Fridge / Hawkeye (2021)

Fridge Brilliance

General

• Kate was said by Hailee Steinfeld to not be a Snap victim. This makes sense because Kate is a college senior and her life was clearly not disrupted during the Blip. Her mother is also definitely not a Snap victim because if Eleanor and Kate were, they would probably not be living in their penthouse during the series because it would have been bought by someone else during the Blip. Also, if Kate was a Snap victim, Eleanor would have been more worried about her daughter.

Episode 1

• It seems a bit odd that the clocktower Kate destroys is named after Obadiah Stane of all people, especially when one takes into account what kind of person he was and the crimes he committed in Iron Man. But then you remember how at the end of that film, S.H.I.E.L.D covered up Stane's death and activities to make him a Villain with Good Publicity to avoid a PR disaster. With that in mind, Stane having a building named after him makes a little more sense, since the public still doesn't know what Stane really did to Tony all those years ago. Since the building looks more than 20 years old, it probably pre-dates the events of Iron Man, and re-naming an old college building is a lot of work.
• The credits sequence happens right after the prologue in which Kate's origin story occurs while every other credits sequence in Marvel's Disney+ shows have happened after the episode is over. This also happens in the second episode, which makes sense as it shows essentially an abridged version of how Kate got to where she was in the prologue to where she is in the present while none of the other credits sequences would do that.
• In the prologue, Kate's parents are arguing about selling their penthouse, which they can no longer afford, but in the modern day, Eleanor kept it. As shown in Daredevil, New York property values dropped like a stone after the invasion. They'd definitely be able to afford to repair the penthouse with insurance money (and wouldn't make much from selling it anymore). Plus, there's the added sentimental reasons of it being one of the last things to remind Eleanor of her husband.

Episode 2

• Kate challenges Jack to a fencing match, and she exposes the fact that he's been lying about his skill, which she sees as evidence that he's hiding sinister motives. In the end, it's revealed that Jack is actually just a nice guy, so his sandbagging their fencing match was his way of trying to ingratiate himself with his future stepdaughter.

Episode 3

• Clint says that Ronin is dead and Black Widow killed him. Which is Metaphorically True since Black Widow ended Ronin's career by bringing back ''Hawkeye'.'
• Why does Clint have a Pym Particle arrow when Hank Pym is notoriously possessive of the particles? Recall Avengers: Endgame, where Clint and the other Avengers made ample use of the particles in their efforts to save the world, and Hank probably realized that the Avengers were capable enough to handle them safely.
  • It's also appropriate to remember that it's not the first time Clint even interacted with it: after all, Ant-Man rode his arrow during the airport battle in Captain America: Civil War, and also used the technology to shrink and enlarge the Benatar while traveling through time. If someone can creatively use Pym Particles with inanimate objects outside Ant-Man and the Wasp, it's most likely the guy whose shtick is maximizing non-energy-based weaponry.
• As we see, Echo was already a prodigious combatant even at a fairly early age. This is probably part of why she doesn't believe Kate isn't Ronin—after all, if Echo could be as good as she was even early on, why not another young woman of about the same age who clearly has a connection to an Avenger?
• Clint has reservations about being a branded superhero because he knows a good amount about branding. As stated in the Fridge page for Endgame, the whole reason why Clint chose the ninja-like persona for Ronin is because no known vigilante has been a straight up ninja up to this point. The only other known ninja-like vigilantes or criminals are Daredevil and Black Widows, both of whom don't use bladed weapons as their weapons of choice. That is why Clint would design the Ronin suit to be black and gold and look obviously like a ninja suit. Everyone would remember a costume like that. Clint has reservations about being a branded superhero because of his shame about his time as Ronin. Clint becoming a branded superhero by the end of the series represents him overcoming that shame.

Episode 4

• Clint and Kate watch It's a Wonderful Life, which is about a man who is deaf in one ear. Clint no doubt related to George Bailey.
• Clint describes himself as a weapon who was aimed at the right targets by the right people, So it makes sense that when he's not being directed by Shield or the other Avengers, his superhero alter ego is "Ronin", i.e.) the term for a leaderless samurai.

