Villain Profile: Electro

He's a living Lighting bolt and he's going to strike Spider-Man.

Hey, folks. Sorry to do this again, but I need to postpone my Spider-Man: No Way Home review until next month. I’ve got some real-life issues that took too much of my focus to do that write up. Instead, I’ll be doing the villain profile for one of the villains featured in the film. Who? Why, Electro of course. Electro is one of Spider-Man’s most iconic villains, often battling the wall-crawler, but never getting to bug zap Peter Permanently. Despite this, he’s inarguably one of Peter’s most powerful villains and always bounces back to try again. Let’s get to it, shall we?

 

Iconic? Yes. Stupid?
Also yes.

Maxwell “Max” Dillion had one of your box standard villain origins, his father abandoned him and his mother when he was a kid, mama Dillion worried that Max would leave her too so tried to keep him close and even sabotaging his dreams of becoming an electrical engineer to keep him close to home before she died when he was in his 20s. He had his own failed relationship, where his wife left him for an engineer who made more ambition than he did, making Max more resentful and angrier. While out repair powerlines one day, Max was struck by lightning. Rather than barbequing him, the strike triggered a mutation in Max, turning him into a living electrical capacitor. Just the simple movement of his muscles generate bolts of electricity. Initially, his powers were weak, but he stole Stark Industries tech to supercharge and enhance himself further. He kept to small crimes until he jumped up to murder, electrocuting a small-time thug he owed money. He dubbed himself Electro, then, and set his sights on the Daily Burgle for his first big crime. He broke into the office off Editor-in-Chief J. Jonah Jameson and stole his safe before Jameson’s own eyes. For some reason, Jameson thought Electro was Spider-Man in disguise, prompting Peter to clear his name for like the 47^th time. Electro was initially hard to defeat, his electrified body effectively making him a bug zapper to Spider-Man’s touch, but Peter eventually got him using a firehose to short him out.

 

Electro returned to battle Spider-Man as a member of the original Sinister Six, working under Doc Ock. He was the first of the Six to battle Spider-Man, leading the wall-crawler to a Stark Powerplant where Electro supercharged himself. Peter, believing himself to have lost his powers earlier, realize this wasn’t the case when he dodged Electro’s lightning strikes. Spider-Man was able to shut down the powerplant, cutting off Electro’s power and defeating him. He handed over a card telling Peter where to go to fight Kraven the Hunter. FYI, the original Sinister Six was Electro, Kraven, Mysterio, Sandman, Vulture and Doc Ock. Yeah, wasting one of your heaviest hitters in the first fight when Peter is at his freshest is very dumb, but Otto obviously wanted to be the one to kill him, and Otto is always willing to sacrifice a plan to get vengeance.

 

I don't think there've been heroes
that have gotten as many kinds of
burns as Peter Parker.

While Electro’s personal beef is with Spider-Man, he often works as a mercenary for other criminal types, so he’s faced off against several MCU heroes. He’s mostly gone up against Spider-Man allies and friends Daredevil and the Fantastic Four. His power has grown substantially over the years, making him a threat to all these heroes. He’s also been approached once or twice to join the Brotherhood of Mutants by Magneto. Apparently, he’s powerful enough that Magneto is willing to overlook the fact he’s not a natural born mutant. He’s joined several iterations of the Sinister Six and is usually the most powerful single member. Despite his immense electrical powers, he’s more of a follower than a leader so he’s more often than not working for someone else other than for himself. Power doesn’t make you smart.

 

Max Dillon was once a normal man with some skill as an electrical engineer. He gained his superpowers after being struck by lightning while holding live high-tension wires. He gained the ability to generate and absorb electrical energy, up to one million volts. While charged, he’s also superhumanly strong and fast. He’s can fly, initially just over electrical wires using the electricity within to give him lift but has since evolved to fly on electrical currents themselves. He can manipulate magnetism to a degree, much like Magneto. If he has an external power source, he can further enhance his powers. His biggest weakness is due to short circuiting. Throw water on him and he’ll overload and be rendered powerless for a short time. But, if he has enough power, he can protect himself from water by generating a powerful enough electromagnetic field to vaporize water. He also has a minor ability to control electronics.

 

Electro is one of Spider-Man’s more powerful and recurring villains. Most shows will include him at one point or another, and he appears sin most games. I’ll focus on the versions that I have some experience with.

 

The first Electro that I was introduced to wasn’t technically Max Dillon. In Spider-Man: TAS, he’s introduced as Rheinholt Schmidt in the multipart episode Six Forgotten Warriors. He worked alongside the Chameleon to manipulate Spider-Man, the Kingpin and the Insidious Six to gather the keys to activate the Red Skull’s doomsday weapon. He’s the biological son of Red Skull and Chameleon his stepbrother. They retrieve the Red Skull from the extradimensional prison he’d spent the last 50 years fighting Captain America in. The doomsday weapon it turns out is a device that turns Schmidt into Electro. Spider-Man, with the aid of the Six Forgotten Warriors and Captain America, recapture Red Skull and throw Electro into the prison as well, defeating him.

 

If I poked his face, would I lose a finger?

Max Dillon appears in the Spectacular Spider-Man. He appears in the episode “Interactions.” He’s an electrician hired to upgrade the electrical filter on a tank of electric eels. Dr.’s Kurt and Martha Connors are running an experiment to try to turn genetically modified electric eels as an energy source. An accident occurs and he’s electrocuted by the eels. He starts emitting a powerful electrical field and put into quarantine. He frees himself and goes on a violent spree. Peter battles him twice before drawing him back to the Connors lab to try to stop him. He’s able to knock Electro into a pool of water that shorts him out and knocks him out. He goes to prison but is released early for good behavior. This turns out to be a ruse in “Group Therapy” where he frees Doc Ock, Vulture, Sandman, Rhino, and Shocker to form the Sinister Six. They’re able to overcome Peter at first but are kind of obliterated by a Venom controlled unconscious Peter a short time later. He returns as part of the Sinister Six in “Reinforcements” and “Shear Strength.”

 

All these years later, I still wonder what
was with that chip in his head.

Jamie Foxx portrayed Max Dillon in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 in 2014. This version is a nobody looser that worships Spider-Man, having a little shrine to the webslinger in his apartment. He’s saved by Peter from being hit by a speeding truck which makes him idolize him more. Max is forced on his birthday to fix a powerline at the Oscorp Electrical plant. An accident occurs and he falls into one of the tanks of electric eels that they’re experimenting with for power. Max is seemingly killed, but is revived at the hospital with blue skin and lightning powers. He stumbles into Times Square, where Peter tries to talk him down. But, a sniper shot sets “Electro” off and he starts attacking everyone. Peter is able to stop him by hosing him off and he’s taken to Ravencroft for study. He’s freed by Harry Osborn, who wants to use him to get control of Oscorp back and get payback against Spider-Man. After getting Harry into the building and killing his rivals, Harry lets Max take over the city’s power gird as payment. He faces off against Spider-Man, who with help from Gwen Stacey can trap him long enough to get the grid up and running again, overloading Electro with power. This version, by the way, is designed after the Ultimate Comic’s run, which ditched his Green and Yellow costume for a blue skin look.

 

Name a bigger suit upgrade.

