Characters / MCU: Kate Bishop

Main Character Index > Heroic Individuals and Organizations > Other Superheroes (Jane Foster | Robbie Reyes | Xu Shang-Chi | Kate Bishop | Moon Knight | Kamala Khan | Wade Wilson | James "Logan" Howlett)

---

Kate Bishop / Hawkeye II

"Some people have actually called me the world's greatest archer."

Birth Name: Katherine Elizabeth Bishop

Species: Human

Citizenship: American

Affiliation(s): Spence School (formerly), Bishop Security (formerly)

Portrayed By: Hailee Steinfeld, Clara Stack (young)

Voiced By: Atsumi Tanezaki (Japanese dub), Lia Mello (Brazilian Portuguese dub)

Appearances: Hawkeye | The Marvels

"You showed me that being a hero isn't just for people who can fly or shoot lasers out of their hands, it's for anyone, who's brave enough to do what's right, no matter the cost."

A young and wealthy heiress born into New York royalty, and the ultimate Hawkeye fangirl. During the Battle of New York as a child, Kate's own home was assaulted by the Chitauri, resulting in her father's death, and it was only the arrows loosed by Clint Barton that saved the lives of her and her mother. As a result, she became inspired to take up archery and various other martial arts, hoping to become a genuine hero herself one day.

While investigating her mother's shifty and ridiculous new fiancé, Kate ends up an unwitting enemy of Wilson Fisk and the Tracksuit Mafia. Her life becomes entangled with her hero's as Clint's own past with the Russian bros catches up with him. As a result, he reluctantly takes on Kate as his protégé. Very reluctantly.

