Characters / Marvel Comics: Kate Bishop

aka: Kate Bishop

Hawkeye II

She's practically an Avenger.

^{Click here} to see Kate's 'hipholes' costume

^{Click here} to see Kate's original YA costume

^{Click here} to see Kate's 'Hawkingbird' costume

Alter Ego: Katherine Elizabeth "Kate" Bishop

Notable Aliases: Bishop, Female Archer, Hawk-ess, Hawkette, Hawkingbird, Katie Bishop, Kate-Hawk, Knightress, Ladybro, Lady Hawkeye, Lady Hawkman, Mockingbird, Taskmistress, Weapon Woman

Editorial Names: All-New Hawkeye

Species: Human

Team Affiliations: Hawkeye Investigations, West Coast Avengers (2018), Babysitters Club, NYPD's Deadpool Task Force, Young Avengers, Secret Avengers, Partner of Hawkeye (Clint Barton)

First Appearance: Young Avengers #1 (April, 2005) ^note As Kate Bishop; Young Avengers #12 (August, 2006) ^note As Hawkeye

I have no powers and not nearly enough training, but I'm doing this anyways. Being a super hero is amazing. Everyone should try it.

Kate is first introduced when the Young Avengers (Hulkling, Wiccan, Patriot, and Iron Lad) literally crash into her sister's wedding mid-hostage situation, which they're barely able to prevent from getting worse. After the encounter, Kate takes it upon herself to investigate the fledgling team of superheroes, ultimately deciding that she wants in on their operation.

Although technically a civilian at this point, Kate's athleticism and training allow her to become the token Badass Normal of the team, proving herself to be a skilled archer and fighter within a short span of time.

After breaking into the Avengers' old headquarters and putting together a outfit made from aspects of Hawkeye and Mockingbird's respective costume, she approaches the Young Avengers and announces herself as part of the team. After helping them take down Kang the Conquerer, she's accepted into their likes, and adopts the "Hawkeye" codename left dormant by Clint Barton's death — which Jessica Jones claimed Captain America suggested for her, since she was only the second person after Clint to stand up to him.

After Young Avengers wrapped at twelve issues, Kate continued to appear throughout the Marvel Universe in major stories like Civil War, Secret Invasion, and Siege, crossing over with the Runaways on more than one occasion. Throughout these events, Kate becomes romantically linked with Patriot and Speed at various points.

During this time, she also finally got to meet her namesake, who'd since turned up alive. The two weren't exactly buddies upon meeting, but he ultimately encouraged she keep the Hawkeye name, claiming the world was now big enough for two Hawkeyes. Kate then proceeded to appear as a major player in Avengers: The Children's Crusade, supporting teammate Wiccan as he attempted to locate his long-lost mother, the Scarlet Witch.

With the Marvel NOW! initiative in 2012, Kate's prominence in the Marvel Universe continued to rise, co-starring with Clint in Matt Fraction and David Aja's landmark run on Hawkeye. Now effectively Clint's partner — rather than his protégé — this series further developed Kate's character; the "L.A. Woman" story is notable for being entirely Kate-centric, following her (brief) move to California, where she attempts to start her own private detective agency.

Marvel NOW! also saw the publication of a new Young Avengers volume by Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie, which reunited Kate with many of her original teammates, plus the additions of Ms. America Chavez, Kid Loki, Prodgy, and Marvel Boy — with whom she's romantically involved with for much of the run. The acclaimed series only ran for fifteen issues, but was very well-received in youth-oriented spaces like Tumblr.

Fraction's Hawkeye ended in 2015, but the oft-delayed title caused its followup series, All-New Hawkeye (by Jeff Lemire and Ramon Perez), to launch before the former's final issue came out. Nonetheless, All-New Hawkeye ran for an initial arc of five issues —told in the present as well as through flashbacks to Clint's youth— before Secret Wars ended the Marvel Universe, effectively putting the series on hiatus.

While she wasn't a major player in the core Secret Wars story, a Robin Hood-esque Kate did appear with with the 1602 Young Avengers in Secret Wars Journal #1, ultimately followed up with a recurring role for her in the limited series tie-in Siege. After breaking God Doom's law in an adventure with Hulkling and Wiccan, she's exiled to the Deadlands, but Abigail Brand of The Wall ultimately spares her, placing Kate (and Arcadia's America Chavez) on a secret strike team intended to start an uprising of Doom's rule. They're unsuccessful.

Kate returned to the All-New, All-Different Marvel universe in a second volume of Lemire's All-New Hawkeye, this time with a twist: while the first volume was told in the past and present, the second one is being told in the present and future. As told through flash-forwards, the disagreement that drove her and Clint apart goes unresolved for decades, and the only thing able to bring them back together —in spite of their differences— is an opportunity to resolve some unfinished business from the very mission that strained their relationship.

Kate starred in her own Hawkeye series beginning in 2016, where she moves to Los Angeles to become a private investigator. After living in Los Angeles for awhile she realises she needs a team, fighting supervillains who looking to make a name for themselves. She and Hawkguy star in the new version of the West Coast Avengers.

Kate makes her debut in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Clint Barton's successor to the Hawkeye mantle, with her being trained as his protege in the Disney+ series Hawkeye. Further details, such as if she'll carry over to the movies later on with the name, are unknown. She is portrayed by Hailee Steinfeld.

An alternate version of Kate appears in Ultimate Marvel, depicted there as a classmate — and the eventual girlfriend — of Miles Morales. Ultimate Kate Bishop differs wildly from mainstream Kate — namely, in the sense that she and her family are members of Hydra. Miles ultimately breaks up with her in the final issue of Miles Morales: Ultimate Spider-Man, right before the incursion of Earth-616 and Earth-1610. Ultimate Kate doesn't seem to be showing up anywhere in the new Marvel Universe, suggesting she was killed once and for all —with Earth-1610 as a whole— in the incursion.