Foxx returns as Electro in Spider-Man: No Way Home. He is one of five villains brought into the MCU from alternate realities when Peter accidentally ruins a spell Doctor Strange was trying to use to make people forget he’s Spider-Man. He’s initially a sort of electrical wraith, but after absorbing enough electricity takes on physical form again. Though now looking like Jamie Foxx and not the nerd caricature he was in his own dimension. He’s captured and brought to the Sanctum Santorum. Upon learning that most of these villains will die upon returning to their home dimension, Peter choses to try to help them rather than send them back to die. Dr. Strange initially disagrees, but Peter traps him in a mirror dimension so he can work. Peter and an in-control Norman Osborn make a device to free Doc Ock from his tentacles’ control and make a device to drain enough of Electro’s electricity to return him to normal. He has a pretty good moment when he and Sandman agree that they need to be careful where they fall. Before the device finishes, Norman switches back to the Goblin and the villains all riot. Electro steals an arc reactor and hooks it up to himself. He and the other villains escape, only to be drawn to the Statue of Liberty to battle Spider-Man (MCU), Spider-Man (Raimi) and Spider-Man (Webb). He’s depowered, and laments that he’s a nobody again, but his Spider-Man tells him that he, Max, was never a nobody. Both are returned to their home dimension in the finale. His inclusion in this story is a bit odd, as the villains that were drawn in were supposed to be people that know Peter Parker is Spider-Man, and Electro freely admits he didn’t even know Peter was white in the finale. But whatever. Oh, and when he’s using the Arc reactor for power, when he unleashes electricity, his face has the Star shaped pattern of his classic costume in lightning to form.

 

He has appeared in nearly every Spider-Man game. He’s the central antagonist of Spider-Man 2: Enter Electro, where he, Shocker, Sandman, Beetle and Hammerhead work to steal a device that powers up him into living lightning. He’s ultimately defeated and imprisoned with his cronies. He also appears as one of the Sinister Six in Marvel’s Spider-Man on the PS4. Funnily, he’s voiced by Josh Keaton, who has played Spider-Man several times. Over the course of the game, Peter dubs him his first real super-powered villain, as up to that point in his career he’d only fought guys in suits. He and Vulture fight Spider-Man together and are ultimately defeated together.

 

Electro is one of my favorite villains of Spider-Man’s rogues gallery, mostly for his immense electrical powers. If I could give myself powers right this second, they’d be lightning powers. He’s flashy and flamboyant, and its always a treat to see him give Spider-Man electrical burns. Thankfully for Peter, he’s kind of dumb so Max has never run much risk of outsmarting and defeating Peter. I really enjoyed his return to the MCU, as Foxx is just fun to watch as this villain that is kind of high on living in a new universe. The movie doesn’t confirm if Peter curing the villains did anything, but I hope if it did, that Electro got to keep his sexier look in his home dimension. I’d hate to both lose my powers and my new looks in the same blow. He’s one of Spider-Man’s most powerful villains that he faces on a regular basis, so we’ll probably see him again in more projects. He’s the Lively Lightning Lobbing ‘Lectrician, Electro. Ha, been a while since I’ve done the alliteration thing, I missed it. Have a good night, everyone. 

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Viewer Log: Hawkeye ep 6

 Hawkeye goes in for the final shot. 

Last time on Hawkeye, Clint and Kate went their separate ways for a bit. On her own, Kate is confronted by Yelena Belova in her apartment. They have a semi-awkward dinner of Mac and Cheese where Yelena shows off how much she’s learned about Kate as a “stay out of this,” intimidation move. She also witnesses Jack Duquesne being arrested, which doesn’t put her as at ease as she clearly hoped. After moping just a bit, she grabs her gear and heads out. Clint, after talking to Nat’s spirit at the Avenger’s Plaque on the old Avenger’s Tower, decides he’s going to end this with Maya. He tells her via an arrow at her goons, to meet him at the used car lot where they first met. He systematically destroys the Tracksuit Mafia before fighting Maya. He beats her to a standstill, tries to convince her that, while he did murder her dad, that her boss set her dad up to die. She tries to kill him, but Clint is saved at the last moment by an arrow from Kate. She tracked his phone again. They split off, Maya confronting her number 2 Kazi about why he wasn’t at the meeting where her father died and obviously not buying his answer, and Kate and Clint returning to Grills apartment to regroup. The next day, Yelena, wanting to be a good sport, texts Kate a picture of who hired her and who that person works for. The hirer, Eleanor Bishop. The person she’s working for… Wilson Grant Fisk, aka the Kingpin. And he’s played by Vincent D’Onofrio. Hell yes. Teehee. Enough recap. Let’s get to it.

 

Oh, and this is my first time watching the finale for real. This’ll be fun!

 

Episode 6: So This Is Christmas?

He's back and he's glorious!

We open on Kingpin meeting with Eleanor. Turns out, Derek owed Fisk a small fortune and Eleanor had paid off by a large margin before now. Eleanor is the one that killed Armand and set up Jack as the Sloan Limited CEO. She’s been a good minion but wants out now that Kate is getting close. Eleanor tries to break things off with Fisk, telling the Kingpin of Crime that she has an insurance policy, evidence of everything she’s done for him, in a safe place. As she leaves, Fisk has a very noticeable twitch in his face which has me terrified.

 

We cut to Kate and Clint watching the video of this exchange that I guess Yelena forwarded them. Kate doesn’t take finding out her mom is an accessory to crimes at the very least well. She tries to call Eleanor but can’t reach her. Clint promises that this isn’t good, and that Fisk is going to retaliate in a big way. Kate tries to tell him to leave, but he calls Kate his partner and promises he’s not going to leave until it’s done.

 

I guess Wilson hasn't been doing super hot since
prison.

Maya meets with Fisk, Kazi serving as interpreter. He asks his “niece” what’s been going on. He notes she’s been acting strangely. Maya explains that she got carried away hunting her father’s killer and promise to ‘let it go’ and stop chasing ghosts. Maya asks for a few days off to clear her head, which Fisk agrees to. He tells her he loves her as she leaves. When she’s gone, Fisk has an anger eruption listing off the problems he’s dealing with. 1. The Ronin in town. 2. An Avenger looking into his business, 3. Bishop “quitting” her job like she works for Goldman Sachs, and 4. Realizing that Maya is turning on him. He asks Kazi what they’re going to do about this. He wants to remind everyone that this City belongs to him.

 

Kate and Clint are on a subway car to the apartment to prepare for tonight. Clint says he’s sorry how all this turned out, and that they need to prepare for tonight. Prepare what, you might ask? Trick arrows, of course. Clint and Kate make several trick arrows, Kate labeling them since she doesn’t yet have Clint’s arrow eidetic memory. He tries to tell her that he can do this alone, keep her from doing the hard thing if she doesn’t feel that she’s ready for it yet. She gives him a speech about what it meant to her, being attacked by aliens, and saved by just a man with a few pieces of wood and a string. That he taught her being a hero isn’t just for people who can fly or can shoot lasers from their hands, that its for anyone who is brave enough to do what’s right no matter the cost. She’s ready.

 

Good but not great costumes.

That night, Kazi is in position to take out Eleanor and the Tracksuits are on their way to give him backup. Kate and Clint arrive at the event. Clint asks Kate to assess the situation, she notes that the guy in charge of Catering is Gary from the first episode, and notes that their assets are pretty much all the LARPers in attendance pretending to be waitstaff. Jack arrives at the party, much to Kate’s surprise. He brought a sword to the party… just after getting out of jail for allegedly killing a man with one. Clint says it best “Weird flex, but okay.” Armand VII has a weird rich person argument with Jack about what Armand will inherit when Jack dies. Rich folks are weird. Clint and Kate separate to do recon just as Yelena arrives. She doesn’t check her coat, which tells me she’s in full battle gear under it. Damn.