---

A-K

• Action Dress Rip: A variation. During their elevator fight, Yelena accidentally tears Kate's dress off, which reveals that Kate is wearing her Hawkeye suit underneath her dress.
  Yelena: Did you plan this?
  Kate: Yeah, I did. [Beat] No, no I didn't.
• Action Girl: Her passion for archery, fencing, and martial arts have truly paid off in molding her to become Clint Barton's partner.
• Actually Pretty Funny: Despite her dislike and distrust of Jack Duquesne, Kate actually starts laughing along with her mother when he awkwardly bungles the "Life is like a box of chocolates" quote.
• Adaptational Modesty: In the comics, her costumes expose a lot of skin. In this adaptation, they are much less revealing, which could be Justified given how the events of Hawkeye take place during Christmas, which would make revealing outfits very impractical to wear in a snowy New York.
• Adaptation Origin Connection:
  • She's the one who rescues Lucky the Pizza Dog and adopts him in this adaptation, not Clint.
  • Her father owed Wilson Fisk money, connecting him to her origin story in this adaptation. No such debt existed in the comics and the two never even met one another.
• Adaptation Personality Change: In the comics, Kate is a Girly Girl with a Tomboy Streak, and much of her formal wear even in the Fraction/Aja run is made up of dresses. Here, she outright forgoes a fancy red dress her mom bought for her to wear at a gala, instead choosing to wear a black suit and tie. However, she does wear a black dress to the formal Christmas party — if not to simply hide her new superhero suit underneath.
• Adaptational Backstory Change: In the comics, she trained in archery, fencing, gymnastics, and martial arts as a means of self-defense after being assaulted while walking home from school one day. In the MCU, she did the same after losing her father during the Battle of New York, as a means of protecting herself and her mother, as well as emulating Hawkeye, who (albeit unknowingly) saved their lives.
• Adaptation Relationship Overhaul:
  • Her dynamic with Yelena Belova is entirely new to the MCU, as the two have never crossed paths before in the comics.
  • She's never encountered Wilson Fisk before in the comics but here he's her Arch-Enemy.
• Adapted Out: She has an older sister named Susan in the comics, but is portrayed as an only child in this adaptation.
• Affirmative-Action Legacy: The previous Hawkeye, Clint Barton, is a man while Kate is a woman. Both of them now share the mantle at the end of their series.
• Age Lift: Kate was still in high school when she first became a superhero in the comics, but the series instead presents her as a college student in her early 20s. This is presumably so that Kate doesn't run into the same problems Peter Parker faces as a crimefighter because Kate becomes a non-masked crimefighter by the finale, but has at most a year of school left so she doesn't have to worry about leading a double life.
• Ambiguously Jewish: Along with being portrayed by a Jewish actress, a menorah can also be spotted in her aunt Moira's apartment.
• Apologetic Attacker: Kate immediately apologizes to Yelena after slapping her in the face during their fight in the elevator.
• Ascended Fangirl: She became a huge fan of Clint Barton after he saved her life during the Battle of New York when she was 10 years old and is ecstatic at getting to work with him. She also briefly fangirls over the fact that Yelena Belova is Natasha Romanoff's sister.
• Atrocious Alias: She comes up with a couple of these during the final scene of Hawkeye that Clint finds horrible and decides to let her use Hawkeye instead.
• Back-to-Back Badasses: With Clint in the final episode, taking down multiple Tracksuits surrounding them while having each other's backs.
• Badass in a Nice Suit: In the first episode, Kate dresses in a tuxedo in an act of rebellion against her mother who wanted her to wear a dress. It fortuitously allows her to sneak into a secret auction and makes it easier to fight the Tracksuit Mafia.
• Badass Normal: As you'd expect, she's more than capable of fending for herself against the Tracksuit Mafia in the first episode. Those black belts are a massive help in this case.
• Beauty Is Never Tarnished: Averted. Her face receives a number of scars from all the numerous fights she gets into which has to be patched up and the scars stay with her throughout the miniseries.
• Big Damn Heroes: Subverted when her attempt to rescue Clint from the Tracksuit Mafia results in her capture as well. She eventually does have her moment when she rescues Clint from Maya a few episodes later; Kate shoots out the sword from Maya's hands seconds before she could impale him.
• Bitch Slap: During her attempts to delay the elevator, she delivers one to Yelena, which throws the latter into dismay.
• Blasting It Out of Their Hands:
  • She saves Clint from being killed by Maya with his own sword in "Ronin" by shooting the sword out of Maya's hands with a bow and arrow.
  • While trying to stop Yelena from killing Clint in "So This Is Christmas", she picks up a Christmas ornament and uses it as an improvised bola to disarm her of one of her Shock Sticks.
• Boring, but Practical: Kate sticks to using a regular bow, which is pointed out when Clint mentions his collapsible bow. She even fights the Tracksuit Mafia to get it back. In theory, it would be capable of more accurate shots, as proven in the Shoot the Bullet scene, and is even strong enough for other more unorthodox uses, like in the last episode when it's used for a springboard! Kate probably sticks with a regular bow because Clint doesn’t have a second collapsible bow on hand and she fights to get it back because it’s a prized possession.
