Dude Perfect Trick Shots: Untold Stories

Hawkeye is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist Don Heck, the character debuted as an antagonist of Iron Man in Tales of Suspense #57 (September 1964) before joining the Avengers in The Avengers #16 (May 1965). Hawkeye has appeared as a regular member of multiple Avengers titles since 1965 and received his first solo miniseries in 1983. A fourth volume of his self-titled series, launched in 2012 by writer Matt Fraction and artist David Aja, brought significant critical reappraisal of the character. Clinton Francis "Clint" Barton is introduced as an orphan who trains as an archer with a traveling carnival before being inspired by Iron Man to pursue costumed heroism. A misunderstanding leads him into a brief criminal career under the influence of the Soviet spy Black Widow, after which he reforms and joins the Avengers. He subsequently co-founds and leads the West Coast Avengers, marries fellow superhero Mockingbird, and later leads both the Thunderbolts and various other Avengers configurations. He has no superhuman powers, relying instead on world-class archery, a supply of customized trick arrows, and combat training. He has sustained partial hearing loss on two separate occasions during his publication history, which has been depicted with increasing depth since Matt Fraction and David Aja's 2012 run. Hawkeye stories have explored the psychological tension between the extreme confidence required of a non-powered hero operating alongside superhumans and the deep insecurity that the same powerlessness produces. Early stories established his abrasive relationship with authority and his pattern of quitting and rejoining teams in response to perceived slights. His redemption arc, from inadvertent villain to trusted Avenger and eventual mentor to Kate Bishop, has been described by scholars as among the most developed examples of character rehabilitation in the Avengers franchise. The Fraction/Aja run represented a significant shift in emphasis, foregrounding his vulnerability and engaging seriously with his deafness as both a formal and thematic element. The run's treatment of disability, particularly the 2014 issue told substantially through untranslated American Sign Language, has received sustained academic attention for its shift from the medical to the social model of disability. Hawkeye has been adapted into a variety of other media, including film, animated series, and video games. A version of the character was portrayed by Jeremy Renner in the Marvel Cinematic Universe from his first appearance in Thor (2011) to his most recent one in Hawkeye (2021).