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Kate Bishop provides examples of:

A-H

• 10-Minute Retirement: After a few months of "retirement", she was convinced by Clint Barton to help him in some personal jobs not related to The Avengers. Sometime later she came back full time with her old team.
• A Lesson in Defeat: Her ego knew no bounds until she met Clint and lost her bow to him for thinking a shot was impossible because she couldn't do it. Afterwards, we see Kate showing her new commitment to the lesson Clint taught her by trying the impossible shot Clint performed, without success. Eventually she performs the impossible shot in Hawkeye vol. 4 #10.
• Action Dress Rip:
  • Her improvised costume during the battle against Kang was her bridesmaid's dress with half of the skirt ripped off.
  • In Hawkeye #7 she had to get medicines for some people trapped in a hotel so in order to move faster, she ripped her dress while apologising to the designers that made it, later she fought some criminals too.
• Action Girl: She herself admits her training probably isn't enough for a superhero, but still find ways to win her battles whether by brute force or tactical skills.
• Affirmative-Action Legacy: The original Hawkeye is male. Both share the name now.
• All a Part of the Job: She considers being a super hero a job, and she loves it despite everything.
• All for Nothing:
  • The ending of her story in L.A. is this. Somewhat necessary to bring her back for the final act in Clint Barton's story, but it doesn't make her any less annoyed.
  • Her search for her missing mother ended up being this because it turned out her mother was an evil vampire who was the leader of a cult that abducted and killed people.
• Allergic to Routine: Kate isn't one to simply stay at home to wait things happen. Even with her job as a private investigator being a small business, she doesn’t just take small cases in one state but actually travels across the whole country, or even across continents to investigate cases.
• Aloof Dark-Haired Girl: The complete package (except, the tallest of her team; thanks to Cassie's size changing abilities Kate's usually the shortest) — she's elegant, controlled, and considered beautiful. This last part is a bit subverted in some post YA Vol. 2 stories where she isn't as elegant or controlled as she used to be.
• Always Second Best: In-universe, she is perceived as this by the general public, in comparison to the original Hawkeye, Clint Barton. Even though she has proven to be almost as good as Clint at being a hero, most people would always be looking for "the real one" when they seek the help of “Hawkeye”.
• Always Someone Better:
  • She was this to Patriot in the original Young Avengers run. While Patriot was usually trying too hard to be a leader to mask his insecurities and fears, Kate was always very reliable, calm, and mature, which always ended up turning her into the de-facto leader of the team. When it came to fighting bad guys without powers, Kate was also better than Eli (who even had some help from superhuman drugs) simply due to her ability to device a plan before jumping into action.
  • She also believes to be this to Clint Barton, but as many stories have shown, she’s actually neither better nor worse than him, which reinforces the point of them being complete mirrors of each other.
• Ambiguously Bi: While Kate has openly identified herself as heterosexual, there has been some occasions when she has expressed some form of appreciation for the female figure. While this doesn't erase her chosen sexual identity, it implies she's capable of recognizing and admiring the beauty of the female figure when she sees it.
• Arch-Enemy:
  • Derek Bishop, who is her father, has become her main archenemy ever since the end of Fraction's Hawkeye run. Any big problem she has usually ended up being involved in, ends up being related to Derek in some way.
  • Eleanor Bishop: Became one after West Coast Avengers. Just like with Derek, Kate has been keeping an eye on her.
  • Madame Masque ever since the Fraction Hawkeye series. Madame Masque has repeatedly gone out of her way to victimize Kate out of pure spite, because Kate once knocked her out and stole her costume.
  • Fifi from the Circus of Crime has become one due to the grudge she has over Kate after she humiliated her by sneaking on her and stealing her identity which lead to the whole circus losing all their money in Hawkeye Vol. 4 #2.
• Artistic Age: She's looked 17-18 years old since the beginning when she was supposed to be 15-16. Strangely, as she got older artists seemed to draw her shorter and more realistically proportioned, making her look younger by comparison.
• Awesome, but Impractical: Since she is a trained ballet dancer and gymnast, she usually tends to be way more flippy and acrobatic than Clint ever was during her fights. Of course, doing cartwheels and 180º flips have no use to an archer and could actually be very detrimental to your performance due to all the awkward positions you would find yourself in while aiming at a moving target.
• Awesomeness by Analysis: Originally, she was intended to have this as part of her fighting skills. The ability to calculate the exact way to use her arrows, or any weapon, in any situation as quickly as possible. This was how she gained an edge over powerful foes like Kang. Even though this ability pretty much disappeared in following stories, a somewhat legacy version of it still exists in the form of her “anchor points” analysis, which is a kind of photographic memory ability that allows her to notice every important detail in a scene in front of her with just one look at it.
• Back for the Finale: In Matt Fraction’s run, she leaves Clint Barton’s story halfway to have her own solo story. Once her story is over though, she goes back to meet Clint, ready for the final issue of his story (and the run).
• Badass Boast: Lampshaded. Kate likes to throw badass boasts at her enemies but she instantly regrets it because they actually respond to her bragging and she ends up getting her ass kicked (even when she wins).
• Badass in Distress:
  • She got captured by Madam Masque's bodyguards while trying to help Clint and couldn't do anything to escape until Clint came and distracted everyone, after that she started kicking everyone's asses.
  • Also captured alongside both Laura Kinney and Gabby Kinney. She had to free herself to avoid a beating (and also to prevent Laura form doing something horribly gross to free herself).
• Badass Normal: She is an Olympic class archer and martial artist as well as an expert with different weapons including swords and staves. She is also a gifted strategist to the point that once, she completely disabled Kang The Conqueror with a single arrow.
• Bare Midriffs Are Feminine: While she wasn’t the only female member of the original Young Avengers team, it is hard to argue that her costume had an uncovered midriff for this reason exactly. Also contrast her original costume with Clint Barton’s which is completely covered with the exception of the arms. A decade later though, after the MCU gave Kate a fully covered costume, the comics followed along and Kate finally got herself a fully covered costume.
• Beauty Is Never Tarnished: Commonly averted, as Kate gets beaten up or otherwise disheveled just about as much as Clint does, and regularly has bandages patching her face.