• Broken Pedestal: Episode 5 ends with her learning that her own mother hired Yelena to kill Clint (her idol and savior) and is working with Wilson Fisk. Her expression says it all. Even when Eleanor insists she did it all for her and to protect them from "having nothing", Kate refuses to justify her mother's amoral actions and has her arrested. Although, not without telling her that she still loves her.
• Brooding Boy, Gentle Girl: The Gentle Girl to Clint's Brooding Boy. Clint's a reserved and jaded individual who's troubled by his past as an assassin and his indirect role in Natasha Romanoff's death while Kate is a sweet, kindhearted person who sees the good in Clint despite his checkered past and shortcomings.
• Calling the Old Woman Out: She's naturally very angry at her mother after finding out she was working for Wilson Fisk, was the one killed Armand Duquesne, hired Yelena Belova to try and have Clint killed, and framed Jack for Armand's murder. She then has her mother arrested for her crimes.
• Charles Atlas Superpower: Her exceptional accuracy skills come from several years of archery training since she was a little girl.
• Chekhov's Skill: She uses the coin toss trick that she learned from Clint to detonate her broken explosive arrows, successfully incapacitating the Kingpin.
• Childish Tooth Gap: Kate had one back when she was a little girl.
• Combat Pragmatist: She'll fight dirty without a second thought if it presents a good opportunity, such as when she used a shopping cart to ram some Tracksuit Mafia goons and eventually managed to get one stuck inside of it before she shoved it at a wall.
• Composite Character: Since the MCU's Clint Barton is shown to be a hyper-competent S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, Kate is given a lot of the characteristics of Clint Barton from the Fraction/Aja run that the series is based on. She messes things up constantly, runs afoul of the Tracksuit Mafia, rescues Pizza Dog, and her face is constantly covered in cuts and bruises. She even delivers the "this is bad" line herself.
• Cuteness Proximity: Despite not trusting Jacques, seeing him and her mother dancing and laughing and just being sweet with one another makes her smile.
• Daddy's Girl: The opening flashback of the first episode makes it clear she was the apple of her father's eye, and the rest of the season shows her having a strained relationship with her mother. It was downplayed in the flashback in that her mother was able to make her smile and made it a point to give her daughter a very good life afterward.
  Kate: [knocks something over while eavesdropping on her parents' fight]
  Derek: Do you want to go up there, or should I?
  Eleanor: Who are we kidding? You go.
• David Versus Goliath: She is the David during her fight with Kingpin. The latter weighs a few hundred pounds more than her and has shrugged off her attacks like it was nothing. It took Kate activating all her dangerous arrows at the same time to knock him out, albeit temporarily.
• Deadpan Snarker: It's the MCU. At this point, it'd be unusual if she wasn't one.
  Kate: [via Message] Good thing they call you HawkEYE and not HawkEAR
  Clint: [laughs dryly] Block. Delete.
• Death Glare: She gives one to Wilson Fisk while aiming her bow at him after catching him trying to kill Eleanor.
• Determinator: As established by the bell tower, when Kate puts her mind to something, she will see it through no matter how many times she has to try or how many obstacles she encounters.
• Didn't Think This Through: Clint was an extraordinarily violent and brutal vigilante when he was Ronin, and made numerous mortal enemies who never forgot him and are out for his blood, which she clearly failed to take into consideration when she donned the outfit and began running around in public with it. The Tracksuit Mafia was more than happy to educate her on just how bad a decision she made.
• Disappeared Dad: Her father was killed during the Chitauri Invasion of New York, as she and her mother are shown mourning him after their penthouse was caught in the crossfire. Years later, his death still affects her.
• Diving Save: She does this to save Lucky the Pizza Dog from being hit by a car in the first episode.
• Does Not Drive: Due to growing up in Manhattan where the subway, buses, and taxis are the most convenient modes of transportation, Kate never learned how to drive a car.
• Dressed in Layers: In the season finale, she hides her new costume under a black long-sleeved dress which is revealed when Yelena accidentally rips said dress off during their elevator scuffle.
• Dynamic Entry: After putting on the Rōnin suit, she enters the scene by giving a Tracksuit a flying kick.
• Epic Fail:
  • During a dare with her friends in the first episode, she fires an arrow with a tennis ball on it in an attempt to ring the bell in her college's bell tower. She succeeds in her second attempt… and then the bell tower falls apart and gets destroyed.
  • At the end of the second episode, she tracks Clint down to where the Tracksuits captured him in an attempt to infiltrate the place and rescue him but instead ends up falling through the skylight and getting captured herself.
• Establishing Character Moment: The opening credits to the first episode showcase how Kate would go on to train for years to become the archer/fighter we know her as. No matter how many times she loses and gets knocked down, she gets up and tries again and again until she wins.
• Even the Loving Hero Has Hated Ones: Kate's a friendly and cheerful girl to most of the people she encounters. Despite this, she has nothing but anger and contempt for Wilson Fisk a.k.a. The Kingpin for putting her father in debt, forcing her mother to assume said debt after her father got killed, and later trying to kill Eleanor when she decides to cut ties and stop working for him. During their first meeting, Kate gives Fisk a Death Glare while pointing an arrow at him and immediately tries to kill him by shooting him in the chest, only failing because he had body armor underneath his suit.
