This holiday season, gifts come wrapped in a bow.
Hawkeye is a 2021 superhero miniseries created by Jonathan Igla. It is currently streaming straight to Disney+. The show will run for six episodes until December 22. It stars Jeremy Renner and Hailee Steinfeld. It is based off of various Hawkeye comics by Marvel Comics. The show shares continuity with the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It is the fifth show in the franchise, being preceded by What If...? and followed by Ms. Marvel, but it is the thirty-second project in the franchise, being preceded by Eternals and followed by Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. In chronology, it acts as a sequel to both The Avengers and Avengers: Endgame.
"You have to learn to jump between two worlds. Just by watching." -William Lopez
Plot
After being captured by the Tracksuit Mafia, Clint Barton and Kate Bishop try to escape. As they do, Clint realizes that he will never outrun the damage he caused as Ronin, so he and Kate fully embrace the battle against Maya Lopez and her crew. Meanwhile, the mystery of who killed Armand Duquesne still looms large.
If you haven't seen episode three of Hawkeye, stop reading here.
Episode 3 "Echoes" Mini-Review
This third episode is probably my favorite of the season thus far. While we've only truly had one full week of Hawkeye, it's hard to believe that we are halfway through the season. But here we are.
Jeremy Renner and Hailee Steinfeld really hit their stride in this episode. The chemistry between them is just glorious. They are so much fun to watch on screen together. What I really like about this show, though, is that we are following a more cynical Hawkeye, which we haven't seen before, because he has been a side character for ten years at this point. He's never been given the huge arcs and character moments, except in Endgame, which did a great job with his character. And they continue that momentum into this show.
Hailee Steinfeld brings the charm and fun again. She's different than Florence Pugh's Yelena Belova, but they do have some similarities. For one, I cannot wait to see both of them return in future projects. Hopefully, we eventually get Yelena in this show, because they did tease that in the after-credits of Black Widow.
The way that sound is used in this episode is also awesome. Since we are fully introduced to Echo this episode, who is deaf, they have a really cool sound design throughout the episode. It's a small addition, but it's cool.
The action was also vastly improved in this episode. It was shot with expert precision. There was a really cool scene (which we saw in the Marvel special on Disney+ day) where the camera did one long take as it rotated through the car. It was sick. I also loved exploring Hawkeye's arrows. His trick arrows have always been a part of the character, but we never really understand them. And they use some pretty fun arrows in this episode.
Finally, they are teasing the return of a major character. A lot of people claim they are major MCU fans and have not watched the Marvel Netflix shows like Daredevil, Jessica Jones, The Punisher, etc. Those do take place in the MCU, but they've never really been mentioned in the movies, so people don't feel the need to watch them. But it seems like they are crossing over into the main continuity.
But, if you didn't notice, they did not show the face of Echo's uncle. They talked about him and how he was super powerful and super scary. They never mentioned him by name. In the comics, Echo is the adopted daughter of none other than everyone's favorite crime lord, Wilson Fisk. Kingpin.
There had been rumors of this, so that's obviously what the show is building towards. And I am so excited to see that. Kingpin is one of my favorite comic book villains, and I was really sad that he was stuck in the Marvel Netflix shows. I was even more sad when Daredevil got canceled, and Kingpin was done forever. Well, it seems like that's not the case.
Final Thoughts
Echoes was a great, fun episode that flexed all of Hawkeye's muscles. I am very excited to see where they take this story and I cannot wait to see the return of D'Onofrio's Kingpin.
Fun Factor: 9/10
Acting: 8.5/10
Characters: 8.5/10
Story: 7.5/10
Quality: 8.5/10
"Hawkeye" "Echoes"
Created by Jonathan Igla
Rated TV-14 for superhero violence and action, disturbing themes and images, minor language
Released on December 1, 2021
43 minutes
Jeremy Renner as Clint Barton/Hawkeye
Hailee Steinfeld as Kate Bishop/Hawkeye
Alaqua Cox as Maya Lopez/Echo
Fra Free as Kazi
Tony Dalton as Jack Duquesne
Aleks Paunovic as Ivan
Zahn McClarnon as William Lopez Cade Woodward as Nathaniel Barton