YMMV / Hawkeye (2021)

• Adorkable:
  • Kate might be a Badass Adorable Action Girl, but she's clumsy and often dorky, such as her Squeeing over Clint.
  • Yelena's entire trip to Kate's apartment is pretty much Yelena at her best. While she refers to Kate by her full name, it's pretty funny and adorable to see her casually stroll into Kate's apartment, help herself to some mac and cheese, and talk about all the New York tourist destinations she wants to visit… all while she casually discloses her intentions to kill Clint, too.
  • Turns out Jacques is just a dork who's really into swords, loves Kate's mom, and is trying to hard to connect with his soon-to-be stepdaughter, spouting malapropisms left and right.
• Alternative Character Interpretation: Eleanor Bishop. Was her decision to ally herself with Kingpin so she could maintain the family's wealth really done for Kate's sake? Or was she just using Kate as an excuse and her true motivation was that she did not want to return to living a life without wealth and status?
  • In the final episode, was Jack's decision to join the fight a sign that he was really a hero the whole time, or did he just jump in because it was a chance to show off?
• Awesome Music:
  • Andy Williams' "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" playing throughout the initial trailer gives it a fun and bouncy rhythm and perfectly ties into the premise of An Ass-Kicking Christmas. It also plays during the first episode's credits.
  • Depeche Mode's "Christmas Island", which is used for Maya's intro scene.
  • Trans-Siberian Orchestra's "A Mad Russian's Christmas" playing during the scene where Clint and Kate hot wire a car to escape the Tracksuit Mafia in Episode 3.
  • While Rogers: The Musical is played for Stylistic Suck and only bits of one of the songs, specifically "Save the City" is actually heard in the show itself but when the full version was released it turned out to be a rocking piece of pure Narm Charm, to the point that those who weren't already sold on the concept want to see the full play. The season finale ends with a live performance of the song.
  • The score is pretty catchy. "Hawkeye's Theme" is Bond-esque and takes cues from the Avengers’ Theme to tie him together with The Avengers.
  • "Christmas Time Is Here" (from A Charlie Brown Christmas), which has always sounded a little somber, plays in episode 5 when Clint and Kate are both feeling at their lowest.
  • The penultimate episode ends with "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch" that coincides with the return of Wilson Fisk.
• Badass Decay: Wilson Fisk's return is not quite as impressive as expected. After being an almost untouchable threat in Daredevil (2015), Fisk manages to be taken down within one episode of his debut here, losing a fight to a brand new superhero (even though he's physically Taken A Level In Badass) and getting shot in his last scene, though almost nobody actually thinks he's dead. It was later stated by Vincent D'Onofrio that Kingpin lost much of his power in the wake of Thanos's snap, so this trope was actually intended to an extent, but it's still a remarkably poor showing from a character who was previously portrayed as exceptionally dangerous and effective.
• Broken Base:
  • Wilson Fisk's reappearance in this show has many people torn over whether it was a good return to form for the Kingpin or not. Some felt that the show made him less intelligent and significantly harder to take seriously due to his defeat at both Kate and Maya's hands, and that his appearance in the show was crammed into the final episode simply to build unnecessary suspense. Others are just happy to see Vincent D'Onofrio return to the role again, as well as open up new opportunities for Daredevil to connect to the MCU at large.
  • The reception of Rogers: The Musical is also contentious amongst fans. Some people think it's a legitimately great Show Within a Show that they wouldn’t mind going to in real life, while others agreed with the Barton family that it was a cringeworthy creation and the jokes surrounding it got old quickly.
  • The inclusion of Maya Lopez a.k.a. Echo raised some controversy among fans, especially after it was announced she'd get her own series before Hawkeye even debuted. Some feel like her presence here is forced - especially as she's usually a Daredevil supporting character with no connection to Hawkeye in the series - and just to set up her series, while her character is also seen by some as pretty one-dimensional and bland. Others like the character for being a badass and for the representation of a deaf Native American woman who is also an amputee, and are really exited to see what's next for the character. Her last scene in the series being seemingly shooting Kingpin in the head doesn't help either side, with some crying foul and saying he should have one last showdown with Daredevil or be integrated into the Spider-Man mythos as he is in the comics, and others enjoying it as a satisfying moment in Echo's arc.
• Catharsis Factor: While it's unknown if Fisk survived or not in the finale, Maya shooting him after all the horrors he’s committed in both this series and Daredevil (2015) is quite a satisfying sight to see.
• Crosses the Line Twice: In the final episode, Kate fires a Pym Arrow at a Trust-a-Bro truck that shrinks them. Kate and Clint ask what happens to them with Clint stating he'd have to talk to Scott about it. Then the owl that was stuck in the tree takes it away and a nonplussed Clint goes, "Oh. ...that works."