• Failed Attempt at Drama: After repeatedly trying to call Clint and leaving a bunch of voice messages following Clint's decision to cut ties and end their partnership, Kate attempts to cap it off with a declaration that this isn't over and she will find him... only to be cut off by an automated message saying that his mailbox is full. Cue Kate chucking the phone in frustration.
• Fan of the Underdog: She's a huge fan of Hawkeye, who doesn't share the same popularity as the super-powered Avengers with the general public. While Clint couldn't care less about his popularity, Kate offers suggestions on how he can improve his "branding".
• Fatal Flaw: Impulsiveness. Kate is quite clever and can quickly think on her feet, but she also has a bad habit of getting into situations and fights without thinking of the potential consequences or coming up with a thought-out plan. Because of this, she manages to get herself in trouble in the beginning of the series by accidentally destroying an old bell tower and later unintentionally ruins Clint's plan to get information out of the tracksuits and get them off her back by clearing her name.
• Feminine Mother, Tomboyish Daughter: Eleanor dresses femininely and is ladylike in general, while Kate is a Tomboy who dresses more masculinely and is highly trained in physical activities such as martial arts, gymnastics, fencing, and archery.
• Fire-Forged Friends: Kate is initially an annoying fangirl to Clint, but, over the course of their trials and tribulations during Hawkeye, they forge a strong friendship to the point that Clint unwaveringly calls Kate his partner, and, when all is said and done, invites her to spend Christmas with his family and implies that he intends to pass on the mantle of Hawkeye to her.
• First-Name Basis: Notably, unlike Peter Parker, she refers to the hero she looks up to by his first name. This highlights her confidence and her friendliness.
• Flechette Storm: In "Is This Christmas?", Kate uses a Trick Arrow that fires multiple needles after hitting the ground and spinning in a 360 motion.
• Foil:
  • To Maya Lopez. Kate was raised as Old Money, lost her father while she was still a child, looks up to Clint Barton as Hawkeye, and is new to being a hero. Maya, on the other hand, was poor enough as a child that her desire to be able to afford to go to a special deaf-only school was up in the air, lost her father as an adult, hates Ronin (and therefore unknowingly Clint) for killing him and is an experienced criminal.
  • To Yelena Belova. They're both skilled young women but Kate is a Naïve Newcomer new to the superhero game while Yelena has been a Black Widow for most of her life. They both like dogs and pick up a dog at some point during their debuts, Kate at the beginning of the series and Yelena at the end of Black Widow. Kate and Yelena are both women in their 20s who act more like late teens but for different reasons. For Kate, it's because she came from a privileged background and has been young and rich her whole life and as a result is a bit overconfident. For Yelena, it's because she's been indoctrinated and brainwashed for most of her life and as a result has had next to no childhood. They both also look up to an Avenger. As a result, Kate is an ordinary girl while Yelena is anything but. Even their appearances are foils to each other. Kate is tall and dark-haired while Yelena is short to average in stature and blonde. Kate dresses more boyishly and casually while Yelena dresses more femininely and fashionably.
  • To Kamala Khan. Both of them are Ascended Fangirls towards superheroes who were involved during the events of the Infinity Saga, who balance living ordinary lives with being heroes to the community their in. However, while Kamala is a superpowered individual who lives a very modest life in Jersey City and has a close relationship with all her family members, Kate is a wealthy Badass Normal from New York who has a strained relationship with her mother.
• Freudian Excuse: Kate's father was killed during the Chitauri Invasion just shortly after promising that he would always be there to protect her. So Kate, inspired by the man who actually did end up saving her life (Clint), dedicated herself to honing her skills as an archer so she can protect the only family she has left, her mother.
• Friendly Enemy:
  • She gives relationship advice to Tomas, one of the Tracksuits. Even while the two have to fight in the final episode, he thanks her because her advice worked while they're fighting each other.
  • Kate gets along with Yelena Belova very well, even though Yelena is trying to kill the person Kate considers a mentor. Kate herself is somewhat flummoxed by it, even asking Yelena to "stop making me like you!"
    Yelena: I'm sorry, I can't help it!
• Friendly Sniper: She has deadly marksmanship skills that are on par with Clint's but she's a cheerful and friendly young woman who's a loyal friend and sees the best in other people.
• Genocide Survivor: She was part of the one half of the universe that didn't get killed by the Snap in Infinity War, as evidenced by her being much older than she was in the prologue.
• Go-Karting with Bowser: She eats some macaroni and cheese with Yelena Belova that Yelena made after trespassing (no, not breaking and entering because technically she didn't break anything) into her apartment and waiting for Kate to show up. Kate gives her some sight-seeing tips and restaurant recommendations, too.
• Grievous Bottley Harm: When she fights the Tracksuit Mafia raiding the wine cellar an Auction of Evil she's infiltrated is taking place in, she bludgeons several of them with wine bottles. She also tosses a bottle of sauce at Yelena Belova when she senses her from behind, but Yelena easily catches the bottle.