 

Eleanor arrives and Kate immediately pulls her to the side to confront her/bring her up to speed about the murder plot. Eleanor rationalizes it by she was just cleaning up Derek’s mess but she’s interrupted by Jack wanting a word. Outside, Kazi spots Clint at one of the windows and takes a shot, but Clint saw the sniper dot at the last moment and dodges. He tells Wendy, whom he’d been speaking with, to get everyone out of her and then tries to draw Kazi’s fire. Kate goes to help Clint and Eleanor runs off to do… something, leaving a befuddled Jack alone. Sad Jack. He draws his sword, saying that it is his time.

 

The LARPers kill the lights to help give Clint cover. Kate chase after Yelena. They both get on the elevator to follow after Clin. Kate tries to hit the emergency stop but Yelena slaps her hand away. She keeps going for it, leading to more elaborate take downs. Yelena rips Kate’s jacket off in the struggle, revealing her new Hawkeye duds. Distracted by Kate’s new look, which I totally get, Kate’s able to hit a bunch of floor buttons, rending the elevator pretty much useless as a quick mode off transport. Yelena says that’s really annoying and starts hoofing it, with Kate in pursuit.

 

Yelena, Black Widows don't run down buildings
that's a Spider-Family thing!

Kazi radios the Tracksuits, letting them know Clint is on his way down. Clint loses his suit jacket and tie, pulling out his bow. Yelena and Kate have a very tame fight as Kate just tries to slow her down and Yelena tries to do just the bare minimum to incapacitate her. Clint fires an arrow in the direction of Kazi, hitting the ceiling and activating a gas trick arrowhead. Kazi’s temporarily disabled at least. Kate and Yelena keep fighting down the halls, Yelena quickly drops a grappling hook down and runs down the side of the building to try to get a shot at Clint. Sidenote, Peter Parker, you need to run down more buildings like this. Just saying. She takes a shot at Clint but misses. She hit the ground and looks pissed. Kate ties offer her own bungee cord and drops much less gracefully to the ground. She does land though and starts fighting the Tracksuits. There’s a funny bit where the one that asked her for relationship advice thanks her for said advice but still tries to shoot her. She gets back up from Jack, the Swordsman proving his name by taking out several Tracksuits in quick succession. Clint draws his own group of Tracksuits and sets up some small explosives to deal with them. He gets attacked by Kazi. They wrestle a bit, but Clint can set off his little bombs to draw his Tracksuits before knocking Kazi out again. He runs from his group, jumping out of a window. His line is unfortunately cut, and he drops into the big Christmas tree. Kate goes to help Clint, telling the LARPers to get everyone out of the area.

 

Meanwhile, Maya is packing her stuff.

 

Great costumes

More Tracksuits arrive, but Kate takes a good chunk off them out with arrow shots. The LARPers also suited up, using the added intimidation of being in armor to get people moving where they want them too. Kate shoots the wires holding up the big tree and then hits it with an acid arrow to knock it over and get Clint out of it. Damn. Clint lands in the ice rink and is immediately surrounded by Tracksuits. Kate slides in to help, creating cover with smoke. Clint rips off the last tatters of his suit, revealing his version of the modern Hawkeye gear. And he looks real good in it. Clint hits a metal pole with an electromagnet arrow to disable guns for a bit. Clint gives her a dozen more Trick arrows and tells her to help him give the Tracksuits hell. The Hawkeyes start taking out Tracksuits left and right, swapping between firing arrows and brawling when necessary. Impressive Kyūdō… maybe. They cap it off by hitting a speeding truck with a shrinking Pym arrow. Nice. Clint is unsure of what happens to them after, he’ll need to ask Scott about what happens. The truck is then picked up by an owl… so that’ll probably work itself out. They get out of the Ice rink. Kate goes off to get to her mom, and Clint stays back to handle Kazi. He takes out Kazi’s two henchmen with one arrow, but Kazi somehow catches his. Kazi (mockingly) “Nice shot” Clint “No shit.” Their fight is irrupted by Yelena tackling Clint back into the ice rink and Maya arriving to attack Kazi.

 

Yelena asks Clint one question; she wants to know what happened to Natasha. Clint gives her the short version that Natasha sacrificed herself to save the world, but Yelena refuses to believe. Maya offers to get Kazi out, to get them both out, but Kazi refuses. Eleanor tries to escape and find Kate, but her driver is already dead, and Fisk then rips the door off her car and pulls her out, wanting to “talk.” Kate stops him, firing an arrow at Fisk, who just takes it to the gut, snapping the shaft off. He pulls her in to try to grapple, but Eleanor hits him with a car. Maya tries to get Kazi to stop, but he claims he can’t live in two worlds like she can and attacks. She stabs him through the gut, killing him. He tells her to leave with the last of his strength, as kingpin is coming for her. Kate and Kingpin fight, Kate doing her best to keep Fisk from her mother but being knocked around a lot. Because ya know, she’s a normal sized woman going up against a sumo wrestler. Clint keeps trying to convince Yelena that Natasha sacrificed herself, but she won’t listen. Kate tries to fight Fisk, but gets thrown again, her arrows taken and snapped in half. She keeps trying to tackle him, but he throws her off.

 

Clint reveals that he fought to be the one to sacrifice himself instead of Natasha, but she was better than him. Yelena pulls out a staff and starts beating him. Kate gets thrown by Kingpin again, who tells her she’s really starting to annoy me. Kate gets a bit of metal and flicks it at an arrowhead. It sets off an electromagnetic field that hits several arrows, ultimately setting off an explosive arrowhead. Fisk is thrown aside and knocked unconscious. Kate goes to her mom, Eleanor promising that things will go back to normal, but Kate isn’t believing it. Eleanor claims that everything that happened was an unfortunate arraignment. She claims that she’s always been the responsible on, the one that picks up the mess as it were. The police arrive, arresting Eleanor.

 

Yelena pulls a gun to kill Clint but stops when he whistles Natasha’s whistle. He tells her that she talked about Yelena all the time. He tells her that Natasha loved her and always wanted to keep her safe. Yelena starts breaking down, saying that had she been there she could have stopped Natasha. Clint says that she couldn’t have, that she made her choice, and they must learn to go on. They both agree they loved her, and Yelena helps him to his feet. He apologizes and she walks off. The cops find Fisk has escaped. He runs into a Tracksuit truck, but it’s Maya driving it. Maya pulls a gun, he tries to talk his way out of it, but gets shot.

 

After, the LARPers are interviewed by the cops, and Wendy tries to convince Jack to take up LARPing. Clint tells Kate that it’s rare, but every now and then they run into someone who makes them better and turns it into a joke about Missy making the suits better. He brings it back though, by complimenting Kate taking on Kingpin and the burden of seeing her mom arrested. They agree they need to walk the Pizza Dog.

 

Alls well that ends well.

Christmas Day, Clint, Kate, and Lucky the Pizza Dog pull up to the Barton Ranch. Clint’s family enthusiastically greet them. Clint gives Laura the Rolex, revealing the SHIELD logo on the back and Clint jokingly telling Laura to take better care of her stuff. Clint and Kate head out back really quick, throwing the Ronin suit on his grill and burning it. The episode ends with Kate pitching a bunch of names riffing off Hawkeye for her hero-name, the final moment suggesting he’s going to tell her to take up the Hawkeye name officially. Neat.