Episode 5

• When Yelena is blipped and brought back a second later, the bathroom slowly morphs from its previous appearance five years ago to its current state. The change starts in the corner where she's looking and moves at the same speed she looks around; basically the new décor is replacing the old in her memory. It's an intentionally jarring and confusing effect, representing her mind processing her surroundings suddenly changing in a split second.
• Yelena consistently pulling off the Three-Point Landing after initially complaining about how Natasha used to do it makes much more sense if one takes her Big Sister Worship of Nat into account. With her gone, Yelena probably wants to emulate her sister as much as possible to emphasize how much she loved her, even if it's doing something she personally dislikes.
• Natasha keeping part of her hair blonde even as her natural color grew out in Endgame makes sense considering Yelena was Blipped. It's entirely possible that Nat couldn't bear to cut off or dye her hair, and kept it blonde as a reminder of her sister.
• When Eleanor is helping Kate patch up, she applies a band-aid to Kate’s forehead injury the wrong way, parallel to it rather than than perpendicular to it like Clint did, to properly close the wound. This is a metaphor for Eleanor loving Kate but not knowing how to do it right.
• Both Yelena and Natasha employ the tactic of putting on a performative, softer persona to manipulate people, but with key differences. In The Avengers (2012), Natasha feigns being weak and vulnerable to trick her targets into giving up valuable information. Yelena however, instead acts casual and friendly but does it as a way of establishing dominance over Kate Bishop by trolling her.
• Why is Kazi motivated to find and kill Ronin? At first, it seems it's because he wants vengeance for Ronin murdering several of the Mafia's men as well as to help Maya, but it's actually because he doesn't want Maya to figure out that he and Kingpin are complicit in her father's murder.
• Why does Ana fight Yelena and Sonya when she isn't brainwashed? That's because she assumed that Yelena and Sonya are brainwashed Widows or that they are assassins hired to kill her.
• Clint seems exasperated by the idea of Kate calling an Uber under a fake name to get them out of there, but given that she doesn't have a license, it's actually not such a terrible idea

Episode 6

• There's a nod to the tale of The Sons and the Spears — where the original tale explains unity in strength by showing how hard it is to break a whole bunch of spears, or arrows in other versions, Kingpin is strong enough to break a bundle of arrows. His true strength comes from his control of numerous people, like Derek and then Eleanor.
• A case of Fridge Heartwarming, as learning that Yelena was still around apparently helped Clint find closure as well. He states outright that Natasha sacrificed herself, but Yelena argued that Clint (who had at the time been Ronin for five years) didn't deserve it. It wasn't for him so much as it was for her.
• The revelation that Eleanor has been working with Fisk at least partly to try and protect Kate, just as Kate was determined to become a hero to try and protect Eleanor, means that Kate and Eleanor both act as a parallel to the origin stories of two other famous comic book characters. To explain: two people witness the death of at least one beloved family member through sudden violence, one as a child and one as an adult. The child witness decides that they need to grow up to protect the people they care for and try and make sure such a tragedy never happens again, and in doing so embraces an idealistic, hopeful and somewhat flashy approach as a costumed crimefighter, training themselves to the peak of their abilities in their chosen fields. The adult witness decides the same thing, but instead hardens and turns to more morally and ethically murky and brutal methods of doing achieving such goals, up to and including murder, convinced that such an approach is the only realistic way of dealing with a cold, brutal and violent world where such things happen. Yes, that's right: Kate and Eleanor essentially share the origins of and adopt the worldviews of Batman and The Punisher respectively, meaning that one family tragedy demonstrates how both characters could go down such different paths from the same basic starting point.
• Why does Clint not know how to reverse the effects of the Pym Particle arrows? Because unlike Scott, he doesn't use Pym Particles as constantly. Scott knows how to combine and reverse the effects of Pym Particles because it's a basic part of being Ant-Man, but Clint mainly knows "blue grows, red shrinks" and applies the arrows as necessary, and as such, he wouldn't have a need to know how to reverse the effects of whichever set of particles he used on someone.
• Clint using the same arrow he was firing at Kazi to split an arrow probably helped Kazi catch Clint's arrow. Splitting an arrow reduced the velocity of that arrow. This is probably why Clint is not surprised by Kazi catching his arrow. Clint was probably okay with this too because he isn't actively trying to kill the Tracksuits.
• While it's funny to see Kate use the label maker on trick arrows, it also makes sense to show her inexperience relative to Clint. As highlighted on his character page, Clint knows exactly when he draws an arrow, what it'll do. Kate doesn't have that experience... yet.
• Kate has most of the area of effect trick arrows. There's a good chance that Clint gave most of those arrows to Kate because Kate has less experience fighting hordes of enemies while Clint has fought whole armies.
• The escaping crowd immediately listen to the LARPers when they put on their costumes, which can be explained as people being used to seeing the Avengers (people with costumes) saving others in times of crisis. They probably believed the LARPers are some superheroes showing up to save the day. It's basically the same reaction you can expect at people seeing the police or the firefighters in a crisis (which the LARPers actually are).
• Viewers familiar with NYC point out that Rockefeller Center being devoid of police on Christmas Eve is unrealistic, but given the presence of both the Kingpin and Eleanor Bishop, it's very plausible that they were paid off and/or given the time frame, busy with other emergencies.
• The new Hawkeye suits fulfill functionality as Clint would have wanted and branding as Kate would have wanted. The suits are skintight and can be easily worn under regular clothes, which suits a covert operative and would allow the Hawkeyes to not stand out if they need to hide. The suits are also colorful and flashy and will tell bystanders who they are right away, which would inspire confidence and ease fear in them.
• It makes sense that Kingpin would want Eleanor to keep being affiliated with him. Eleanor runs a security company with an app that allows you to track people’s phones. This is probably how she tracked down Armand III and orchestrated his death and how Kingpin finds people in New York.
• Kingpin freaking out that an Avenger is involved in his business makes perfect sense, when you remember that the Avengers doesn't have any problem dealing with mundane terrorist groups like HYDRA, Crossbones' group, etc. And considering how those groups ended, Kingpin is right in being worried, especially when half of the Avengers are superpowered people that Kingpin's mooks had no means to stop.