• Ensemble Dark Horse:
  • Lucky the Pizza Dog has little importance to the plot after the first episode. The audience doesn't care. He immediately got fans for being an adorable golden retriever. It's telling that many fans were terrified in the first episode when it looked like he was going to be run over by traffic.
  • Grills is part of the LARP Cast Herd. While he did steal the Rōnin suit at first and wore it to a LARP event without realizing its significance, he quickly proved himself to be a genuinely funny Nice Guy that treats Clint with the respect that an Avenger deserves. He also looked after Lucky (even teaching him some tricks) during the events of the fourth and fifth episodes.
  • Jack Duquesne counts as this trope once it's revealed he's not a villain of any kind, nor is he Swordsman in the MCU. He is just a dorky guy who likes swords and genuinely wants to be a good stepdad to Kate.
  • Tomas and Ivan, the two members of the Tracksuit Mafia who get the most characterization aside from Maya and Kazi, are remarkably popular for characters who are basically mooks. Special mention goes to Tomas for opening up to Kate about his relationship troubles and taking advice from her - an odd type of interaction that you don't often see in media.
  • The owl that Clint encounters in the Christmas tree in the final episode, referencing Rocky the Owl, has won fans since they found the tiny owl as cute and adorable, and many fans also loved that the owl flew and took the miniaturized truck with the Tracksuit Mafia members.
  • Anyone who wasn't won over by Yelena Belova after Black Widow (2021), probably was after this series. She's still a Badass Adorable with great action sequences. Her casually breaking into Kate's apartment to chat is really entertaining, as are all following interactions between Yelena and Kate.
• Epileptic Trees:
  • Considering that Spider-Man: No Way Home's final swing took place over the Rockefeller Center, where the Hawkeye finale also takes place^note And that both took place at Christmas, with the iconic tree and skating rink in full view, rampant speculation was cued that Spidey himself may help the Hawkeyes finish off what they started. Ultimately, he does not. Although jokes were raised about Peter possibly missing the fight, given that the Christmas tree is still intact...
  • Following the finale’s reveal that Laura Barton is a former S.H.I.E.L.D. agent (Specifically, Agent 19), some Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. fans have begun pushing theories that Bobbi Morse is being treated as a Decomposite Character, with Laura taking the Agent 19 name & position as Hawkeye’s love interest, or that Bobbi simply took up the Mockingbird mantle following Laura’s retirement.
• Evil Is Cool: Echo isn't portrayed as evil, but she's still a criminal antagonist and supplies a cool intensity whilst putting up a strong fight against our heroes.
• Fandom Rivalry: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. fans didn't respond kindly to the revelation that Laura Barton is the former Agent 19 (a.k.a. Mockingbird in the comics) of S.H.I.E.L.D. due to S.H.I.E.L.D. using Bobbi Morse in the second season; it doesn't help that at this time, it’s unclear if it's a case of Adaptation Distillation Legacy Character, and/or Decomposite Character. The issue isn’t helped by Marvel Studios coming off as dismissive of the Marvel Television era of shows, or Disney Plus not including those shows within the MCU subcategories.
  • Fans of the Matt Fraction/David Aja/Anne Wu run of the comics, which served as the visual inspiration of the series, are not particularly happy with the series, with some even declaring a boycott after it came out David Aja was not even credited, never mind financially compensated, for how much the show lifts from the comics he drew, particularly the credits. Even putting that aside, the show deviated so heavily from the comics in terms of Clint and Kate's characterisations, relationship, and the overarching plot of the series, some cry foul on the fact, particularly since the MCU is already an Audience-Coloring Adaptation of Marvel that have had a negative impact on Clint's characterisation already in the past, and so some are concerned of the same happening to Kate.
• Fanfic Fuel:
  • Since we only get the "Save the City" song, Rogers: The Musical is a great breeding ground for those who want to envision what the musical would really be like.
  • With the final episode revealing that Laura Barton is a former S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, that means there are an untold number of adventures that the character could have had. Especially since she's seemingly Mockingbird, this opens the door for a lot of ideas on how Clint and Bobbi's comic book history together could be implemented over them.
• Fan-Preferred Cut Content:
  • The cut flashbacks that depict a young Clint with his mother are mourned by those who want more of his backstory explored.
  • Quite a few people, particularly Daredevil fans, were confused as to why a few of the deleted scenes with Wilson Fisk didn't make it into the show proper, as they felt it did a tremendous job explaining how Eleanor got involved in Fisk's circle, and further developed his relationship with Maya Lopez.