• Believing Their Own Lies: She used to believe Clint told her he never killed anyone. Later, Clint revealed that he actually never said that because he would never lie to her, even then she was trying to avoid the truth.
• Betty and Veronica: She used to be the Archie to Eli's Betty and Tommy's Veronica. Subverted in that she never cared about relationships back then and actively tried to avoid them.
• Big, Screwed-Up Family:
  • Kate's father, Derek, is a mafia boss who has his own empire of illegal activities settled in LA. It is implied most of his fortune comes from these illegal activities. He hates her ex-wife and doesn't really care about her daughters (although he does have some sort of attachment to them). He also married one of Kate's classmates as a trophy wife and tries to convince Kate to call her "Mother".
  • Kate's mother, Eleanor, apeared to have been a person who spent her life helping other through constant travels that kept her away form her family, but later it is revealed that she used to be involved in illegal activities like her husband and it is implied she was just as ruthless as Derek. However at some point, Derek had her either killed or turned into a vampire against her will. Ever since then she swore revenge against him. Wanting to become normal again, she formed a cult of vampires that committed crimes in their search of a cure to their vampirism, as well as working with the criminal underworld.
  • Kate's sister, Susan, was a rich girl who didn't approve of her father's activities but turned a blind eye to them and decided to spend all his money on a luxury life instead. Due to this mindset, she used to be embarrassed by Kate's hero activities. Considering them unfit for her status. She's gotten better at understanding Kate lately and they're in good terms again nowadays.
• Boldly Coming: She had many sexual encounters with Noh-Varr who is a Kree.
• Breakout Character: Of the Young Avengers. After becoming one of the protagonists of the Hawkeye solo comic written by Matt Fraction and Jeff Lemire, she was spun off into a main character status for the next volume of Hawkeye's solo comic. Later she was chosen to become the leader of the new West Coast Avengers (2018) lineup. Overall, she appears much more frequently in other Marvel media compared to her other teammates Notably being the first of the whole team to appear in the MCU as an active superhero rather than a secondary character cameo.
• Broken Bird: After the assault in the park she was victim of, she became pretty much this. Later she got better, and seemingly has moved on with her life.
• Broken Pedestal:
  • She was disappointed when she saw a videotape where Clint killed other people in a secret operation. Later, it was completely subverted when it was revealed that the tape was in fact a fake and even when Clint suggested that he indeed had killed before, Kate forgave him for everything at the end.
  • Played Straight with her father Derek and her mother Eleanor though.
• Brutal Honesty: The reason why she sucks at making other people feel better. Ironically, back when her first team was around, every time she felt any positive emotion towards other people like be love, admiration or attraction, she used to do everything she could to hide those emotions. Nowadays even when she's quite honest, she tries to be less harsh when confronting people she cares about.
• Casual Danger Dialogue: Since she has no powers whatsoever, any kind of dangerous situation that involves super monsters or super humans should immediately put her in “maximum alert” mode. However, Kate has a distinctive, almost naive, way to always shrug off danger with sarcasm, one-liners, or outright mocking of the situation. This of course means that if she gets serious in a battle, then the reader knows it is a big deal for her.
• The Chains of Commanding: Her failure as a leader being the reason she quit after Children's Crusade.
• Characterization Marches On: When Kate debuted, she was a high class rich girl. And while she never used her status or wealth to feel superior to others, she had no qualms about spending money on whatever she needed or wanted. However, a humbling time in LA, along with her finding out about her father’s criminal empire, made her realize she had to start growing up and making a life for herself, even if this meant living among the regular people of LA and NY with all the monetary struggles that could come with it.
• Chronic Hero Syndrome: Kate always leans towards helping people in distress. Lampshaded in Children's Crusade when she says they wouldn't be stuck where they were had Eli, who doesn't ascribe to this as much as Kate, been team leader.
• Clark Kenting:
  • Being the daughter of a famous rich guy, Kate is kind of a celebrity in the Marvel Universe, yet no one recognized her back when she started doing the whole superhero thing, even when the only thing she did to hide her face was putting on glasses she always wears in her normal life. Nowadays her identity is public so she doesn't need to "Clark Kent" anymore.
  • A particular in-universe example happened during Dark Reign. A boy codenamed "The Executioner", who assisted to Kate's school, discovered her secret identity. Later the Young Avengers devised a plan to discredit any claim the boy could make (he was trying to blackmail his way into the Young Avengers), the plan consisted in Kate accepting Executioner's invitation for a party in which part of the Young Avengers would suddenly show up (with Wiccan as a bad guy and Vision as Kate). In one particular moment Kate is face to face with Vision-Kate who is wearing only glasses to cover his face (that he copied exactly like Kate's), yet somehow nobody managed to see the resemblance between them and Executioner's plan got ruined.
• Cerebus Retcon: When Kate Bishop first appeared she had a wealthy normal family. Her father, Derek, was a normal wealthy businessman, and her mother, Eleanor, was a kind-hearted socialite who spent her time at soup kitchens and charities trying to help the community before she tragically died. Her older sister Susan had a tense but kind-hearted relationship with Kate because she couldn't understand Kate's desire to help people she inherited from her mother. Despite some dysfunction with her mother's death and her sexual assault, which she had months of therapy where she needed to recover, Kate had a normal relationship with her family, and it's clear that she and they loved each other. But then, in a later series, it's revealed that the Bishop family is more dysfunctional and dark than they first appeared. All early appearances and interactions between Kate and her father are exaggerated in a way that lampshades the luxurious life of rich families, but they take a really dark turn once it's revealed that Derek is really a mafia boss. Kate's mother, Eleanor, was not only involved in her husband's criminal enterprise but was still alive and a vampire running a cult. Kate lampshades this when meeting with her sister Susan, wondering if her sister has some dark secret; thankfully, Susan is shown to be a normal woman, and Kate still has a positive relationship with her sister.
• Cerebus Syndrome: Her LA story in the 2011 Hawkeye series is this. The first three issues are light hearted stories that are more comedy fun than anything, with some small hints on the larger plot that was forming in the back. The last two issues of the LA arc though, are very dark, with big revelations and scenes that wouldn’t be out of place in an R rated crime show. And since this story is just one part of the larger Hawkeye story, it goes without saying that the actual ending of the story is told in the last two Hawkeye issues, which are as dark as a super hero comic can get.