• Guile Hero: One of her greatest strengths is shown to be how well and fast she can think on her feet.
  • Infiltrating a black market auction by posing as a waiter (helped that her black suit/tie got her mistaken for one already), she manages to shoo off a suspicious waiter by telling him "Gary" sent her and to not press further lest he wants to upset "Gary". When this doesn't work and "Gary" turns out to be the man she's talking to, Kate evades him by acting like a disgruntled employee he keeps forgetting existed and "quits", dumbfounding him long enough to make a getaway.
  • She gets herself and Clint into her aunt's apartment by pressing every button on the buzzer and claiming to be delivering pizza until someone lets them in.
  • Kate is able to quickly pick up on what Clint wants her to do when he gives her a USB arrow, which she claims is a destructive trick arrow so the Tracksuits hesitate long enough for her and Clint to make their getaway.
  • This even helps her slow down Yelena, a much more skilled, experienced, and ruthless fighter intent on killing Kate's idol.
• Heroes Love Dogs: Kate is quick in adopting Lucky after rescuing him from the Tracksuit Mafia and an incoming car. Yelena even gives her props for the deed as they both share the same dog-loving interest.
• Heroic BSoD: Kate has a minor one in the beginning of "Hide and Seek" after the fight is over and she's confronted by THE Hawkeye. The adrenaline wears off and she realizes she saw a dead body and almost got killed by thugs.
• Hero-Worshipper: She has stated that Hawkeye is her all-time favorite Avenger.
• History Repeats: She has become the new Hawkeye as Yelena Belova is clearly meant to be the new Black Widow. The two women meet while on opposite sides, but immediately click into natural chemistry; very much like that shared between Natasha and Clint — even though they're technically enemies. They even find themselves holding back and bantering much like Clint and Natasha did during the airport battle in Civil War.
• Hollywood Acid: Clint gives her a bunch of Trick Arrows that use highly corrosive acid which dissolves its targets. She uses it to destroy a stoplight during a car chase and later to bring down a tree that Clint was clinging on to in the final battle.
• Hot-Blooded: She's initially quite impulsive and acts on her suspicions with more ferocity than she should.
• I Meant to Do That: She tries to pass off blunders or flukes as intentional actions, emphasis on "tries" because it comes off as such Blatant Lies that she is immediately forced to backtrack.
• Impossibly Tacky Clothes: She borrows a couple of outfits from her aunt Moira's closet after the fire caused by the Tracksuits destroyed all the clothes in her apartment. They all look... quite bizarre.
• Improbable Aiming Skills: Enough that she's been called the world's greatest archer before, and even Clint agrees she's worthy of the title after seeing her in action.
  • On a dare, she rings a bell in a clock tower using an arrow in her introductory scene. When hitting the bell directly doesn't work, she uses an improvised bola arrow that bounces under the bell and wraps around the clapper to pull it.
  • She successfully knocks out a member of the Tracksuit Mafia by flipping a wine bottle onto his head after stomping it.
  • Even though she's initially dumbfounded when Clint turns off the radio and TV with a single coin toss, she manages to replicate the trick with his help after only three tries. She then goes on to repeat the trick against Kingpin under stress.
  • When fighting Yelena, she uses a set of Christmas ornaments as bolas and throws it at the former's hand, disarming one of her batons.
• Improperly Paranoid: Kate spends much of the season thinking her mother's fiancée is a psycho murderer, due to the Fourth-Date Marriage feel of it, that he was at a shady auction, that his uncle wound up stabbed to death after threatening her mom, that he has one of his uncle's butterscotch candies... Turns out he's really a dork who's really into swords, loves her mother, is in no way connected with criminal activity, and is trying too hard to connect with his soon-to-be stepdaughter.
• Improvised Weapon: Throughout Hawkeye, Kate is able to use a wine bottle, a shopping cart, Christmas ornaments, and a coin as weapons to overcome her opponents.
• Innocent Blue Eyes: Her being an idealistic Naïve Newcomer to heroism is probably why colored contacts were used to replicate Kate's blue eyes from the comics.
• Interclass Friendship: She gets along very well with the LARPers who are middle class citizens while Kate herself comes from Old Money and as a result is quite wealthy.
• Intergenerational Friendship: She becomes Fire-Forged Friends with her personal hero, Clint Barton, who is also old enough to be her father.
• In the Hood: Dons this as a result of wearing the Rōnin outfit to fight off Tracksuit Mafia members robbing a black market auction.
• Jumped at the Call: Kate is clearly excited about the idea of working alongside her idol Clint Barton as his partner.
• Just a Kid: Owing to dealing with a lot of older adults in the series, she gets treated like this a lot, much to her chagrin, despite being 22. Clint explicitly says it to her on their first meeting (among several other quips about her age) and Eleanor dismisses her concerns about Jacques as the typical "child dislikes potential step-parent" trope that you'd be more likely to see with a teenager in that scenario.
• Knee-capping: In "So This Is Christmas?", she takes down a couple of Tracksuits by shooting them in the knees with her arrows while standing above them from the edge of a toy store.
• The Knights Who Say "Squee!": She really looks up to Clint and she shows it.
  Kate: [with a big stupid grin] You're... kind of my favorite Avenger.