• Friendly Fandoms:
  • Musical theatre fans tuned in to watch the show when it was revealed that Adam Pascal (who originated the role of Roger in RENT) had a cameo in the Rogers: The Musical scene. Save the City features vocals of some other Broadway performers: Derek Klena, Bonnie Milligan, Ty Taylor, Rory Donovan, Christopher Sieber, and Shayna Steele. On the non-singing front, Fra Fee and Brian d'Arcy James are also musical theatre actors.
  • Fans of Daredevil (2015) immediately tuned into the show when hints that Wilson Fisk would appear on the show began circulating on the internet. Of course, the second that Fisk was indeed confirmed to be the Big Bad of the series immediately won said fans over.
  • Let's just say that as soon as word got out over who was playing Kate Bishop, the Steinfam practically came in droves.
• Genius Bonus: Kate mentions the title "Earl of Sandwich" in the second episode. The modern sandwich is named after a man who held this title in the eighteenth century.
• Harsher in Hindsight:
  • The third episode shows Maya's father being killed by Ronin and him dying in her arms. This already sad scene became even more tragic as Maya's actress Alaqua Cox's real-life father passed away the day the episode aired.
  • A bulk of Clint's narrative weight in this series is dealing with how his heroics, despite giving him and his family a pretty stable and safe position (their five-year disappearance in the Snap notwithstanding), is beginning to grind him down more than he admits. Jeremy Renner would later suffer a near-fatal accident in New Year 2023 with a snow plow trying to save his nephew.
• Heartwarming in Hindsight:
  • Clint's usage of Pym technology for his arrows even after Hank was resurrected by the Blip seems very bizarre when first viewed here, given how notoriously possessive Hank is of his creation. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania later reveals that not only did Hope van Dyne become CEO of Pym Technologies and start sharing Pym Particles to the public, but Hank himself has taken a level in kindness, and approves of sharing his technology. Thus, Clint having access to Pym arrows indicates that he's on good terms with not just Scott, but his whole family now.
  • Some cast and crew including Jeremy Renner learned sign language in order to better communicate and work with Alaqua Cox (Maya Lopez). After Renner was critically injured in a snowplow accident at the start of 2023, he was able to communicate in sign language as he recovered.
• He's Just Hiding: Maya seemingly shoots Fisk in the final episode, but considering the popularity of Vincent D'Onofrio's version of Kingpin, that the shooting took place off-screen, that Kingpin survived a similar interaction in the comics (albeit being blinded from it) and that he was shown to survive being run over by Eleanor and a much more deadly looking explosion just prior, very few fans believe that Kingpin is actually dead. Sure enough, he's confirmed to show up in Echo and Daredevil: Born Again.
• I Knew It!:
  • Yelena being a victim of the Snap was confirmed in Episode 5, after previous hints indicated as much.
  • Ever since his actor began hinting at it early during the show's episodic releases, fans had long suspected that Wilson Fisk would show up in the series. They were proven right in the fifth episode, where he's shown on a picture standing next to Eleanor Bishop.
  • Likewise, many theorized that Eleanor Bishop would be revealed as a villain, with Episode 5 confirming that she was involved with the Kingpin.
  • Given her extreme understanding of Clint's activities and surprising display of espionage skills in Episode 4, quite a few people predicted The Reveal that Laura Barton was a former S.H.I.E.L.D. agent and the original owner of the mysterious Rolex watch.
• Just Here for Godzilla: Some fans of Daredevil (2015) were taken into the series by rumors the Kingpin might return in those series, otherwise uninterested. After the finale episode was released there were some just watching those episode.
• Les Yay: Kate/Yelena immediately exploded overnight due to their interactions in Episode 5. The final episode has Kate suggest that she and Yelena go out for drinks and both of them take the time to compliment each other's fighting moves. Kate even tells Yelena to "stop making me like you".
• Like You Would Really Do It: Not many thought Kingpin would really be dead after being shot in the head by Maya, off-screen after all, after it's the first time a character from a Netflix-series shows up in a Marvel Studios-property and being Daredevil's Arch-Enemy. Marvel doesn't even try to pretend he's dead as they announced his appearances in both Echo and Daredevil: Born Again.
• Magnificent Bastard: Clint Barton/Hawkeye and Wilson Fisk/Kingpin. See this page for details.
• Memetic Mutation:
  • Hawkeye looking down on the urinal graffiti in the first episode but with "Thanos was right" replaced with something else.
    • The IMDB listed the aforementioned scene under "Sex and Nudity" in the Parent's guide section, which had a lot of people joke how excited they were about getting some sexual content in the series only to be disappointed to find out that it was just Clint taking a leak in a bathroom with nothing explicit at all.