 

The post-credit scene is just an extended cut of the “I Can Do This All Day” song from the Rogers Musical.

 

I liked this finale. The near episode long brawl was great, showing off why Hawkeye is one of the best non-empowered humans of the MCU, Kate’s growth over the last six episodes, and why Yelena is an incredibly worthy successor to Natasha. The shooting gallery in the ice rink was particularly well done, even if they had to kind of go to an absurd level to remove guns from the equation. My handful of complaints are just nitpicking. I thought that they kind of underutilized Kingpin, as he has just three scenes. Sure, one of them is a kickass final brawl with Kate where he’s literally throwing her around like a ragdoll, but it still just left me wanting. Also, the stuff between Maya and Kazi made me feel like I missed an episode. Like, their final moments together made it seem like they were best friends placed on different sides of a war but their every interaction before was between boss and subordinate. I’m sure this and her relationship with Kingpin will get flushed out in Echo, but it leaves this finale feeling just a tad off. Also, was not a fan of Maya shooting him at the end. Sure, dramatic, but there’s not a chance in hell that’s the end of Kingpin, and how they’ve got to work overtime in the next project he’ll appear in, be it Echo or a Daredevil project, as to why he’s not dead. Which is going to be harder than explaining why he has superstrength now. Before you say anything, everyone has said that this is the same Kingpin from Daredevil, so it’s not same actor different character thing. I really liked the final moments with the Bartons and Kate and Hawkeye burning the Ronin suit. Felt very full circle. But also, Disney, in case you are wondering, yes, damn it, we want an origin story of when Clint met Laura. I don’t care if it’s a movie, series, animated or live action, I want to see these SHIELD agents meet. Damn it. So yeah, I liked this series a lot. I’m looking forward to more of Kate Bishop in the future. I don’t know if Jeremy Renner’s Clint is done after this, but if this was his finale, it was a fitting one. Have a good night. 

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Viewer Log: Hawkeye ep 5

One is the loneliest number...

Last time on Hawkeye, Clint met Kate’s mom. After the awkward conversation one would expect to have with an Avenger, Clint slipped out for the night and had Laura look up Sloan Limited. Laura quickly discovered that it is a shell company for the Tracksuit Mafia and that it’s CEO is listed as Jack Duquesne, Kate’s mom’s Fiancé. Kate has an epiphany with her mom about how much it must suck for Clint to be alone during the holidays, so she slips out to the apartment and the two of them have a mini-Christmas party while planning how to handle the Tracksuits. Clint also teaches her a few trick shots with a coin… but Kate also deduces that Clint is the Ronin.  He claims that that part of his life has been haunting him and that he can’t return to his family until it is handled. The next day, Kate gets the LARPers together and retrieves Clint’s trick arrows from lockup while Clint tells Kazi, the Tracksuits #2, to back off or die. Clint gets a text from Laura that the Rolex, a watch from an ex-colleague, is active and gives him the coordinates. He and Kate go to retrieve it, only to find it’s in Maya’s apartment. The leader of the Tracksuits attacks them, but so does a mysterious woman in black. They scare both off, but not before it’s revealed that the woman in black is Yelena Belova, Natasha Romanoff’s younger sister. Realizing that things are too hot for Kate, “breaks off” their partnership with her. That’s enough recap. Let’s get to it.

 

Episode 5: Ronin

Start of a rough patch for Yelena and Nat.

We open on a flashback to the 2018, with a bit of narration about the events of Black Widow. The “Too long, didn’t watch” summary being that between the end and end-credit scenes of Captain America: Civil War, Natasha went on an adventure with her adopted sister, father, and mother to stop the Red Room once and for all. They developed a cure for a gas that was mind controlling the Black Widow assassins. After that, Yelena ran off with some of the other Widows to find and deactivate the other Widow agents. The episode begins with Yelena and a partner, Sonya, trying to deactivate a Widow, Ana, only to discover she wasn’t under mind control. Nope, she was just a regular assassin. Yelena and Sonya apologize for jumping to conclusions and wrecking Ana’s house. The line that got a good chuckle out of me. Ana “What, did you think I was some rich pervert’s prisoner?” Yelena “Yeah… kinda.” They have tea with Ana and have a nice chat about what they plan to do once they free the other Widows. Yelena goes to the bathroom and ends up getting duster. She reforms a moment later, to her, and the whole room changes. She goes out to find it’s five years later, Ana is married, and she and her husband adopted a child. Ana explains about the event later known as the Blip, and she offers her a job as an Assassin. Yelena, after calming a bit, goes to find Natasha. Obviously, this leads to the scene in the Falcon and Winter Soldier finale with her getting hired by Valentina at Natasha’s grave. Shoot.

 

Kate returns to the Bishop penthouse. She explains about her ‘break up,’ and Eleanor consoles her. After cleaning Kate up, Eleanor tells her that even if she’s not a superhero, she can still help people. Kate muses that she thought she could do anything, to be a hero like an Avenger. Eleanor tells her to keep moving forward. Kate tells her about Jack being connected to Sloan Limited and gets Eleanor to promise to investigate it.

 

Maya gets patched up by Kazi. She tells him about the Black Widow attack. Her number 2 tells her to stop going after Ronin, but it’s clear by her face that she isn’t going to.

 

Macaroni and hot sauce? You monster.

Kate returns home. She sees one of the windows is open just before Yelena reveals herself. Kate throws a bottle at her, which she catches, and then offers her macaroni. Oh god, I love Yelena. She is weirdly chill, as Yelena is, and tries to convince Kate just sit and have dinner with her. She finally does when Kate realizes she’d be dead already if Yelena wanted to kill her. Meanwhile, Clint goes to Grills apartment and asks to come in. Yelena and Kate have a kind of awkward mean, with Yelena acting like she’s a normal excited tourist, but Kate knowing she’s here to kill people. As they chat, Kate realizes that Yelena refers to her as Kate Bishop continually as a reminder that Yelena knows it and her. Yelena rattles off her info on Kate, to freak her out, and then reveals that she is in fact in New York to kill Clint. She asks why Kate is willing to help him. Kate says it’s because he saved the world, but Yelena refuses to accept that answer. In the same way that Kate won’t accept Clint is evil because he saved her, Yelena refuses to believe he is a hero because he couldn’t save Natasha. Yelena reveals that, while there is a vendetta here, she was hired to do the job. Yelena asks where Clit is, when Kate says she doesn’t know, Yelena believes her. She thanks her for the “girls’ night” and goes to leave. She tells Kate to not get in her way again.

 

Rough week for Clint, but actually a fairly good week
for Pizza Dog.

Clint and Grills have Pizza with the Pizza Dog. He asks Grills to look after the dog while he’s in a hotel, but Grills tells him to stay on his couch instead. He has their new costumes, but Clint doesn’t want to see it just yet.

 

The next day, Kate arrives at the Bishop penthouse just as Jack is being arrested to be brought in for questioning about Armand’s death. Jack is extremely chill about the whole thing, though, saying he’ll back in time for the Christmas party. Oh, Jack Duquesne, you weird man.