Rogers: The Musical

• The musical focusing on Steve Rogers rather than any of the other Avengers fits with the lore that Captain America started out as a celebrity and has a whole museum dedicated to him, establishing that he has more fame and mythology around him than the other Avengers.
  • Calling it Rogers: The Musical, rather than using the Captain America codename, also makes sense for clarity since that title has a new owner now.
  • Steve is also more relatable than any of the other OG Avengers, save maybe Bruce. Clint and Natasha no doubt have heavily redacted backgrounds, Tony is a billionaire genius, and Thor an alien prince. Steve, though, is a Humble Hero who grew up in New York, liking baseball, having trouble talking to women, etc. It makes complete sense why they would choose him.
• Ant-Man is among the musical's Avengers line-up during the Battle of New York despite the mantle not being active at the time (as it was between Hank Pym and Scott Lang's tenures). There are some possible explanations:
  • The writers knew that Scott Lang was present in New York at the time, albeit as a member of the Time Heist, and got muddled on the details while putting the book together.
  • The character was shoehorned in because he provides additional merchandising opportunities.

Fridge Horror

Episode 1

• The Ronin sword and suit were somehow recovered in secret from the wreckage of the Avengers Compound, only to end up on the black market. It makes one wonder just what else might have been dug out, only to end up in the wrong hands.

Episode 2

• Clint points out to Kate that wearing the Ronin suit draws the attention of everyone he crossed while using that mantle, which is proven when the Tracksuit Mafia track Kate down, believing her to be the actual Ronin even though she would be too young. So what does this mean for the LARPer who stole the suit and made a freaking Tik-Tok about his "sick new costume"? How many criminals, especially Stupid Evil ones like the Tracksuits, will come after him thinking he's either Ronin or to find out where he found the suit?
  • It can be safe to assume Grills won’t be in trouble because not only are the Tracksuit Mafia essentially gone by the finale, Grills is a firefighter and he did make a video on Tik-Tok, a public app. Kidnapping or killing him will basically invite investigation, especially since several of his friends are cops.
  • At worst, they'd probably just be directed to Hawkeye having gotten it...if Hawkeye didn't straight out give permission for Grills to post that, considering.

Episode 4

• Clint describes Yelena as a Black Widow assassin and is not particularly surprised that one is sent after him. It implies the numerous people Natasha freed from the Red Room just went on doing the same thing as mercenaries instead of under Dreykov's orders, instead of using their skills for good or finding a new life for themselves. After all, we already saw Helen, a liberated Black Widow, Fight Clubbing under Xialing in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.
  • Alternatively, the freed widows weren't able to rescue their fellow Widows and someone else took up the reins of their mind control to keep using them.
  • Episode 5 confirms that at least one of the former Widows became a contract killer, and made enough to have a very nice mansion.
• That the 'Thanos Was Right' sentiment seems wide-spread enough for there to be coffee mugs with the phrase imprinted on it instead of just toilet graffiti, implying there are many in society who believe the Avengers undoing the Snap was a mistake and that half of humanity should never have returned. The actions of the Flag-Smashers have probably radicalized this even further.
• When Clint goes to sleep, he finds himself with nightmares that seem to indicate some form of PTSD, most notably about Natasha's death. He ends up living through something close to it later on as he sees Kate hanging off the zip line, which has striking parallels to him trying to hold on to Natasha on Vormir. Presumably, that moment was followed by him realizing that the person attacking them was a Black Widow, and that was the straw that broke the camel's back. In utter fear, it causes him to cut off his partnership with Kate to try and make sure that it doesn't happen again.