L-W

• Leeroy Jenkins: She does try to plan more than is typical for this trope, but she also has a bad habit of impulsively starting or joining fights the minute she sees what she thinks is a good opportunity, with no regard for how things could go wrong if things don't go exactly according to plan or she runs out of options. Clint calls her out on this, advising her to think more carefully and less impulsively, and tells her that her problem is that she prioritizes the wrong things — she always looks for the best possible entrance when she should be looking for the best possible exit instead.
• Legacy Character: Clint takes her under his wing and believes that she's earned the Hawkeye name after everything they have experienced together.
• Leitmotif: Shares the main theme, "Hawkeye's Theme", with Clint.
• Like Mother, Unlike Daughter: While the two are very close to each other, Kate has nothing in common with her mother Eleanor. Unlike her mother, Kate's more adventurous, impulsive, optimistic, and rebellious. The dissimilarities run even deeper when it's revealed that Eleanor's been working for Wilson for over a decade to maintain her wealth as Kate, despite her shortcomings, is a very compassionate and kindhearted person at heart and would never even think of sinking to such lows to protect the people she cares about.
• Made of Iron: Not only can Kate give a beating, she can take one too and can get up immediately afterwards. She's so resilient that she can take being tossed around like a rag-doll by Wilson Fisk and keep on fighting. Over the course of the series, she visibly accumulates a number of scars from the number of fights she gets herself into but none of them slow her down in the slightest.
• Mafia Princess: She spent most of her life not knowing that her father Derek worked for Wilson Fisk because he owed Fisk money and that her mother Eleanor also began working for Fisk after Derek was killed in the Chitauri invasion so that she can pay off Derek's debt and maintain the family wealth. Needless to say, she's very disappointed and angered when she found out the truth from Yelena.
• Master Archer: Her exceptional marksmanship with bows and arrows (her room is running out of space for all of her tournament trophies and medals) prompts her to proclaim herself as "the world's greatest archer".
• Mistaken for Servant: Happens to her multiple times during the fundraiser of the first episode because her black suit and tie looks very similar to what the other waiters and waitresses are wearing. She later takes advantage of this by pretending to be one of the waitress in order to shadow Armand III to a black market auction and figure out what he's up to.
• Motor Mouth: She has a noticeable habit of talking Clint's ear off, to the point where he outright turns off his hearing aid for some brief respite.
• Mundane Solution: After saving Clint from being killed by Maya, he asks her how she planned to escape from the scene of the crime. Her plan? Order a ride-share pickup under false aliases.
• Nice Girl: Kate is a very sweet and caring girl who wants to help others and maintains a close relationship with her mother at least until The Reveal and she marvelously averts the Broken Pedestal trope; sticking by Clint and seeing him for the hero he actually is. Kate is also very social, to the point she even bonds with a member of the Tracksuit Mafia over a simple conversation about issues with his girlfriend (which the member in question later sincerely thanks her for as it saved their relationship). She may not have the experience of a hero, but she sure as hell has the heart of one.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: She tries to save Clint after finding out that he was captured by the Tracksuit Mafia, but ends up falling through the skylight and gets captured herself. What makes this worse is that Clint got intentionally captured and was pumping the Tracksuits for information, but his attempt got ruined by Kate's failed rescue attempt.
• Non-Idle Rich: She's a young Socialite whose family owns a major security corporation based in New York, but has been training in various martial arts and other sports since adolescence and practically Jumped at the Call to become a vigilante.
• Oh, Crap!: Kate's reaction when Jacques offers her a piece of Armand's monogrammed butterscotch, implying he was at the scene of Armand's murder. Later again when she learns that her mother, Eleanor, is working for the Kingpin and hired Yelena to kill Clint.
• Old Money: The Bishops are absolutely loaded, and Kate mentions that her great-great-great-great-grandfather actually built the Manhattan building where her family's massive penthouse is located, indicating the family fortune goes back at least a century and a half.
• One-Steve Limit: Hilariously, she's not the only MCU character named Kate to be extremely skilled with a bow and arrow. Katy Chen, Shang-Chi's best friend has some experience in the field of archery as well.
• One-Woman Army: Her extensive martial arts and archery training allows her to take on multiple combatants at once and she becomes an even straighter example of this in the finale after having taken several levels in badass.
• Outdated Outfit: After her apartment is set on fire by the Tracksuits, she moves into the apartment of her out-of-town aunt. Since her clothes were likely destroyed by the fire, Kate wears her aunt's outfits that include mink stoles, shoulder pads, and other outfits that would've been the height of fashion in Aunt Moira's younger years.