  • We owe Jacques an apology.^ExplanationThroughout the entire show, many fans assumed that Jacques was involved with the Tracksuit Mafia. The penultimate episode reveals he's being framed and the final episode shows him arriving to save Kate with fans apologizing for misjudging him the entire time.
  • "It's like New York, all over again", "You and I remember New York very differently".^ExplanationFans joked that this show is going to be Yelena and Kate's version of Natasha and Clint's Budapest.
  • "Don't leave Eleanor, I wanna show you this W"^ExplanationThis comes from an image of Wilson Fisk confronting Eleanor Bishop after ripping her car door open, with the phrase inserted below him. It's often used by fans who show approval of something.
• Mis-blamed: Many fans of the Kingpin who weren't amused with his Hawaiian-Shirted Tourist appearance in this film believed Disney was responsible for the outfit change in order to make Fisk look intentionally sillier. In actuality, it was Vincent D'Onofrio himself who suggested the Hawaiian shirt, as an homage to the Family Business comic.
• Moe: Despite them both being capable Action Girls, Kate and Yelena both tend to get this reaction from fans.
  • Kate Bishop is quirky, klutzy and adorable in general (true to the roles that her actress Hailee Steinfeld usually plays and how she tends to be in person), and so sweet that she saved and adopted a lost dog in the middle of a fight scene. While Clint takes some time to warm up to her, the audience found her endearing and wanted to protect her right off the bat.
  • Yelena Belova manages to continue being just as adorable as she was in her debut film Black Widow (2021), despite her open intention and mission to kill Clint due to misinformation on how her sister really died. Her banter with Kate Bishop manages to somehow amp up the cuteness of them both even further, where Yelena’s genuine admiration for Kate's skill makes her come across as really sweet even in the role of an antagonist.
• Narm Charm:
  • Pairing the return of Wilson Fisk with "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch" sounds utterly ridiculous, but it actually works well with how Fisk essentially is ruining Clint's Christmas.
  • Kingpin shows up in the final episode in an uncharacteristically colorful and garish red Hawaiian shirt and a white suit (complete with a matching fedora, chain necklace, and cane), but despite this, his actor's performance remains convincingly intimidating.
  • A line from Eleanor Bishop in the series finale, “Is that what heroes do? Arrest their mothers on Christmas?” is rather cheesy, but it does fit with the character and the situation well enough to work.
• Older Than They Think:
  • Rogers: The Musical isn't the first time a Marvel character took to Broadway, though hopefully with a much less Troubled Production. In fact, it's probably the closest we'll get to that Captain America musical that almost happened in the 1980s.
  • Many hyped the series as being the first time a character first appearing in a Marvel Television-series debuts in a Marvel Studios-property with Vincent D'Onofrio reprising his role as Kingpin after Daredevil (2015). So some people seem to forgot Edwin Jarvis' cameo in Avengers: Endgame. However, Kingpin is the first character from the Marvel-Netflix-canon to appear in a Marvel Studios production, and he also plays a much bigger role in this show compared to Jarvis's brief cameo.
• Salvaged Story:
  • After the films not portraying Clint as deaf drew complaints from fans of the 616 Hawkeye, Clint is now portrayed as deaf in one ear and needing a hearing aid in the other thanks to his hearing being damaged by years of being caught up in explosions during battle.
  • A lot of people were disappointed that Clint's actions as Ronin seemingly became an Aborted Arc in Avengers: Endgame, other than heavily influencing his more cynical characterization in that film. This series shows us the ramifications of his actions and how dangerous it is just to wear the costume; not only did it create copycats, but people became criminals after their loved ones were killed by Clint in his grief-driven vigilante rampage.
  • Many people took issue with how Natasha's death in Avengers: Endgame was overshadowed by Tony's Heroic Sacrifice. Here, we see repeatedly that Clint is deeply affected by Natasha's death — it pains him to watch Rogers: The Musical (something his kids are aware of) and he even talks about it to Kate. On top of that, the revelation in the next episode that Yelena was a casualty of the Blip helps address the criticism that Natasha had been treated as (or at least considered herself as) less worthy of living given that Clint had a family whereas she didn't, allowing for the interpretation that she knowingly gave up her life to bring back Yelena.
