Hawkeye

Orphaned at an early age, Clint Barton and his brother Barney escaped an oppressive orphanage and ran away to join the circus—the Carson Carnival of Traveling Wonders. The youth fell under the sway of the Swordsman, a charismatic fellow performer who teamed up with the talented Trick Shot and trained his young charge to be an expert with a bow and arrow. When Barton found his mentor embezzling funds from the show, he attempted to alert the authorities. But, instead, he suffered a beating from his roguish role model, bringing the apprenticeship to a violent end.

Recovering, but separated from both Swordsman and Barney, Clint continued to hone his archery aptitude, taking the name Hawkeye and wandering the world joining several circuses as he searched for greater purpose. Inspiration struck when Barton witnessed Iron Man in action and decided he would use his unique skill set to become a costumed Super Hero. Unfortunately for the would-be do-gooder, his initial outing ended in a misunderstanding that saw him labeled a criminal.

Before Barton could correct public perception, destiny brought him in contact with The Black Widow. The brave bow slinger immediately fell in love with the sultry spy. Using his attraction to manipulate the smitten archer, Widow set him against her nemesis, Iron Man. The duo clashed several times with the Armored Avenger before the Russian suffered an injury and escaped, leaving Hawkeye to reconsider his path and attempt to get back on the straight and narrow.

A chance encounter changed Hawkeye’s fortunes, as the bowman saved butler Edwin Jarvis and his mother from a mugger, earning him the gratitude of a key Avengers ally and an opportunity to align with Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. With Captain America recruiting a revamped roster for the team, Jarvis arranged for Clint to audition before Iron Man, impressing his old enemy and gaining his sponsorship. Hawkeyes would join Cap, Quicksilver, and The Scarlet Witch as the Avengers’ second generation, kicking off a long and distinguished tenure with the team.

Clint Barton finds a surrogate family and the stable home he lacked through his early years as a stalwart member of the Avengers. Though Hawkeye clashes with Captain America when they first meet—the brash youth questioning the leadership of the seasoned super soldier—the two ultimately form a close bond, with Cap taking on the role of first mentor and later proud peer. The archer also counts former enemy Iron Man and the temporarily time-displaced Two-Gun Kid among his closest confidantes within the ranks of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes.

Our merry marksman doubles as a hopeless romantic and has fallen for more than one of his teammates. His initial dalliance with Black Widow convinces the Soviet to reform; though the two have rekindled their affair more than once over the years, they find firmer footing as friends. Upon joining the Avengers, Hawkeye pines for The Scarlet Witch, earning the ire of her twin brother, Quicksilver. Clint even quits the team when Wanda Maximoff chooses the android Vision over him, but all parties eventually reconcile. After only one adventure alongside the magnificent Mockingbird, a smitten Clint proposes marriage to beautiful Bobbi Morse, and the duo go west together to found a new team of Avengers. Unfortunately, the honeymoon does not last forever, and these two strong-willed heroes aren’t able to make their marriage work, though they always have each other’s backs.

Perhaps nobody understands the Avenging Archer better than his protégé and namesake Kate Bishop, AKA Hawkeye too. Though mentoring a successor would mark maturity for most, more often than not Clint learns lessons from this extraordinary young woman, as much as vice versa. The two have been estranged on more than one occasion, stemming from conflicting philosophies when it comes to mission objectives. But, inevitably, they always reconcile, two straight arrows that fly true together.

When he’s not busy with Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, Clint Barton spends his days off continuing to do good in the community. Becoming superintendent of an apartment building in Brooklyn, the everyman Avenger insinuated himself into the lives of his tenants, trying to provide a better quality of existence in a manner less flashy than battling Super Villains or fending off extraterrestrial incursions. However, when danger descended on his homestead in the form of Russian mobsters and silent assassins, Clint rallied his allies, including Kate Bishop and his brother Barney, to safeguard the common man against those who would prey upon them.

Whether bringing his bow and arrow to Earth’s defense on a grand scale or taking to the streets and sticking up for the little guy, Hawkeye can be counted on to stand fast as one of the Marvel Universe’s staunchest champions for justice.