• Charles Atlas Superpower: According to Kate, she has ‘no powers and not nearly enough training’ to be a super hero, which is somewhat confirmed by her backstory showing she trained hard, but doing human level training only. However, some of the feats she accomplished would make even superpowered beings gasp in awe. From defeating Kang the Conqueror (30th century time travel tech user) with one single arrow on her first night as a hero, to learning how to manipulate alien tech from a different reality on her first night using it, to beating a whole army of taller and stronger henchmen, all by herself. And, of course, there are all those cartwheels she performs while holding a giant bow, a weapon that is, in fact, quite heavy to carry.
• Comical Overreacting:
  • In Hawkeye #5 there's a panel where Kate, after being taken hostage, is asking to be released with such emphasis that both of her feet are in the air while two henchman grab her by the arms. She also comically fainted in Hawkeye #20 after seeing an alive Harold after she witnessed his dead body a day before.
  • She does this quite a lot in the mini series "Hawkeye vs. Deadpool", specially when interacting with Deadpool. The artist of the series helps a lot with his more cartoonish style.
  • Once again she has plenty of overreacting faces on her appearance during the Journey Of The Mystery mini for the War of the Realms event.
• Commitment Issues: She has always had these when it came to relationships. Even when she wanted to enter into a relationship with someone, eventually she would call things off, deciding to remain just as friends. The only exception so far has been Noh-Varr with whom Kate admitted to really want to commit into a serious relationship due to her strong feelings towards him. Of course, this was true up to the moment when Noh himself screwed everything up.
• Commonality Connection:
  • She and Jessica Jones understood each other better after finding out that both share a similar tragic event that happened in the past although their reactions to it were different.
  • The reason she became friends with Cassie Lang was their mutual desire to be Young Avengers.
  • And of course, her and Clint's Inter Generational Friendship came to be due to a number of similarities in their MO, style, and general personality.
• Conflicting Loyalty: She found herself between being loyal to the Avengers or to Clint Barton. She chose the former but instantly regretted it and tried to help the latter. And before that, she had to chose between being loyal to her team and tell them she was doing super hero jobs again or being loyal to Clint and keep it a secret. She chose the latter but eventually revealed it to the team (and they weren't surprised one bit).
• Conforming OOC Moment: Kate getting involved in Civil War II’s big fight is jarring considering the same event made a big deal out of her having a big breakdown due to Clint being accused of killing Bruce Banner.
• Cool Shades: Purple ones she uses in costume and in regular clothes.
• Crazy-Prepared: She almost always has an escape plan no matter what situation she finds herself in. Also, just like Clint, she always has an arrow prepared for any situation.
• Crimefighting with Cash: She had unlimited amounts of money to spend courtesy of her father. Nowadays she refuses to use this money due to the origin of it being illegal.
• Cruel to Be Kind: Kate takes Clint's dog when leaving New York without even asking him if he was okay with it (as seen in his expression). This can be seen as an extreme act of rudeness if not were for the fact that the dog no longer felt safe inside the building because the gang that was trying to kill Clint was getting more dangerous everyday and also they actually found out that the dog was Clint's. It might not have survived another night alone.
• The Cynic: She always had shades of this since her first appearance, but she got better about it. During Hawkeye Vol 4's course, she swings back and forth between being overly optimistic to being cynical and angsty, brought on by what happens.
• Cynicism Catalyst: It was heavily implied in "Young Avengers Special" that Kate used to be a happier person (or at least, less cynical) before she was attacked. One of her main motivations to become a super hero was to protect anyone from being victim of the same kind of assault she had to suffer.
• Daddy Didn't Show: The main reason she resented both her parents as a child. Both her mom and dad were always spoiling her and spending some few good moments together when they weren’t busy, but neither was around when she needed them the most.
• Daddy's Girl: She was this when growing up due to the fact her mother was never around. After she found out that her dad was involved in some sort of criminal activities, she stopped looking up to him and became more distant. However, she was still very dependent on his money and in a way, these unresolved issues led her to become a spoiled rich girl herself. It wasn’t until she discovered the real nature of her father’s activities that she decided to cut all ties with him. Despite this, her Daddy issues have only gotten bigger, as she was very conflicted about wanting to hate her father, but being unable to.
• Deadpan Snarker: A master of this, even worse if someone tries to be a Deadpan Snarker with her. Interestingly, in a rare example of a Deconstruction of this trope, Kate once mentioned that her sassiness turns into a fatal flaw if she can't control it because the more snarky she gets, the less rational and prone to making mistakes she becomes.
• Deuteragonist: In volume four, five and six of "Hawkeye".
• Death Glare: To Madam Masque after she shot Clint in the chest.
• Defeat Means Friendship: She has had this happen a few times. After defeating two girls-turned-dragons named Dahlia and Bridgitte, they became friends of her. Subverted with Noh-Varr, who actually defeated her way before becoming her boyfriend.
• Depending on the Artist: In Hawkeye her costume is drawn with holes on the sides of her hips. In Young Avengers, the holes are filled in, which kind of implies that she's wearing another suit underneath. Ever since then, many artists have switched between drawing the holes or forgetting about them.
• Depending on the Writer: While most of Kate’s character traits are consistent between different writers, the level of emotional maturity she is supposed to have reached has been a battleground for years now. Some writers (Heinberg, Gillen, Lemire) prefer her as a very resilent and intelligent woman who would at many times be more controlled, responsible, and capable than even the old heroes. On the other hand, other writers (Fraction, Duggan, Thompson) would rather have her behave like an immature girl that barely knows what she’s doing most of the time, but compensates it with a big heart and much desire to learn and grow into a better person everyday. Expect to see many inconsistencies on the way she's portrayed in different books because of this.
• Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life: She was this at the beginning, finally finding one in superheroing. She had an Heroic BSoD in the Hawkeye vol. 4 annual, where she once again went back to find her real purpose. Eventually she overcame her doubts and reassured her commitment to help people in need by creating her P.I. business.