  • Fans of the Netflix TV shows under the Marvel Entertainment brand who were disappointed at the shows' cancellation and the lack of direct references to them in the mainline MCU films (outside of Edwin Jarvis's cameo in Avengers: Endgame) were beyond overjoyed to see Wilson Fisk himself revealed as the true Big Bad of this show at the end of Episode 5. He's also explicitly shown to have the Super-Strength his comics counterpart has, rather than merely being a very big and strong human like in Daredevil (2015). Furthermore, the appearance of the exact same cufflinks in the finale that he wore in Daredevil finally confirms that the show is canon in the MCU.
  • Fans of the Hawkeye/Mockingbird ship haven't been happy that the couple have been separated in the comics in some part because of MCU synergy^note they broke up prior to the MCU in what was intended to be a temporary split before getting back together, but this became an Aborted Arc when the MCU began picking up steam and Hawkeye got retooled to better resemble his film counterpart; since then the couple have had a few teased reunions but have remained separated in large part because them being together might conflict with MCU fan expectations for his character., or that the Ultimate Comics character Laura Barton was his wife. The finale reveals that Laura Barton was Mockingbird after all, albeit either living under an assumed name, having an Adaptation Name Change, or that Bobbi Morse is Laura's successor. This issue is further complicated by Marvel Studios refusal to confirm if Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. remains canon to the MCU, as that series used Bobbi Morse as Mockingbird during the third season.
• Signature Scene: The car chase with the Trick Arrows, taken straight from Hawkeye (2012).
• She Really Can Act: For this being her acting debut, Alaqua Cox manages to make quite an impact as Echo, being able to do a lot for the character despite the character not having any spoken dialogue. Her facial expressions alone do a wonderful job of showcasing the tragic character that Maya really is, culminating with her holding Kazi as he's dying in her arms — with the regret and despair of having to kill her Only Friend, not unlike how she held her dying father in her arms all those years prior.
• Shocking Moments: The penultimate episodes reveals the Kingpin himself in all of his glory.
• Special Effect Failure: It's very obvious that none of the actors are using actual phones during scenes that feature them texting, as none of the places they're tapping actually correspond to the location of the buttons they'd need to press. Not to mention that autocomplete doesn't work that fast.
• Spoiled by the Format: In episode 5, Kate has one of the LARPers build her and Clint new costumes. A similar set up to Sam's Captain America uniform in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier — except these costumes have been used in pretty much every piece of promotional material for the series, including the show image on Disney+.
• They Changed It, Now It Sucks!: While mostly well liked, not everyone was a fan of how Kate’s character was changed drastically from the source material. Turning her from a competent, no-nonsense, badass into a rookie, screw-up who’s a fangirl of Clint. To some viewers, Kate felt a little too much like Emily Junk compared to her comic book portrayal.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character:
  • Wilson Fisk's reintroduction to the MCU had long been awaited, but despite being the Big Bad, he only properly appears in the finale. We wind up learning very little about what he's been up to since we last saw him, and multiple scenes that fleshed out his role and character wound up on the cutting room floor. Making matters worse is that he ends the series thoroughly beaten, and while very few actually think he's been killed off, his defeat feels incredibly rushed since we've only just started seeing him.
  • Jacques also feels misused in the finale. While many fans liked the reveal that he's been Good All Along, his role in the climax ultimately just amounts to him being one more good guy fighting Mooks, with him having no further effect on the plot. We also don't get to see how he reacted to Eleanor throwing him under the bus or talk with Kate about her mother and his fiancé not being the woman they thought she was. Given that his comic counterpart trained Clint, there could have even been a scene where he pledges to do the same with the new Hawkeye.
• Unexpected Character: While he is present in the comics that this show is inspired by, the inclusion of Kingpin was considered surprising given that the character's rights were tied up with Daredevil (2015) (coupled with how the Darker and Edgier nature of that show relative to the mainline MCU would have discouraged Marvel Studios from using ''Daredevil' characters) and that Vincent D'Onofrio would be returning.
• Unintentionally Unsympathetic: Grills the fireman and LARPer is supposed to come off as a cool guy and a friend to Kate and Clint, but he also stole someone else's property ^note  Admittedly, the Ronin suit didn't belong to Kate either, but she at least took it to hide her identity. As far as Grills knew, the Ronin suit was actually Kate's just for the heck of it. To some, it makes him look incredibly selfish.
• Watched It for the Representation: Echo's appearance in the show was widely praised for being a Deaf Native American who is handicapped and still capable of kicking ass.
• WTH, Costuming Department?: The Kingpin, who has always been dressed in subdued and monochrome suits in his previous appearances, shows up in a bizarrely garish ensemble which includes a patterned red and white Hawaiian shirt and a white fedora with a red band. While this is a reference to his outfit in the Spider-Man comic "Family Business", it's still a jarring choice. The Hawaiian shirt during Christmas time is especially odd.

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