 

We cut over to the old Avengers Tower, and shown a plaque dedicated to the original Avengers: Steve Rogers, Tony Stark, Thor Odinson, Bruce Banner, Natasha Romanoff, and Clint Barton. Clint takes a deep breath looking at it. he takes out his hearing aid and starts talking to Natasha. He reiterates his belief that she was the best and bravest of them, and that she always had to win. Even for that stupid orange rock. He admits that he has played the final scene with her a million different times but can’t find a different solution. He wants to live up to the gift of life she gave him. He gets choked up as he says he misses her and apologizes for what he’s about to do.

 

Back at the penthouse, Kate gets up and looks at all her awards and gear. She calls Clint, gets his answering machine, and tells him to call her. She leaves him a bunch of voicemails about things that happened since they split. She fills the mailbox with her messages.

 

We’re shown a pair of the Tracksuits pull into their lot just before an arrow hits their windshield. It has a message in it, telling Maya to meet him at the spot where she first met the Ronin, alone. Clint calls up Laura and tells her that the problem just keeps getting bigger. He explains about Maya researching the family, the Rolex and a Black Widow was hired to kill him. He is sure if he doesn’t finish this tonight, the “Big Man” will be brought in. Laura tells him to follow his gut. Clint gets his gear from the locker he left it as he tells her he loves her.

 

Maya should probably sell this lot, it seems super
cursed.

At the used car lot that Maya met Ronin, Clint first takes out Kazi who is covering as a sniper, and then each of the Tracksuits one by one. Maya senses somethings up and starts shooting at any moment she sees. She runs out of shot as the Ronin walks up to her. They fight, which is extremely well choreographed. There’s a cool exchange where Maya uses her prosthetic leg to block a slash from Ronin’s sword and uses it to disarm him. Ronin gets her on the ground and then reveals he’s Clint. He tells her that he wanted her to see his face, to threaten her with death if anyone comes after his family again. Maya calls him a monster, but Clint claims they are weapons. He claims that a weapon when angry can be manipulated. He reveals an informant tipped him off about her father being at the lot that night, one that works for the Big Guy. He tells her that the Big Guy wanted her father dead and is using her. She disarms Clint with a good tug, but Clint is saved at the last second by Kate with an arrow shot. Kate tracked his phone again. Maya drives off and Kate and Clint meet her escape plan, an uber.

 

Maya meets with Kazi, who explains about being hit by Ronin. She says the Ronin got away. She asks Kazi why he wasn’t at the meeting when her father died. Kazi gives the obvious lie that he didn’t get the call, which Maya doesn’t buy but also doesn’t push. She drives off on her motorcycle again, and Kazi looks very worried.

 

Quick, call Nelson and Murdock, you'll need...
legal assistance. Yeah... legal.

As Clint and Kate are driven, he reveals that the woman who attacked them that wasn’t Maya is Yelena. They get dropped off and start walking. Meanwhile, Yelena in her tourist get up follows Eleanor somewhere. Clint and Kate have breakfast at Grills house when Kate gets a text from Yelena. She reveals that Eleanor was the one hired her, on behalf of someone. Kate shows Clint the photo of Eleanor and the man she’s working for. Clint reveals that the man is the guy he’s been worried about this whole time. … Kingpin. And yes, if you’ve been living under a rock and missed this reveal, it’s Vincent D’Onofrio. Damn, hell of a way to end the episode.

 

Again, I freaking love Florence Pugh as Yelena. She is a delightful mix of laid back and disturbingly intense depending on how she feels. It was incredibly strange to see how the Blip effected the people that disappeared. It was real heartbreaking to hear Yelena being excited to see Natasha again, only for us to know she’s about to find out she died. Very sad. Her dinner/threat with Kate was great. Florence Pugh has great chemistry with Hailee Steinfeld. The showdown with Maya and the Tracksuits vs. the Ronin was amazing. I love the horror movie vibe as Clint takes out each of the Tracksuits and then his final throwdown with Maya. It was also great to see Kate be the one to save Clint for once. Oh, and that Kingpin reveal. I loved the Kingpin reveal. I’d heard rumors about Vincent D’Onofrio being brought back as Kingpin, but I refused to believe it until I saw the proof. The thought that ALL of this is tied to the Kingpin building/rebuilding his empire is great. Although, it’s weird to think that now Kingpin is a Daredevil, Spider-Man and Hawkeye villain. So yeah, fun episode. Next time, the final episode. This’ll be fun. 

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Twitter: @BasicsSuperhero

Viewer Log: Hawkeye ep 4

 It's not a Christmas party without the Rosie O'Donnell Christmas album. Don't give me that look, my dad loves it. 

Last time on Hawkeye, Clint and Kate faced off against the boss of the Tracksuit mafia, Maya Lopez. The deaf martial artists very nearly kicked Clint’s ass, but he and Kate were able to escape to the cars outside. A chase occurred, but Kate used some of Clint’s trick arrows to slow them down for a while and ultimately, they escaped onto a subway car. They have breakfast together where Kate tries to impress on Clint that he is a hero to her, even if he doesn’t believe her. She convinces him to break into her mother’s apartment and hack her private Bishop Security server to prove that Jack, her mom’s fiancé, is working with the Tracksuits. They break in, and Kate hacks the server, but is locked out a minute into her search and Clint gets his own extendable sword put to his throat by Jack. Enough recap; let’s get to it.

 

Episode 4: Partners, Am I Right?

The sword on the table has to be a safety hazard.

Episode opens with Jack holding his sword to Clint’s throat, but the tension evaporates when Eleanor and Jack realize that it’s Kate and Clint. I sniggered at Jack calling him “Archer” instead of Hawkeye. There’s an awkward discussion on the situation, with Kate trying to tell her mom half-truths and Clint trying not to say anything beyond he and Kate are working together. Eleanor pulls Clint aside as they get ready to leave, telling him that she can’t lose Kate too and trying to convince him to drop the case. He obviously can’t but promises to look after Kate. In the elevator down, Clint text Laura and asks her to look up Sloan Unlimited. She calls him back a short time later, and through coded conversation so the kids don’t understand, Clint learns that SU is a front for the Tracksuit mafia, and that Jack is the CEO. He thinks that Jack is laundering money for the “Big Guy.” Laura asks in German, I think, if maybe something else from the compound is part of the reason that Clint is staying to help Kate. He doesn’t think that the “Rolex” is involved but isn’t confident.

 

Back at the Bishop Penthouse, Kate is waiting around for a call or something while Eleanor explains to Jack Kate’s fascination with Hawkeye. Jack goes to make tea and Kate wants to talk to her about Jack, but Eleanor refuses. They get diverted by talking about the Bishop Securities Christmas party and Jack and Eleanor do a little dance which makes Kate uncomfortable. The Bishops laugh at Jack when he says, “Life is short, you never know what you’re going to get” and the fact that Jack apparently often combines aphorisms. While they have a domestic moment, we’re shown Clint alone back at Kate’s Aunt’s apartment, strapping himself down with frozen food to reduce swelling. He gets one relaxed sigh before Kate stops by with pizza and movies to hopefully raise Clint’s spirits. Before they ‘celebrate’ Clint reveals what he learned about Jack, that he’s the CEO of the Tracksuit Mafia’s shell company.

 

It's not Christmas without Rosie O'Donell Christmas
playing at my house. Don't judge me, my dad loves it.