Episode 5

• Why is Clint afraid of the Kingpin getting involved in any capacity when it seems like the events of Daredevil (2015) are completely disconnected from the main MCU? Well, given that Clint was going after any and all organized crime during his tenure as Ronin, it's entirely possible that he killed several important people involved with Fisk's activities. And Fisk learning the true identity of the Ronin might motivate him enough to try to get revenge...
  • Also worth noting that Kingpin originally built his empire by skimming off the rebuilding projects after the Battle of New York. During the Blip, there was even more chaos, so it's likely that he's even more powerful now.
  • Or if the events of Daredevil are indeed canon, then Clint would likely be aware that Fisk had the entire FBI in his back pocket and is somehow back on the streets after facing a certain life sentence. There's no telling how deep his corruption runs.
  • One explanation that helps give flesh to the rotting/depressed state of the post-Snap world in Endgame is that it is likely the people involved in keeping Fisk in jail and out of resources were also Snapped. Subsequently, five years would be enough for Fisk to reassemble his power in prison, not to mention build new business contacts like Eleanor Bishop (assuming she wasn't already back in the day).
    • Episode 6 confirms Eleanor was involved with Fisk before, following the Battle of New York.
  • Which brings the question of why Matt didn't stop him, when at the end of season 3, he made an agreement for Fisk to stay in jail in exchange for keeping his identity secret as well as leaving Karen and Foggy alone, or else he'd make sure Vanessa would get arrested for ordering the murder of Ray Nadeem. Given that Matt is only known as a "very good lawyer" by the Parkers, it's all too likely that he was among the casualties of the Snap. Imagine having just put your mortal enemy away for good, only to suddenly jump five years forward and for him to have returned to so much power that he can risk meeting in public...
    • It’s very possible that something happened to Matt's deal with Fisk. Fisk will not break out of prison as long as Vanessa is not exposed for ordering Nadeem's murder. By the end of season 3, Fisk's new assassin Benjamin "Dex" Poindexter tried to kill Vanessa as revenge after Matt revealed to him that Fisk had his "North Star" Julie Barnes killed. By the end, Dex is getting experimental surgery to fix his broken back. There's a chance Dex successfully killed Vanessa because she is not mentioned at any point in this series and even if Matt was Snapped, he could still act on his deal and get Vanessa imprisoned. If Vanessa is dead or even just imprisoned, Fisk doesn't have to abide by his deal with Matt anymore.
• The beginning of the episode is a flashback that happens concurrently with the end of Infinity War (and the third act of Endgame). To Sonya and Ana, Yelena just walked into a bathroom that day... and never walked back out (until five years later).
  • From Yelena's perspective, she just walked into the bathroom and, in just a second, five years passed and, unaware of this at the moment, her sister Natasha is dead. She's justifiably confused trying to make sense out of this.
• Yelena being one of the victims of the Snap explains why Natasha looked so depressed back in Endgame. It's more than likely that Nat sought out her family to check their well-being, only to find that (at least) her sister was dusted. It also explains why she was the first Avenger to agree with Scott's plan; she misses Yelena so much that she desperately takes the first opportunity to bring her back, even if the chances of success are near nonexistent.
• The Reveal that Eleanor was Evil All Along paints practically all of her interactions with Kate in a horrifying new light. All of her attempts to curb her daughter's reckless habits now seem less like a mother looking out for her child and more like Eleanor attempting to gaslight Kate into giving up control of her life. It also suggests that despite her seemingly loving relationship with Jack, she either saw him as a pawn the entire time, or was willing to throw a man she loved under the bus purely for personal gain, all of which makes one worry what she might be willing to do to Kate if she realizes that her daughter is trying to stop her.
• The Kingpin met Eleanor in public, something he would have never done before the Blip. During the events of Daredevil, he would meet people in private in his hotel suites (in season 3) or in privately rented restaurants (in season 1), for both his own safety and to escape media attention, and he generally insulated himself from the people carrying out his orders by using people like James Wesley as intermediaries. Whatever has occurred since his last appearance, he's somehow become secure enough to risk speaking to Eleanor on the sidewalk, where anyone could see them. Worse, Eleanor has no issue with it getting out that she is meeting with an infamous criminal, meaning Fisk's public reputation has somehow been repaired.
• A woman who ran a security company is revealed to be working for the Kingpin. Who knows how much damage he was able to do using her influence and resources?

Episode 6

• What exactly happened to the miniaturized van full of tracksuit mafia members after the owl grabbed them? One shudders to think of crew becoming morsels for baby owls.
  • Even if they escape that, they're likely to die from lack of miniaturized air, vans not being airtight and if they avoid both of those fates, being shrunk without proper equipment gives you brain issues. Nothing good happened to those people.
• If Fisk survived what Maya did to him, he knows Maya, Eleanor and the Hawkeyes all crossed him and apparently got away with it. He's going to be coming for revenge. The only thing that could stop him from killing the Hawkeyes is the fear of having the rest of the Avengers avenging them by going after him. After all, that fear is what stopped Dreykov from going after Natasha, even if he had better resources than Fisk.
  • Kate, Clint, and their families will probably be safe, since it's doubtful Fisk would want to make an enemy of the other Avengers (and SHIELD, which is slowly rebuilding) unless he absolutely has to. Maya, on the other hand...