• Le Parkour: She's agile and acrobatic, and her rolling and jumping allow for things such as breaking into Armand's home through the window.
• Plucky Girl: Kate is an optimistic young woman who never gives up on what she seeks to accomplish no matter how difficult it is or how many hurdles are in the way of it.
• Punched Across the Room: Her fight with Fisk basically consists of the crime lord throwing her around like a ragdoll with his throws and hits. The only reason she survived the fight is because she exploited the opportunity to detonate the trick arrows Fisk destroyed and left scattered around the floor.
• Purple Is Powerful: She loves the color, and in an aversion to Movie Superheroes Wear Black, it's the primary one in her costume.
• Raven Hair, Ivory Skin: Kate possesses dark hair and a very pale complexion.
• Rebuilt Pedestal: By the end of the series, Barton has taken a level in kindness toward Kate, and he's gone back to being the hero she always saw him as.
• Reckless Sidekick: Kate is incredibly impulsive and has very little foresight, charging into dangerous situations without thinking of the consequences or what could go wrong which often jeopardizes Clint's careful and meticulous plans to deal with those situations and make them much worse.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: The Red Oni to Clint Barton's Blue Oni. She's very impulsive and outgoing, which is quite a contrast to Clint's more careful and reserved personality. Nevertheless, they make a great team together, great enough to take down legions of Tracksuit Mafia henchmen in battle.
• Related in the Adaptation: In the comics, Kate and Moira Brandon have no relation whatsoever as Moira only appeared in one issue of the Avengers West Coast twelve years before Kate's first appearance and dies in the same issue saving Clint Barton and Bobbi Morse. In the MCU, Moira is Kate's aunt though whether she's her biological aunt or just related by marriage is never clarified.
• Rich in Dollars, Poor in Sense: Kate and her mother are some of the wealthier citizens of New York thanks to her mother's security company and her late father's family wealth. Unfortunately, Kate has a knack for getting into trouble as a young adult for doing very stupid things without thinking them through first, which earns her reprimands and growing concern from her mother.
• Savvy Guy, Energetic Girl: She's the impulsive and foolhardy Energetic Girl to Clint's ultra careful and fastidious Savvy Guy.
• Skilled, but Naive: She's a highly skilled martial artist and archer with a great deal of technical ability. However, her lack of real combat experience (outside of a gym or professional setting) leaves her struggling against much less skilled but bigger, stronger, and more real-world experienced opponents; those who have practical knowledge of street-level physical combat that she doesn't have. She is also exceptionally good at planning for a few things, but neglecting to account for everything that could possibly go wrong, which leads to her repeatedly creating huge messes and winding up in situations that are way out of her depth. It's made clear that, while she has potential down the road, she needs to gain much real-world experience to truly refine her skills.
• Snark-to-Snark Combat: While Kate idolizes Clint, the two regularly trade witty blows in most of their interactions. What helps is that Kate is confident enough to stand up to her hero when he is being a jerk to her.
  Kate: "Stash" me? I'm not a bag of money.
  Clint: No. You're not. A bag of money would be useful to me.
  Kate: I know a place (to lay low). Would a bag of money know a place?
• Spoiled Sweet: Kate is privileged and somewhat overconfident as a result of being "young and rich" her whole life. However, she's very compassionate and sweet and just wants to help others. Special mentions go to her rescuing Pizza Dog without a second thought (even getting slammed into a passing car to do it), helping Clint fill the void left by not being able to spend time with his kids during Christmas by planning an impromptu holiday party (which Clint admits actually cheered him up), and immediately seeing the better in Clint when she figures out he's Ronin and focusing on the fact he is a good guy despite his past.
• Statuesque Stunner: Her looks are never emphasized, but she's 5'8"/1.73m and could moonlight as a model. Particularly noticeable during her elevator ride with Yelena, where she can be seen standing half a head taller than Yelena.
• Stealth Hi/Bye: While scoping out Maya's apartment with Clint, she goes down the street and crosses it while Clint was using his binoculars and still speaking before realizing she's not next to him.
• The Straight and Arrow Path: Like her hero, her primary weapon of choice is a bow and a wide assortment of trick arrows.
• Super Hero Origin: In the Cold Opening of Hawkeye, she sees the titular character in action fighting off the Chitauri in the Battle of New York and loses her father in the same invasion. Both of these inspire her to take up archery and martial arts.
• Tall, Dark, and Snarky: She measures 5-foot-8, is raven-haired, and is filled with snark.
• Terrible Artist: She tries to draw the face of one of the Tracksuit Mafia members, only to make a very rudimentary sketch with "doughy faces" and "VERY white" written above it. Clint sarcastically remarks that she must not be an art major.