They throw on Christmas sweaters, make slushies and try to brainstorm their situation. Namely, that they need to get the cops and Tracksuits off Kate’s back and prove Jack is involved. In a montage, we learn that Clint is out of trick arrows, he’s got more trick arrow heads but needs the shafts of his spent trick arrows to make more, Kate suggesting make boomerang arrows that Clint laughs at, Clint shows he can knock someone out with a small heavy ornament and have more smoothies. Clint shows her how to do the flick trick. After, Kate asked what the best shot he ever took was. Clint starts, backs off, but then says it. The best shot he ever took was the one he didn’t take, namely, not killing Natasha when he was sent to assassinate her. He sensed that she wanted out, so he got her out and made a best friend. They watch the end of it’s a Wonderful Life, and Kate intuits that Clint’s family disappeared in the Blip… and then that he was in fact the Ronin. Clint explained that he was doing his job, being a weapon and hurting people. People who deserve it, true, but hurting people. Clint claims that the Ronin is tied to him, and that he can’t go back to his family until he fixes it. Clint thanks her for doing this and that she should probably go to bed. When alone, he takes out his hearing aid and remembers the day his family vanished, his kills as the Ronan and Natasha jumping to get them the Soul stone.

 

The next day, Clint has them divide and conquer. Kate is going to talk to the LARPers to hopefully convince them to get them the trick arrows back, while he goes to talk to Kazi. Kate goes to the LARPers, who are practicing their combat stances in the park, convincing Grills and the rest to help her out and get the trick arrows back.

 

Kazi is having a rough week.

Clint goes to Kazi, surprising him in his car. After revealing he stole Kazi’s gun already, he tells the Tracksuit VP to get Maya to back off. He tells Kazi that their boss doesn’t like attention and that Maya’s obsession with the Ronin will bring attention onto them. Kazi goes for a knife, which Clint also already has. He tells Kazi to convince Maya she’s chasing a ghost, and this is her last warning. He also take the gun and knife with him when he leaves. In the rear window we see him throw it into the distance.

 

Back at the apartment, the LARPers have set up shop in the apartment. Grills made snickerdoodles, and the security woman from the LARP, Wendy, is measuring Kate for some LARP gear. She reveals that Wendy, the cop LARPer, is on her way with the arrows. The LARPers are willing to help, in exchange for higher grade materials for their LARP costume, to which Kate agrees to if they also make two additional costumes for her and Clint. Clint is about to be angry about this, when he gets a text from Laura that the Rolex is still active and it’s transponder is signaling at 3715 Godfrey Road. He starts for the door when Wendy arrives with the arrows. Theirs a funny bit where Wendy isn’t initially willing to let her Bombshell bag, her wife embroidered it, go, but Clint is in a rush and Kate convinces her it’s okay.

 

Oh, hi Yelena.

Clint and Kate observe the building. Kate complains that they’d have an easier time getting in from a higher building, but Clint explains the importance of prioritizing a quick exit over a quick entrance. He plans to go in and be out in under four minutes, but while explaining this, Kate slips away and starts the infiltration. Kate uses the fact that she’s easily distracted to convince Clint he’s better at observing. He has a complicated for her to scale the building, but Kate just slips into the building by helping an old man with his groceries. On the walk up, Kate asks about how Clint deals with getting the giant bow places, to which he says his is collapsible. Kate enters the apartment, and strobe lights start going off. She covers them with sticky arrows and looks for the watch. Clint is tight lipped about the watch, despite Kate’s constant probing. Kate finds the watch, and a list about Clint and his family. It’s at this point that Clint realizes that the strobe lights are part of a silent alarm system for deaf people. … Yeah, it’s Maya’s apartment. Shoot a duck. He’s suddenly attacked by someone just as Maya attacks Kate. Shoot a pair off ducks.

 

I feel like this reveal was way more obvious than the
show people thought it was.

Clint brawls with a woman in black and night vision goggles while Kate battles Maya. He’s able to break away long enough to fire a zipline for Kate, but she gets stuck half ways for a second. She lands and distracts Clint’s assailant for a second before Maya joins them and the fight resumes. The masked woman uses some sort of red stunner device that looks a bit familiar to disable Maya and throws Kate off the roof. But she rigged up a harness on the fly so Kate is disabled, not street pizza. Clint cuts the line, telling Kate to get out of there. He keeps fighting both women as Kate runs back up to the roof. She uses a flashbang trick arrow. It disables all three, but Maya gets up first, she throws Kate but then runs. Clint gets the mask off the woman in black as she sticks a stunner on her, revealing her to be Yelena Belova aka Black Widow… 3.0 I guess, if her and Natasha’s “mom” Melina Vostokoff is 1.0. Yelena, realizing the odds aren’t great for her, bails. Clint and Kate fight, with Kate wanting to keep working with him, but Clint being seriously freaked out by a Black Widow being sent after him. He tells her to go home and takes her bow as the credit roll.

 

One thing I’ve enjoyed throughout this series is how in sync Clint and Laura are. There are no lies between them, she answers in code without a second thought, Clint trusts her to do research without a pause, and she gets his hang ups about both the Ronin stuff and for not abandoning Kate. It’s nice to see a functional relationship in the MCU. The Christmas party with Clint and Kate was sweet too. Clint has obviously been high strung since meeting Kate, for obvious reasons, so its nice seeing him relax for an evening. I liked hearing a bit more about his and Natasha’s relationship. Sure, it’s still incredibly vague, but to know that he considers her the “best shot” he never took was sweet. I liked seeing the LARPers again, they’re just a fun group. The final fight of this episode of Kate and Clint vs. Yelena vs. Maya was fun. It was neat seeing the Hawkeye’s archery and martial arts skills facing off against a Black Widow super spy and Maya’s… Maya-ness. The bit where Yelena dropped Kate made me gasp, even though I knew they weren’t killing Kate off with two episodes left.  I’m a little annoyed we got a second act “break up” but at least they set it up reasonably well. They set up Clint having mixed feelings of putting Kate in danger with that conversation with Eleanor, and of how dangerous he knows a Black Widow is and his obvious mixed feelings of battling someone like Natasha again. It was a fine episode overall. Have a good night, everyone. 

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Twitter: @BasicsSuperhero

Viewer Log: Hawkeye ep 3

Don't knock the suction cup arrow.

Last time on Hawkeye, Clint and Kate ended up playing hot potato with the Ronin costume. Almost literally, as the gangsters chasing Kate, the Tracksuit Mafia, followed them to her apartment and set it on fire. They escape but lose the suit in the confusion. Thankfully, Clint was able to find it again, as a FDNY LARPer posted a TicTok of him in the suit. Clint must send his kids home ahead of him to handle this suit situation. While Clint is forced to LARP, Kate is suspicious of her mom’s boyfriend jack and tries to prove he’s hiding something. All she really proves after dinner with the guy is that he is a better fencer than she thought. Clint intentionally gets himself captured by the Tracksuits to try to convince them to leave Kate alone. His plan to keep Kate out of it fails miserably as she tracks his phone and tries to save him, and she ends up captured too. The final shot was of a scary looking woman whom I preemptively revealed to be known as Echo. That’s not her name yet but give it time Enough recap; let’s get to it.

 

Episode 3: Echoes

Hmm.. whoever could this uncle be?