• Designated Girl Fight:
  • Fought Nico when the Young Avengers clashed with the Runaways (in contrast to Karolina and Cassie who got to fight male opponents).
  • Her main villain was Madame Masque in the 2011 Hawkeye series in contrast to Clown who was Clint’s (although she does have a confrontation with Clown in the final issue).
  • In Civil War II, of all the different male and female heroes on the opposite side, she only fought Aurora and Magik, both females.
• The Ditz: Ever since the 2011 Hawkeye series, it’s not hard to find Kate falling into this role in many stories. The reason being that writers don’t want her to be a step above Clint, who is a Ditz himself, since they’re supposed to mirror each other.
• Do Not Call Me "Paul": She hates being called nicknames. Clint Barton is sort of a special exception since he can get away with calling her nicknames without Kate scolding her at times. It's either Kate, Kate Bishop or Hawkeye for everyone else though.
• Dude Magnet: Patriot, Speed, Noh-Varr, Fuse, and many other male secondary characters have shown interested in her. Also, while Clint Barton doesn't seek an actual relationship with her, he thinks she is perfect.
• Eating the Eye Candy: She's never shy about showing her attraction for fit and toned male bodies, and she always finds herself distracted when she spots a hot shirtless guy. In particular, having abs, gets her completely hypnotized to the point that even while investigating a crime scene, she can't stop herself from gazing to any guy showing his toned midriff in the room.
• Early-Bird Cameo:
  • Her second costume first appeared in Hawkeye v4, three months before the release of the new Young Avengers volume. The long story is that since volume four of Hawkeye is mainly focused on Clint and Kate's regular life, super-hero costumes barely make appearances. For Kate specifically, that attire was supposed to be just another casual attire (and an homage to the British series "The Avengers") but the soon to be artist of "Young Avengers" thought that the attire worked fine as a superhero costume so he decided to keep it and make it her official new costume. He had to make some changes to fit it into his style though (specifically, the holes on her hips are covered but still highlighted).
  • An in-universe example happened when the first Young Avengers saw Kate standing in the middle of the street a day before they get to meet her in the wedding incident.
• Energy Bow: A "Kree composite soul bow" - high-tech for us, "vintage" by Noh-Varr's standards.
• Elegant Weapon for a More Civilized Age: One of the reasons why she likes using a bow and arrows is because of her love for all things "Vintage".
• Establishing Character Moment: While her first appearance established her as a badass girl with an attitude. The moment that completely defined her personality was in Young Avengers vol. 1 #2 when she forcefully enters Avengers Mansion by climbing the gate in a bridesmaid dress and then offered to give a boost to her friend with a smug smile.
• Everybody Knew Already:
  • She tried to pull a shocking twist by revealing Billy and Teddy that she came back to superheroing with Clint some time after they decided to retire. However, Billy, completely aware of Kate's personality and priorities, wasn't surprised one bit and Teddy didn't seem shocked by the revelation either (maybe because he came back himself in secret too).
  • She also is surprised when she realizes that every single person she dated turned out to be LGBT coded, only for it to be revealed that everyone else had noticed already.
• Even the Girls Want Her:
  • America Chavez teases her about it after she breaks up with Noh-Varr.
  • In another story it's also implied one of the girls she saved from an evil vampire that abducted women, is attracted to her, although Kate was oblivious to it.
• Evil Me Scares Me: While traveling between other dimensions, she details in her diary how horrified she was at discovering how many evil versions of her existed and how all of them will haunt her forever.
• Expy: Teenage protege of the lead superhero archer debuting in the 2000s and is involved with a team of teenage heroes? That's Mia Dearden.
• False Friend: Harold turns out to be one of this for Kate. She was genuinely trying to help him but he only wanted to take Neffs empire down and set her up to be arrested by SHIELD.
• First-Person Smartass: Kate being Kate, the few stories told from her point of view sometimes have this.
• Forgotten First Meeting: She didn't remember meeting Noh-Varr before their first time. Only after he reminded her of his name, she remembered how they met before in opposing sides of a battle.
• Form-Fitting Wardrobe: In Young Avengers vol. 2 her second costume is drawn like this specifically to highlight her athletic physique. David Aja, who created the costume in Hawkeye (2012), said it was inspired by the Spy Catsuit of Emma Peel.
• Frame-Up: She was framed by Masque for killing Harold H. Harold with one of her arrows. However the evidence was circumstantial at best, so she was released from prison really fast.
• Friends with Benefits: Her relationship with Noh-Varr started as this before a Relationship Upgrade happened at some point during the time the Young Avengers traveled the world and space.
• Girliness Upgrade: In Young Avengers Vol. 2 Kate started acting more feminine, being more romantic with Noh-Varr, acting less snarky. Somewhat justified by the fact that she was in the 'Honeymoon stage' with Noh-Varr during that story.
• Good Capitalism, Evil Capitalism: In contrast to her father’s unlimited wealth made through crime, her private investigator business is relatively small and while it is implied she indeed gets paid for it, it’s also implied that it’s not much money to begin with.
• Good Is Not Soft: She doesn't hesitate at shooting arrows directly to both eyes or paralyzing her enemies for life. She also doesn't seem to be too fond of trick arrows and prefers the long and pointy ones.
• Graceful Ladies Like Purple: All her outfits seen are purple, and her skill with the bow and arrow borders Lady of War.
• Have I Mentioned I Am Heterosexual Today?: At the end of Young Avengers vol 2, when she realizes that all the other members of the team aren't straight, Kate asks if she is the only straight member of the team. America doesn't buy it.
• Heroes Love Dogs: Kate took up a dog Clint rescued from the mafia, Lucky, also known as "Pizza Dog".
• I Miss Mom: Kate’s relationship with her mother has always been a matter of Depending on the Writer, so this trope has been both played straight and subverted at different points in time. In her original backstory, Kate looked up to her mother because she travelled around the world, using the money of her family to help people. This led to Kate wanting to become like her. Later though, when Jeff Lemire took over, this was retconned into Kate actually resenting her mother because she was never around. Later Kelly Thompson tried to find a middle ground, showing that Kate indeed didn’t trust her mother much, but the few memories she had with her as a child were so happy, that she developed a longing to have her back in her life when she was older, even though she was presumably dead… Until it was revealed she was a villain all along. Nowadays Kate doesn’t miss her mother anymore, instead giving her the same cold demeanor, she uses with her father.