• Three-Point Landing: She ends up this way after sliding down Yelena's rope using a bola. Yelena herself doesn't mention this as being "disgusting", like she used to, because she is doing the hero landing herself now.
• Time-Shifted Actor: Clara Stack plays her as a child during the prologue of the first episode of Hawkeye, while Hailee Steinfeld plays her as an adult for the rest of her appearances.
• Tomboy: Kate is very athletic, rough-and-tumble, and not afraid to get her hands dirty, having trained in martial arts, climbing, and parkour since childhood. She's usually seen wearing a long overcoat, sweats, and baggy jeans. When asked by her mother to wear a dress for a fundraiser, Kate wears a tux instead. Inverted when she actually wears a black dress in the last episode.
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: With Yelena Belova, who is the Girly Girl to Kate's Tomboy. In contrast to Yelena's flashier and more feminine fashion sense, Kate dresses a more reserved and boyish way.
• Tomboyish Ponytail: She frequently ties her hair in a ponytail, especially when in action against the Tracksuits.
• Tomboyness Upgrade: In the comics, she is usually depicted as more of a Girly Girl with a Tomboy Streak, frequently donning dresses. Here, she dresses considerably more masculinely, minus her black dress. She wears a black suit and tie in the first episode and conveniently for her, this allows her to slip into the Ronin suit more easily than if she wore a dress like her mother wanted her to.
• Too Clever by Half: The bell tower incident and the buildup to her first real fight illustrate not only her cleverness, ingenuity, and tenacity, but also her impulsiveness, poor judgment, and tendency to not foresee consequences and dig progressively deeper holes for herself once her plans go south. Clint calls her out on this, as he points out that her strategy of planning a good entrance and then figuring things out from there is what gets her into trouble — no combat scenario will ever go according to plan and will probably collapse spectacularly, and anyone entering one should always focus on coming up with a quick, easy, and reliable exit plan instead.
• Took a Level in Badass: While skillful, Kate makes a lot of rookie mistakes and tends to cause more problems for Clint. By the final episode, she resolves those mistakes and manages to handle herself against the likes of a Black Widow (who, in fairness, is holding back against her) and even the Kingpin himself (who definitely isn't holding back against her) with her wits.
• Trick Arrow: Even before being taken under the guy specialized in those, she's seen firing a "bola arrow" created with a tennis ball. Although it ends up destroying a bell tower...
• Unknown Rival: To Wilson Fisk. Fisk has been responsible for her parents' descent into crime ever since 2012, and his determination to silence Eleanor specifically for leaving him forces her to confront him to rescue him. During their fight though, Fisk seems outright baffled that Kate's so utterly determined to take him down, and outright tells her to mind her own business.
• Weak, but Skilled: She has no powers whatsoever and is entirely human. She is, however, a well-trained archer and martial artist, incredibly resourceful and pragmatic, and has an insane talent for accuracy like Clint Barton himself.
• Well-Trained, but Inexperienced: Kate is an incredibly profound martial artist and skilled with a bow and arrow, having extensive experience fighting in gyms and tournaments. But, she has almost no experience against opponents who are willing to kill her, such as when dealing with criminal gangs, or even a Black Widow assassin. Yelena bursts out laughing when Kate suggests she could have killed her. She does do very well in the chaos of the auction, but once she's caught in the open, the Tracksuit Mafia boys wipe the floor with her and she only gets away because Hawkeye rescues her. She levels up a bit over the course of the series.
• Womanchild: She's 22 years old, but frequently acts like a teenager. Clint constantly makes sarcastic comments about her immaturity and outright calls her out on it at one point:
  Clint: That's not fair, that your inability to act like a grown-up helps you get your way.
• "World's Best" Character: Kate claims that some people have called her "the world's greatest archer". Clint (who has also been called "the world's greatest archer") flatly asks if she is one of those people. She sheepishly nods (in the trailer) or is forced to note it's the case (in the show). Although, once Clint sees her in action, he says that she honestly deserves the title and that she has solid skills.
• Worthy Opponent: Even though Yelena is clearly holding back while fighting Kate, she is impressed with Kate's skills as well as successfully landing a few hits on her.

Variants

Zombie Apocalypse Kate Bishop

Kate Bishop / Hawkeye II

Species: Human

Citizenship: American

Voiced By: TBA

Appearances: Marvel Zombies

On Earth-89521, Kate Bishop is among those fighting to survive the Zombie Apocalypse.

---

• Adaptational Relationship Overhaul: In this universe, Clint Barton got infected with the Quantum Virus and became a zombie six years before their supposed first meeting, meaning Kate never meets Clint alive.
• Stock Ninja Weaponry: She has kunai spades strapped to her left leg.
• Zombie Apocalypse Hero: She's one of the few superheroes to initially survive the Zombie Apocalypse in this universe.

---

"I need a bow and arrow."