym particles to become Goliath), he is a trained athlete and tactician, being at the very peak of human conditioning. The character is a grandmaster marksman, having been trained by the criminal archer Trick Shot, and has been a highly trained acrobat and aerialist since his days in the circus. Hawkeye has been thoroughly trained by Captain America in tactics, martial arts, and hand-to-hand combat. Hawkeye excels in the use of weapons, especially the bow and arrow, and carries a quiver containing a number of customized "trick-arrows" that use sonics, gas, explosives, and flares, among others. Hawkeye sometime is equipped them with advanced weaponry and armor flying "atomic steeds",similar to ones The New Men of The Knights of Wundagore use on which to ride on.(In his new role as Ronin, Barton shows great proficiency with the katana and other melee weapons.

Other versions
The Marvel MAX imprint limited series U.S. War Machine, set in an alternate universe, features a civilian version of Hawkeye.

Hawkeye stars in the Marvel Zombies limited series, being one of the first heroes to be infected and "zombified". The character reappears as a head driven insane by the years of inactivity. In the MC2 limited series American Dream, a blind Clint Barton is retired and trains heroes. The Ultimate Marvel imprint title the Ultimates features a version of Hawkeye who uses a cover story of being a former Olympic archer (although actually has a criminal background) and is the professional partner of the Black Widow. The artificially augmented Hawkeye uses a range of weapons and can turn any object into a precisely-aimed projectile.

In other media
Hawkeye appears in the animated television series The Marvel Super Heroes (1966); as a regular character in Iron Man (1994 - 1996) voiced by John Reilly and The Avengers: United They Stand (1999 - 2000) voiced by Tony Daniels. The character also has a brief cameo as Goliath in the Fantastic Four TV series (1994) and features in the The Super Hero Squad Show voiced by Adrian Pasdar (2009).

Hawkeye's son appears in the animated feature film Next Avengers: Heroes of Tomorrow (2008).

Hawkeye also appears in the video game Spider-Man: The Video Game (1991); Captain America and the Avengers (1991); Venom/Spider-Man: Separation Anxiety (1995) and Marvel: Ultimate Alliance (2006) voiced by Nolan North.