I-Z

• Informed Flaw: At the beginning of Young Avengers vol. 2. She refers to herself as "not having nearly enough training" to be a super hero, however a few issue later (and in previous volumes too) she is always seen fighting and leading with skills that can probably give Captain America a run for his money. Her solo stories better demonstrate this, showcasing that she's not as strong a fighter when she's on her own and that she's reckless and naive in fights, also her overconfidence prompts her to easily be caught by surprise.
• In-Series Nickname:
  • Kate is short for Katherine and is the name everyone use when referring to her. Any other nickname will piss her off, especially if it is related to her codename "Hawkeye". Clint is a notable exception; he frequently calls her variants of her name (such as "Katie-Kate"). Kate flips between being annoyed by it and not really caring because it's Clint.
  • America calls her "Princess". Kate used to be annoyed by it but seems to have stopped caring. America has also stopped using the nickname just as much lately.
• Insistent Terminology: Kate is so proud of carrying the legacy of the codename "Hawkeye" that she always insists people not call her weird variations of that codename like "Hawk-Kate" or "Lady Hawkeye" among others.
• Improbable Aiming Skills: As the team's resident marksman, this is pretty much required.
• It Meant Something to Me: She didn't want to resume her relationship with Noh-Varr after their bitter breakup because she felt Noh-Varr didn't really care about the relationship, unlike her who really liked him.
• It's All My Fault: She blames herself for the whole Children's Crusade mess because she was supposed to be the leader.
• It Was a Gift: The bow and the codename "Hawkeye" actually were a gift from Captain America after Clint Barton died. Later when Clint came back, he recovered his old bow from Kate, only to give it back again (as an implied gift from the man himself this time) along with a picture of the Avengers on their youth, this last thing as an actual gift.
• Jumped at the Call: She wasn't a part of the Vision's Failsafe Program, nor does she have any actual connection to Avengers history. She saw the team in action and wanted in.
• Junior Counterpart: To Clint Barton.
• Kicking Ass in All Her Finery: Due to the environment where she was raised (and her love for vintage), she likes to wear big dresses and high heels, doesn't mean she won't kick your ass while wearing them.
• The Knights Who Say "Squee!": She will never go all fanboy mode about it, but Kate admires Clint Barton with a passion. Ever since Clint saved her from some thugs back when she was a child, she has considered him her hero and role model. It's implied that she became the person she is because she stopped caring about becoming like her father and wanted to become like him instead. Also, she went into full panic mode the first time she met him, she takes offense when someone accuses her of disrespecting him (even though she disrespects him herself plenty of times), and even deluded herself into thinking Clint is more virtuous than he really is.
• The Lancer: She was this to Patriot's leader status at the beginning.
• The Leader: Was the Lancer, but eventually this role stuck. She still considers Patriot the leader when he's available to do superhero work with the team though, so she'll gracefully step down for him during those times.
• Legacy Character: Clint tested her during his 'Ronin' phase, and doesn't seem to mind sharing the name now that he's back to being Hawkeye himself.
• Living a Double Life: Some months after Children's Crusade, she comes out of super hero retirement and starts helping Clint Barton with a personal crusade, all of this while lying to Billy, Teddy and Tommy about it and living a regular life with them (specifically because Billy was rather touchy on the issue of anyone starting up again).
• Lonely Rich Kid: Her own family doesn't pay any attention to her. She used to walk home alone and considered herself lucky for not having to do her superheroing alone.
• Master Archer: According to Clint himself, Kate is the best archer he's personally seen. Inspired by the master archer himself, she took to archery after an incident where she was kidnapped by some criminals and Clint saved her. Ever since she became a hero, she's used her formidable skills to get her teammates and herself out of many scrapes.
• Meaningful Appearance: Her first costume had one glove with all the fingers cut and the other with just two cut. The pair of gloves with her new costume are similar to her old ones with the difference that the two fingers cut in the new glove are different from the last one. The non cut fingers are on her right hand and are somewhat necessary to use the bow and the arrows.
• Mirror Character: To Clint Barton. This is Played With in many stories. Kate is supposed (or at least she believes) to be the more mature version of Clint. However, she often finds herself making the same mistakes Clint made. Whether them be escaping from their problems, rushing into bad situations without thinking, or even getting into trouble for being way too honest and heroic.
• Motor Mouth: Not at Spider-Man levels but, she is constantly talking about everything, sometimes even when no one is paying attention to her. She loves to talk so much that when she is quiet while other people are speaking, you know something is wrong with her.
• My Greatest Failure:
  • Losing her bow to its former owner, Clint Barton, because she underestimated him.
  • Letting Cassie and the Vision die (the latter at the hand of former teammate Iron Lad) on a mission she was leading was the reason why she retired.
  • Letting the Project Communion kids be taken by SHIELD was considered such a failure on her part that she cut all ties with Clint forever. This event would've lead to a bad future where both of them ended up miserable and regretful at elder age, if Clint hadn't convinced Kate to recover the kids before it was too late, and rekindle their bond in the process.
• Multishot: Once she fired five needles all straight to multiple guys' eyes, she hit all of her targets.
• Non-Idle Rich: Because of her father's wealth she could afford extensive martial arts and weapons training to the point of mastery of the bow and arrow, all of which come in handy in superheroing. She can also play the cello.
• The Not-Love Interest: Many things that start happening in Hawkeye vol. 4 such as Clint's internal monologue about how perfect Kate is or Kate's "living together" attitude while in Clint's apartment may lead people to think they will get together. However, this possibility is shot down by Clint in issue two and Kate, disgusted by the mere suggestion of the possibility (although a little disappointed it seemed), agrees.
  • Lampshaded in "Hawkeye Vs. Deadpool". The very first thing Wade thinks when he meets Kate in Clint's apartment is that she is his girlfriend but Kate breaks a coffeemaker on his head before he could express those thoughts.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: She revealed all the details about her secret partnership with Clint including the location of his new apartment, and his relationship with a girl named Penelope (including, for no apparent reason, the one time they slept together) to his then girlfriend, Jessica Drew, completely ruining the relationship, just because she asked her if she was a real Avenger. Although, in her defense, Jess said she was trying to help Clint (she doesn't, she just gives him a few slaps to the face and then breaks up with him).
• One Phone Call: The two times she is arrested, she asks for her phone call. The first time she calls detective Caudle, who was a few inches from her in the same police station. The second time she calls her father but not exactly to ask him for help.