We open with a brief history of Echo, aka Maya Lopez. As a child she’s to be a gifted student but is slightly hampered by her deafness. Her first scene is from Maya’s perspective, and I must say, it is odd being in a room with a bunch of rambunctious students and not hearing a sound. We see that she obviously has difficulty following the lesson as she only can understand the teacher when she is facing Maya and she can read her lips, but she zooms through the works book, showing that Maya is a verry smart kid. Later, she has a conversation with her father, he had promised to get her into a school for the deaf but was unable to. He thinks it’ll ultimately be better for her, but he’s clearly putting on a brave face. We’re then shown Maya taking a marital arts lesson. Her father reminds her that speed is more important than size in her match, and that her Uncle will take her home after. We don’t see her uncle’s face, but an implied to be large man pinches Maya’s cheek. She starts her match, where it’s reveals that Maya also has a prosthetic right leg. She faces off with and easily beats her opponent. Jump forward to just a few years ago and a 20 something Maya is practicing MMA in a ring. She again easily defeats her opponent and then leaves. She rides her motorcycle to a garage, but notices something is up. She sneaks around and sees Ronin massacring her gang and running her father through. He tells her to fly way little dragon via signing before dying, leaving a bloody handprint ono her cheek.

 

I'm sure Clint has been in more humilitating situations
But I doubt he could name one off the top of his head.

In the present, the Tracksuits are mocking Kate and Clint who are stuck to the rocking rides. Clint is pissed at Kate ruining his attempt at clearing her name and going home. There’s a funny bit where Kate gives a random Tracksuit some relationship advice, and she tries to get Clint to talk to her. One of the Tracksuits threatens to rip out her throat, but then Maya and her lieutenant Kazi come in to interrogate them. Maya initially cuts Clints hands free, having seen his hearing aid and assumed he’d need to sign to speak, but he reveals he’s just hard of hearing so he’s re-cuffed. Kazi serves as interpreter for Maya, who tells Clint that he relies too much on technology and that he might be better off without the hearing aid. Clint tries to explain that Kate isn’t the Ronin, but Maya is not convinced. I mean, she gets that Kate isn’t the Ronin, but that it doesn’t mean the Ronin isn’t back. He tells her that the Ronin is dead, killed by the Black Widow. She doesn’t believe him. Maya gets angry while Kate tries to explain and starts choking her out, but Kazi pulls her off after Kate explains that she just wore the suit to hide the fact she was at the auction. The Tracksuits start arguing, and Clint tells her to work on her overconfidence and wait for his signal. Clint frees himself, having cut through his tape on the damaged ride seat and runs off. The Tracksuits follow him. Clint, being much smarter than these guys, outsmarts the grunts but then is forced to fight Maya. She gets in a few good hits, ultimately knocking Clint’s hearing aid out and then crushing it. He gets to his equipment and fights Maya with bow and arrows. He pins her to a wall with two shots, before jumping into a ball pit and simultaneously distracting Kazi and freeing Kate with one shot. Clint and Kate take out the Tracksuits and Kazi. They run off, Clint grabbing the wreckage of his hearing aid.

 

Outside, Kate wants to steal a 72 challenger, but Clint instead grabs a Cadillac. Clint hotwires the car and then escape as the Tracksuits chase after them. They’re being chased by a truck, van and two cars driven by the Tracksuits. Clint circles around the goons, but they’re still in pursuit. He lets Kate shoot, but because they’re out of regular arrows, takes a moment to pull out the four most dangerous arrows in his quiver. She grabs and arrow and fires. This trick arrow was a Playdough, which covers their windshield, effectively disabling one car. Clint tries to give advice, which is made somewhat difficult by his lack of hearing. Clint flips the car around and drives backwards to give Kate a better vantage. She fires an arrow and explodes the van. Damn, bomb arrow. Kate shoots at Maya in her 72 challenger, but this one was plunger arrow, so it doesn’t really help. Maya rams her car into the Cadillac, and they’re forced off the road through a tree lot. Kate hits the now puddy free truck with an arrow that grapples and pulls trees to it, once again disabling Kazi and the truck. Kate hits some stoplights with acid arrows on Clints advice to screw with traffic, but Maya is hot on their tails. They end up on a bridge as Maya tries to ram them. Kate grabs her bow from the back of challenger when they drive up to the side of the Cadillac and try to shoot them. She then hits them with a gas arrow, causing the car to crash, much to Clint’s disappointment. They almost hit traffic, literally, but Clint swerves to a stop. The rest of the Tracksuits are catching up, so Clint devises a plan. He gives Kate a normal arrow and tells her to aim high. She fires, and then he fires. His arrow hits hers as it begins to drop. His arrowhead was a Pym arrow, making the normal arrow grow to the size of a bus and crush the truck. Don’t worry they missed the cab. Clint has Kate cover him long enough to get his suction cup arrow back. They then leap off the side of the bridge, using a rope arrow to swing them over onto a subway car and then the suction cup arrow to stick them to it. Not a useless arrow at all.

 

Who brings a gun to an arrow fight?

They eventually get into the subway car and relax for a minute. As they ride, Clint complements her and says she really is one of the greatest archers. They head back to Kate’s aunt’s apartment. Clint ices his wounds with peas as his phone is going off. He answers, but can’t hear that it’s his son Nate, not Laura calling him. Kate came back in from walking the dog as he answered, so she can give him the gist of what Nate says. Everyone else is still asleep, he’s bored, so he called dad to ask him when he’s going to be back. Clint is disappointed to tell him that he won’t be able to make it to the movie night, but he’ll be able to make it back for the sweater party. Nate tells him it’s okay if he can’t make it for Christmas, which clearly breaks Clint’s heart… hear by proxy. He promises to make it back for Christmas and says goodbye.

 

Back with the Tracksuits, Maya and her crew are leaving the abandoned office building for a new location. Kazi warns her how dangerous it’ll be if they keep going after the Ronin and that they’ll be in trouble with her Uncle if they keep going. They have a pretty box standard “Am I in charge or not?” conversation before she orders them to find Barton.

 

Clint: Oh, yeah, Stark can make a robotic suit out
of nanomachines, but couldn't make a self repairing
hearing aid for me.

Clint and Kate visit a local doctor who can fix Clint’s hearing aid. After they have breakfast. Clint turns off his hearing aid for most of it so he can eat in silence, which is super weird for me as that was 100% something my late Grandpa Don did all the time. When he turns it on again, Kate explains about how she’s dedicated her life to being an archery hero like Clint and that she felt right putting on the suit and doing that. Clint does warn her that the life comes with a price, that it comes with sacrifices. She takes it in stride, claiming that they gain some things too. She tries to convince him to fix his branding issue by showing him a mockup of his comic classic costume, but Clint is unimpressed. Kate somehow deduces that Clint knows who the Ronin and that he won’t say because he’s close to them. That felt like a weird cut but what are ya going to do. He distracts her by explaining why he doesn’t wear a flashy costume. 1. His job was to be a ghost, 2. Laura would divorce him if he put something like this on, and 3. He's not a role model. Kate insists that he is, as he’s sacrificing his time with his family to help a stranger. Ohm and it looks like the name of Pizza Dog has stuck for their furry friend.

 

Kate notes that she sensed tension between Maya and Kazi, which Clint agrees. He explains that there’s a bigger boss above Maya, who is scarier and one that they don’t want to mess with. Ronin hit their suppliers and took out a bunch of the higher ups. Clint wonders if they’re after something specific from the auction, but she doesn’t know. Kate insists that Jack is involved somehow, so they’re sneaking into the Bishop penthouse to hack her mom’s private servers and see if there’s a file on him.

 

Clint I think is getting real sick of being threated 
by his own weapons.

