WHY HAWKEYE IS THE BEST AVENGER…. IN DEFENCE OF.

Although I will be making a post ranking each character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe next month, I thought I had to take some time to explain why Hawkeye is the best Avenger. If you have read any of my other posts; you will know that I think Hawkeye is the best Avenger. Many people ask me why; and I just tell them “because he is”, this is because I know it will turn into a massive argument, an argument that I cannot lose, I will not lose.

Hawkeye is a character that despite not exactly being shown love by the creators over at Marvel is still loved by the fans. And, whilst I was watching a video about the MCU yesterday, they once again took it upon themselves to insult the legend that is Hawkeye and I am sick of it. He is constantly the butt of all the jokes – picture this; there I was, loving Deadpool 2 and then they insulted Hawkeye, and now I hate it. So I am sick of this abuse, and I am going to defend and explain why Hawkeye is the best character in the MCU.

1] 100%

Well, first off we need to look at the statistics as to why he is the best Avenger. In the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe, not once did the Avengers lose to any villain. Whether that was Loki and his evil plan to take over Earth in the first Avengers or in the sequel where they swiftly pushed aside Ultron, and his network of robots.

But, for some reason the Avengers lost in the third film, why could that be? Could it be because it is the only Avengers film not to feature Hawkeye? Oh, I bet you think that is just a coincidence? But. I think not. Plus; we also have to take into account that fact that in the fourth Avengers, they will probably be able to defeat Thanos, and that is no doubt down to the one fact and one fact only. Hawkeye would be there firing them arrows (?) into Thanos. After all, he does have a 100% success rate.

Still not convinced, okay; lets go back to the first Avengers, for the first half of the movie Loki was winning, why was that……? Exactly, Hawkeye was on his brainwashed, things started to go bad the moment Hawkeye reverts to the Avengers.

2] NORMAL, GROUNDED

You probably don’t need an explanation as to why Hawkeye is just a normal guy after the additions to his character that Age of Ultron made to make this crystal clear. But, what I mean by him being grounded, goes much further than the fact he has a family and a normal (*ish) life but it also means his super-power. In the Avengers, there is a billionaire, a morse-God, a 90 year old Frisbee wielding super-solider and a raging green monster that was created at the expense of attempts to replicate that solider. That only leaves a super-spy who’s skill set we were exposed to in Iron Man 2 (and hasn’t really done enough either), and Hawkeye – another super-spy who just appears in the Avengers with a bow and arrow. Yet, he throughout all appearances holds his own against each one of these, hell; he even takes on Vision and Black Panther in Civil War.

3] LEADER

He may not lead the Avengers, but he is definitely one of the more senior figures in the MCU, and everyone seems to know this. His relationships between himself and Scarlett Witch highlight this, so to does his brief relationship with Quicksilver. When. I am talking about this most would assume I would refer to the scene he stands up to Scarlett Witch and tells her she needs to decide what she wants to do and if she was to walk out that door she would stand with him and be an Avenger. He showed he was a leader. But, for me; an even bigger scene that highlights this is a scene from Age of Ultron, the one below, where it dawns on him that he isn’t there because he needs them but rather because they need him. Plus, he literally mentions how it “all went to sh*t” since he retired.

4] LOW-KEY FUNNY

The MCU really hasn’t done Hawkeye justice in terms of character development espeically in the first Avengers. One of the reasons he is my favorutie avenger is because I loved him in the cartoon’s I used to watch when I was a child, he was one of the funniest characters. And this is something that the MCU has been able to hit the nail on the head for, with him delievering some fantastic one-liners. Like the one below, that apparently was improvised by Jeremy Renner himself, there is also the fact that he knows he is fighting all these heroes with just a bow and arrow and constantly trolls himself.

5] NO SOLO FILM AND YET STILL LOVED.

C’mon, I mean, out of all the main characters in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Hawkeye has to be the one that hasn’t been shown enough love, in the first Avengers, he’s taken away from the action for large parts of the film, the second Captain America film he isn’t even in, the third Captain America film is too crowded for him to really shine and the only film that has given him any amount of development is Avengers: Age Of Ultron. And yet, he is still loved by the public, I am going to touch more on this point later, but if you don’t believe that people love him, the outrage of the lack of Hawkeye in the Infinity War promotional material shows this. People were not happy that he wasn’t in Infinity War because he is such a loved character. Hopefully, providing he survives the fourth Avengers (he probably will), he can star along side Black Widow in her solo film and finally be given some love.

6] DEFINITION OF AN AVENGER

Ultimately, Hawkeye is the definition of what an avenger is, he is a normal guy, with normal powers, who fights for his friends and his loved ones. He is a leader and he’s respected, which is shown in one of my favourite scenes with him in. He is one of the original six, he can stand on his own among these billion dollar franchises and earn his place in the starting line-up. As I said before, it is shown in the back-lash to the lack of Hawkeye in Avengers. Plus, we might see a very different version of him in the upcoming Avengers 4; which will just add fuel to what I am saying and prove once and for all he is just the best Avenger.

Adam Zenasni