• Paper-Thin Disguise: She wears a pair of glasses to hide her identity. Her new costume might as well be just a battle suit, she uses her new pair of glasses more while in civilian clothes than when in costume. By Hawkeye and Vol 2, her identity is an open one so this doesn't seem to be a problem any more.
• Parental Betrayal:
  • Her father works with Neffs group to develop illegal L.M.Ds for the rich people. It was implied that a lot of his money comes from this enterprise too, something that made Kate sick.
  • After she finds her mother it's revealed that she is the leader of a cult that kidnaps and kill people in their search of a cure to their vampire state. Kate also learns she had committed other crimes in the past before becoming a vampire.
• Parent with New Paramour: Not only is Kate's new "step-mother" barely older than her, they were in the same school. Naturally, Kate isn't impressed with her dad either.
• Pay Evil unto Evil: Madame Masque burned down the trailer that Kate was safeguarding for a totally innocent lesbian couple, so Kate later went to burn down Masque's mansion in retribution. She instantly regretted it after seeing all her very human-like L.M.Ds henchmen coming out to get her while burning.
• Platonic Life-Partners/Vitriolic Best Buds: With Clint Barton. They're not romantically interested in each other and are very close, but frequently snark at each other.
• Popularity Power: Her role in Matt Fraction's Hawkeye has gained her a significant following. A following so large that it contributed to her character joining the Ultimate Universe as a love interest to another popular, but controversial character, Miles Morales. This is significant because most Marvel Superheroes who are adapted in Ultimate at least have been in Marvel continuity for decades. Kate is the only relatively recent addition to Marvel in general that has an Ultimate counterpart who will also be significant.
• Pregnant Badass: In a Bad Future in which the team escapes into the timestream to save Cassie, essentially becoming fugitives, she's pregnant with Tommy's twins but is apparently still active as a superhero.
• Pride Before a Fall: Her story from Hawkeye Annual and beyond. She starts by leaving Clint (despite asking him to not do exactly that) and leaving her father (despite the fact he begged her to go with him on a trip in order to know her better) to go to a super expensive hotel in order to "lie low where the suckers can't touch her" because apparently "Everybody sucks but her". Then as soon as she gets there, she loses her credit card and all of her stuff leaving her pretty much on the streets. Soon, she finds herself depending on a super villain who's trying to kill her. Eventually, she decides to not call anyone for help and takes a small job (her first) so she can try to survive by herself for once.
• Purple Is Powerful: Just like the original Hawkeye, her color is purple (although, a lighter purple now to differentiate them).
• Quit Your Whining: Clint was really afraid that the people inside his building would become targets of a mafia group if he didn't leave. When Kate heard this, she proceeded to tell him how much of a coward he would be if he actually leaves his building just because some gangsters threatened him.
• Rage Breaking Point:
  • After losing her bow to Clint Barton, the last thing she needed was their friends talking about that and after Patriot actually starts scolding her for that, she explodes and starts shouting him to shut up.
  • Madam Masque makes her reach this point after teasing her endlessly about her father and mother issues while they were fighting.
• Rape as Backstory: Strongly implied by her origin story in Young Avengers Annual #1. The incident has been pretty much confirmed in outside sources but it was never brought up in a comic again. Nowadays the incident that lead her to become a hero has been retconned into one that happened earlier in her life^note One where she was saved by Hawkeye and the Avengers after being kidnapped by some criminals who wanted to get revenge at her father, however the status of the park incident was never retconned so it can be considered still part of her canon backstory.
• Raven Hair, Ivory Skin: When you have so many boys behind you and even a villain recognizes that you look "carved from porcelain", it must be true.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech:
  • She is an expert delivering these. Her favorite victim seems to be Clint Barton.
  • Maybe the most remembered is the one she delivered to Captain America for not accepting the Young Avengers passion for super-heroing which led to one of them getting a serious injury in the long run.
  • It was subverted in Dark Reign: Young Avengers. Kate wanted to verbally beat down The Executioner for being a vigilante whose role model is the Punisher, but she got too intimidated by him as well as scared that her Secret Identity could be revealed that she could only tell him to wait until the team talk. However, this trope is played straight the next time they met in costumes.
• Redeeming Replacement: She is much more The Cape than Clint is; Clint's brashfulness and backstory as a (reluctant) costumed criminal is definitely more "anti" then a good-natured Riches to Rags girl who just wants to help people.
• Reunion Kiss: To Speed in YA Vol. 2's resolution issue. In front of Noh-Varr (who had dumped her a few weeks ago) no less.
• The Reveal Prompts Romance: After Noh-Varr reveals that he has mind control saliva, Kate isn't bothered in the slightest and suggest how many parts of her body control Noh-Varr instead. Something he confirms.
• Rich Boredom: She has never been comfortable with her family's wealth, and used it to help her career as a superhero take off.
• Rich Kid Turned Social Activist: Kate Bishop is the youngest daughter of a Manhattan publishing magnate and grew up wealthy, attending posh boarding schools and developing world-class archery skills and the like. However, Young Avengers Special explains that unlike her sister Susan, she was never comfortable with her family's wealth and was distant from her father (although this was for more reasons than just his immense wealth), so she set about emulating what she thought her mother did abroad by volunteering at soup kitchens and women's shelters. Two different events on her life later lead her to take superheroing; her considerable wealth funded the team's early efforts.
  Kate: Do you know how many starving families in Niger we could feed for the cost of this wedding? [...] Five hundred thousand.[...] Why not get married at city hall and give the money to charity?
  Susan: Because we already have plenty of money to give to charity, and I want a wedding.
• Rummage Sale Reject: Kate's first 'costume' in Young Avengers (having started in a bridesmaid dress she performed an Action Dress Rip on) is assembled from pieces of costumes and weapons belonging to other heroes she finds in Avengers Mansion. It looks makeshift and leads one of her teammates to dub her 'Hawkingbird' (the primary elements coming from the costumes of Mockingbird and Hawkeye). Fortunately, this name does not stick.
• Running Gag: That the men she's attracted to are always bi guys.
• Scarf of Asskicking: Her old costume featured a long, white scarf (visible in the image) seemingly for no reason other than it looked cool.
• Screaming at Squick:
  • After realizing that Deadpool's face isn't a mask and he is truly disfigured, Kate gave him some thumbs up with a smile, turned around, and silently screamed in disgust. She had a similar reaction to tearing a knife out of Deadpool later on, albeit not restrained at all. Both instances are made to be very humorous.
  • She reacts with complete disgust to Laura Kinney's suggestion of cutting her feet to release herself from the restraints she had at the time.
• "Shut Up" Kiss: She gives one to Eli while he was playing a videogame with Teddy.
