Hawkeye (616)

The Worlds Greatest Archer

## History:

**Clinton "Clint" Barton** aka **Hawkeye** is an American skilled marksman, archer, and former circus performer and minor supervillain turned member of the Avengers, "Earth's Mightiest Heroes". As a member of the Avengers, he always had friction with the team, but always returned to fight any threat. Barton was raised in the circus, trained by criminals, and grew from a troubled youth into one of Earth's greatest heroes. Known for his use of a bow and arrow as his primary weapon, his skill is so great that it appears like he never misses. He has worked with Black Widow, whom he developed a strong friendship with. For many years, he was married to fellow superhero Mockingbird, and together they were the original founders of the West Coast Avengers.

Clinton "Clint" Barton was the son of Harold Barton and Edith Barton. He grew up working in his father's Butchers shop in Waverly, Iowa with his older brother, Barney. Their father was abusive, especially when he drank and continually beat his young boys like Clint; Barney taught Clint how to fight and helped him to improve his aim. Harold's drinking eventually cost him his life along with his wife when both died in a car accident. Clint and Barney were sent to numerous foster homes; while running away from one of them, they encountered and joined a travelling circus where the pair worked as roustabouts. While a member of the circus, Clint was trained by the original Swordsman and by Trick Shot. Clint later found the Swordsman embezzling money from the carnival. Before he could turn his mentor over to the authorities, Clint was beaten and left for dead, allowing the Swordsman to escape town. Clint's relationship with his brother Barney and Trick Shot soon deteriorated as well.

### Becoming Hawkeye:

Clint adapted his archery skills to become a star carnival attraction, a master archer called "Hawkeye", otherwise known as “The World's Greatest Marksman”. He spent some time as a member of Tiboldt's Travelling Circus. After some time in the performance business, Barton witnessed Iron Man in action, and decided to try and emulate the hero by donning a colourful costume and employing his archery skills to fight crime. However, during his first public appearance, Hawkeye was mistaken for a thief by police. The Black Widow, at the time a Soviet agent, met Barton by chance and enlisted him as her partner. Together they clashed against heroes such as Spider-Man and Iron Man on several occasions.

### The Avengers:

Although Hawkeye became romantically involved with the Black Widow, he was unhappy being a criminal. When he approached the Avengers and told them of his desire to reform, Iron Man sponsored his membership on the team. Barton formed, along with Captain America, Scarlet Witch and her brother, Quicksilver, an incarnation of the Avengers known as "Cap's Kooky Quartet." This was the lineup that succeeded the original after the four remaining founders took indefinite leaves of absence. At first regarded as less formidable than the previous roster, the new team soon proved themselves against the likes of Kang the Conqueror and Doctor Doom.

Hawkeye remained an active member of the Avengers for years, his archery skills, and inventive trick arrows augmenting the superhuman powers of his associates. His carefree and rebellious personality meant that he sometimes argued with Captain America, believing he could make a better leader. Eventually, however, Hawkeye came to respect Cap more than any other Avenger and became one of his staunchest supporters.

## Since The Worlds Collided:

Hawkeye had joined The Avengers and immediately sprung into action by fighting Cordis Die. During the Siege of Wakanda, he had a disagreement with Captain Carter a Peggy Carter variant that became Captain America instead of Steve Rogers. After the initial disagreement both heroes put their differences aside and repelled the invading forces from teammate Black Panther's homeland.

Clint then fought Skeletor in Avengers Tower after the skeleton rival of He-Man came knocking. Despite the struggle, the team defeated him and sent him packing for now.

He, Iron Man and Captain America went to the Arctic and discovered that the League of Assassins had a temple in the middle of it preparing a ritual to bring back what they called a "Robot God" named Clockwerk. The three founding Avengers stopped the ritual and a unexpected assistance from Ikol Laufeyson writing a tale that Clockwerk was frozen in ice for over a millennia.

Clint's latest adventure was driving Sam to a portal in Naples to get him to the Central Nexus.

## Personality:

Clint is a man who asks a lot of questions and hates authority. He takes his chances to become a superhero. He gets things done if someone he follows has to bend the rules and fight dirty. Clint looks up to Captain America as his mentor, though may argue with him most of the time. He tends to be outspoken on many occasions, but he is good-natured, friendly and laid-back at heart.

## Powers, Abilities and Equipment:

Here are his powers and abilities [1]

Here is his equipment [2]

## Trivia:

* Clint's birthday is on June 18th. This date was chosen by Matt Fraction since it's Mark Gruenwald's date of birth. Gruenwald was a prolific Marvel creator, who also wrote and penciled Hawkeye's first mini-series.
* Hawkeye was ranked 44th on IGN's Top 100 Comic Book Heroes in 2011.
* Hawkeye was also ranked 9th in "The Top 50 Avengers."
* He was the first Marvel hero to join the Justice League of America from DC Comics. He joined in the comic crossover JLA/Avengers #3.
* Clint's "can't have" (i.e. the one woman he fancies but has no chance to be with) is Viper. He particularly likes her green hair and the way she dresses in green leather.
* *Blade Runner* is one of Clint's favorite movies.