Hawkeye's unique selling point as a character is that he's essentially a working class assassin - a blue collar ninja, a lethal family man slinging arrows around like Robin Hood. Not for him the sneaky duplicity of an undercover mission: he's the extraction expert, the guy they send in to rescue the first guy they sent in... or take them out. In most cases, the 'guy' has been Natasha Romanoff, the Black Widow, hence the rapport the two have struck up. Much like Stephen Amell in The CW's Arrow television series, Jeremy Renner has managed to make a bow and arrow seem hardcore, and his no nonsense, bluff exterior has become one of the more humanising elements of the Avengers. Renner's Hawkeye, an urbane urban ninja, is unspeakably cool. The same can't quite be said for the original version of Hawkeye, complete with purple costume and mask with a giant H on the forehead. Still, enough people are fans of the Clint Barton of the comics that he's also a fairly popular cosplay choice. The current Hawkeye comic book is a critically acclaimed best seller in which Barton attempts to do perfectly ordinary things away from the ridiculous stuff of his life with the Avengers, with limited success. This version of Hawkeye not only doesn't have little purple pouches attached to his upper arms, but wouldn't know what to put in them if he did.
Professional writer, punk werewolf and nesting place for starfish. Obsessed with squid, spirals and story. I publish short weird fiction online at desincarne.com, and tweet nonsense under the name Jack The Bodiless. You can follow me all you like, just don't touch my stuff.