• Signature Headgear: Her second costume sometimes includes a purple headband.
• Single Tear: Kate is quite moved after Jessica Jones said she will be lucky if her daughter ends up being like her (she drops one tear per eye).
• Sixth Ranger: At first she was this to the Young Avengers, soon she became The Lancer and eventually The Leader.
• Slut-Shaming: Kate mentally discusses it with herself in the beginning of the fist issue of Young Avengers vol 2, thinking she should be ashamed of herself for having a one-night-stand with Noh-Varr. She then decides that such thoughts are idiotic.
• Soapbox Sadie: Was one in her backstory, as she deeply cared about the issues of the world but didn't know how to take action. Still gives off this vibe occasionally, such as when she verbally attacked Bucky Barnes after he accidentally made a homophobic comment in front of her.
• Spy Catsuit: Although she isn't a spy, her second costume is pretty much this (which is no surprise knowing that it was based on Emma Peel's costume from the British Avengers).
• Stepford Snarker: An article in Marvel's page suggested she might be actually this.
• The Straight and Arrow Path: Her primary weapon is a bow and arrow in modern times, but she is also skilled with many other weapons as well as in close combat.
• Stunned Silence: Wiccan's new costume and his final acceptance of his unavoidable journey as a super hero stunned Kate speechless.
• Supporting Leader: She's team leader in Young Avengers vol.2, but Billy and Loki are the main characters of the series.
• "Take That!" Kiss: She gives one to hired assassin "The Clown" because he had the audacity to make a "Joe Cool-guy" exit after a nice conversation with her.
• Taking Up the Mantle: Double subverted, while searching weapons in the Avengers mansion during her first adventure with the Young Avengers, Kate picked Hawkeye's weapon but she wasn't particularly fond of the bow and arrow nor was chosen by anyone to be the successor of Hawkeye, she just grabbed as many weapons as she could to help in the fight against Kang (and apparently she was skilled with all of them) and insisted later that she wasn't taking the name of Hawkeye. She kept using a variety of weapons for a time, however after standing up to Captain America like Clint used to do, he decided Kate should continue the Hawkeye legacy and gave her Clint's bow and arrow. She eventually grew attached to the name and the weapons so much that when Clint came back and reclaimed both things (the name and the weapons), she stole them back. Clint's OK with this for the moment.
• The Team Benefactor: She was one of the financial kind when the team started. Because of her father's wealth, she was able to secure an abandoned warehouse the team worked in and used her contacts in the fashion industry to procure new costumes for all of them. However, she's no longer this because she refuses to use her father's money again and also because the New Young Avengers are a lot more informal and unofficial than the original one.
• Tears of Remorse:
  • While explaining her reasons for her quitting super heroics.
  • Also had some when she was reunited with a past version of her mother for a few seconds.
• That Didn't Happen: An "almost" example. Kate was putting every excuse she could think of to not start a relationship with Eli while in a "not a date" visit to the park, but at one point she started to get dangerously close to him and just as they were a few inches away, she panicked and started to freak out claiming that the intention of kissing never existed at all and Eli had no choice but to agree.
• That Poor Plant: In Hawkeye Annual #1, Madame Masque attempts to drug Kate. Kate takes a fake sip of the wine then dumps the contents of the glass into a pot plant. The plant promptly shrivels.
• There Are No Therapists: Subverted. In her backstory, Kate sought help after being assaulted and then also realized that she needed to get stronger so this would never happen again.
• Thought Caption: This format is used to show her thoughts. However, an special format was used in Hawkeye Annual. Kate's thoughts were still inside white captions but also a little super deformed picture of Kate dramatically acting the thoughts was drawn inside the caption as well.
• Thou Shalt Not Kill: Anything goes against her enemies (see Good Is Not Soft above) except killing them.
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: Kate is a subversion of sorts of this trope. In the 2013 Young Avengers run, Kate is far girlier than the tough-talking, more prone-to-violence America, and Clint frequently calls her "girly-girl" in his book, but Kate is also rather tomboyish herself. She's only the Girly Girl compared to America because America is, well, America.
• Trick Arrow: She does use trick arrows sometimes but unlike Clint, she seems more open to use regular arrows with her enemies.
• True Companions: With the Young Avengers.
• Trying Not to Cry: After losing her bow to Clint Barton, she, visibly affected, put on her glasses to hide her eyes and actually quoted this trope not wanting The Avengers to see her cry. We never saw if she succeeded or not.
• Unlimited Wardrobe: While in civilian clothes, she never wears the same outfit, ever. This applies to her dresses as well. An special mention goes to Hawkeye vol. 4 where she debuts a new outfit (and sometimes several) every issue.
• Unusual Euphemism: She used the word "Futz" instead of the F-Bomb for a time. Nowadays she's more open to cursing the normal way.
• Vague Age: Kate Bishop was supposed to be a teenager in Young Avengers but is old enough to live on her own and run her own business with no sign of school in Hawkeye. Also, she's old enough that while Clint shoots down any possibility of a romance, Kate is annoyed at the dismissal (even if uninterested).
• Vapor Wear: While using her first costume, many panels showed prominently her lack of a bra. In her second costume, she goes even further by having holes in the sides of her hips and waist showing a lack of panties.
• The Watson: She is this in Hawkeye vol. 4. From issue 14 onwards she got her own story but even when she is the protagonist, she still acts as the reader's avatar asking the important questions of the plot.
• What the Hell, Hero?:
  • She is scolded several times by Patriot because she was being a Jerkass to Bucky the first time they met him.
  • Unleashed one on Hawkeye when they first met, when Clint was filling in for the then-dead Captain America for Tony Stark. She didn't know it was Clint, but her words were enough to convince him to tell Tony Stark where he could stick it, and the Registration Act.
  • In Young Avengers, she is scolded by Noh-Varr for being purposely negative after she finds out that his ship runs on belief.
  • While not scolded, she's called out by her L.A. friends for not telling them the reality of the situation in L.A. and also for not letting them help her.
• Wise Beyond Their Years: She is so comfortable with who she is, what she does, how she does it and what other people think about it that in some ways she’s the oldest of the Young Avengers, even more than Marvel Boy and Ms. America. This is nowadays subverted in some books though. See Depending On The Writer above.
• You Are Not Alone: Kate was the only person who supported Clint after a mafia group called the "Tracksuit Draculas" started making his life a living hell. Kate tried everything to stay by Clint's side, but his destructive behavior finally drove her away and she left.
• You Remind Me of X: Steve Rogers notes that Kate Bishop, the second Hawkeye, reminds her of Clint in the way she called him out over his treatment of Patriot & gives her permission to use the Hawkeye name. Clint himself notes that she reminds him of himself at a young age.

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