Kate starts hacking the computer while Clint looks around a bit. He tells her to look up Kazi and sees that he’s an employee of a company called Sloan unlimited. Clint hears a creak and goes to investigate. While he walks off, Kate loses access to the network, just as Jack holds Ronin’s sword to Clint’s throat and tells him not to move. Damn, hell of an ending.

 

First and foremost, I have to give props to Alaqua Cox who played Maya aka Echo. She is a phenomenal actor, physically intimidating, and able to do a lot of heavy lifting acting wise with just her expressions. She is an amazing casting choice, as she is a deaf Native American like Echo is in the comics. The biggest difference she has from the comic character is the fact that Cox is an amputee and Echo hasn’t been depicted as such. I wouldn’t be shocked if they added that detail after her performance, but we’ll wait and see. They did a few scenes that are from Maya’s perspective, and I must say it’s decidedly weird to not be able to hear. I think I know why my Grandpa was such a grump for the… 28 years I knew him. Ha, but seriously, super weird but a super interesting way to show how losing that one sense can alter how the world operates for you. Fra Fee is also a solid Kazi, even though he’s a fairly box standard “number 2 who wants to be number 1.” He’s charismatic and handsome enough for me to ignore some of the more cliché moments with him, like telling Maya she’s not as good a leader as her dad. Which, by the way, low blow. The chase with the trick arrows was a highlight of this episode and series for me. The use of the arrow had great comedic timing, as did the joke of Clint trying to be helpful but often being a beat or two off of giving Kate useful info when she needed it. The central theme of this show, that Clint doesn’t see himself as a hero while Kate all but worships him was highlighted with that dinner scene where Kate breaks down why he is one. That point about him willingly, if angrily, giving up his Christmas time with his family to help a stranger who he thought might be in trouble is a ringing endorsement for Hawkeye being a hero. Also, a joke I’ll never get tired of is modern MCU heroes cringing at seeing their iconic costumes, Hawkeye, Luke Cage, and the rest, will never not be funny to me. The ending with Clint being at his own sword point was a solid choice. I’m looking forward to how the story continues. Have a goodnight, everyone. 

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Twitter: @BasicsSuperhero

Viewer Log: Hawkeye ep 2

 She's a chipper rookie, he's a sourpuss veteran, can they get along? 

Last time on Hawkeye, we were introduced to Kate Bishop. The young woman was saved by Hawkeye during the attack on New York and spent the next decade training to be like Hawkeye. She mastered several martial arts, archery, and gymnastics to meet that end. She gets in trouble as she sort of accidentally destroyed a clock tower at her school and comes back to New York to get read the riot act by her mother. At the same time, Hawkeye aka Clint Barton, is in New York seeing a show with his three kids. He seems to be doing okay but is having difficulty adjusting to people recognizing him on the street, and the PTSD of Natasha’s death. Meanwhile, Kate goes to a fundraiser with her mother and her mother’s boyfriend. She spies her mother fighting with an old family acquaintance named Armand, whom she follows into the wine cellar. The wine cellar is hosting an underground auction which Armand and the mom’s boyfriend Jack is attending. The auction is broken up by a bunch of goons in tracksuits who rob it looking for a watch. Kate finds an auction item, Ronin’s costume, puts it on and fights off the goons. Jack also is shown nabbing Ronin’s sword and pocketing it. She escapes the tracksuits, saving a one-eyed dog on the way. She drops the dog off at her apartment and goes to investigate Armand. She finds him dead, a slash in his side. She’s jumped by more tracksuits, but is saved by Clint, who saw the news report that the “Ronin” was sighted in the area. The episode ends with them meeting. Enough recap; let’s get to it.

 

Episode 2: Hide and Seek

We open with Clint and Kate meeting; Clint being somewhat annoyed a kid stole his suit. Sirens blare in the distance, which keep Clint from investigating, the two of them head for Kate’s apartment. As they walk, Kate clearly is geeking out over Hawkeye, but trying to hold it in, badly. They make it to the apartment, with Clint taking a moment to just rest his head on a window and sigh defeated. Clint wants to just get the suit and go, which disappoints Kate but she’s still excited to have him in her apartment. She explains how she got the suit and some of the… crimes she committed in it. She hands the suit over to Clint and asks him to sign her bow. He lets her know that this isn’t over yet, and that the guys chasing her are the Tracksuit mafia. She asks if they’re involved in Armand’s death, but Clint isn’t sure. He warns her about how dangerous the suit is, and how people she loved could be hurt if she was seen wearing it because of the enemies the last guy that wore it made. Yeah, he’s acting like he’s not the Ronin while making it super clear to anyone with a lick of sense that he is the Ronin. Thankfully, Kate doesn’t, so she buys it. Clint reasons that the Tracksuits must have followed Kate from the auction to the brownstone and asks if she went anywhere else. Kate reveals that she just dropped off the dog, right before a Tracksuit shouts her name and they start throwing Molotov cocktails at her apartment. Damn.

 

I so hope Kate or her mom has renters insurance.

Clint tells Kate to take cover and grabs a Molotov out of the air and hurls it back at them, just before Kate shoots another. The fire starts consuming the apartment, separating them from the suit. Kate tries to put it out by shooting a fire extinguisher, but that just launches it into the air and at the Tracksuits. Clint has them run off, saying they’ll get the suit later.

 

Kate, Clint, and the dog escape to the subway, and then go to get supplies. Kate was hoping for Avenger’s supplies, but it’s just to get a bunch of medical supplies from a pharmacy. When she asks if they’re going to Avenger’s Tower, Clint reveals that Tony sold it a few years ago, to which she replies, “That is so sad on so many levels.” They head to Kate’s aunt’s apartment, said aunt is a snowbird so the place is currently vacant.

 

Clint leaves her with the medical supplies and tells her to take care of her cuts, and that he’s going to get the suit and then go back to his kids. Kate is obviously disappointed at being ditched but sets to work. Clint returns to the apartment, which has been put out by the fire department. He steals a fire coat and sneaks inside. He looks around the apartment, but the suit is gone. If it was anything besides a superhero costume, I’d think he’d think it was burned, but obviously Ronin’s gear is fire resistant. He returns the coat and notices a sticker for the NYC Larpers club on the firetruck window. He slips away.

 

Clint is so jealous of Cap, what with his accelerated
healing.

Back at the apartment, Kate lies to her mom about what happened at the auction as Clint walks in. He’s obviously pissed that the suit went missing again. His heart shrank because a “girl in a ninja costume stole his Christmas” as he puts, angrily. She reveals that she dubbed the dog Pizza Dog as they kind of bond over stitches. Clint has her redo some of hers as she didn’t stitch them right. She tries to smooth things out between them, but doesn’t do a very good job, so she says good night and leave him to do his thing. Clint googles NYCL and almost immediately finds a Tic-Tock video of a firefighter named Grills showing off the fact he stole the Ronin suit. I’m not sure Firefighters do that but moving on. He texts Lila to get their stuff packed and ready to go in the morning and heads out to see them.

 

The next day, he sends his kids to the airport. He tells them that Cooper is in charge at the airport and that they must not lose Nate. Nate signs he loves his dad as he puts him in the car. Lila notices the cut on his head, but Clint plays it off as no big deal. He sends them off, promising to make it home for Christmas. They drive off and he starts tearing up.

 

Back at Kate’s apartment, they see that Armand’s death made the news and news is speculating if the Ronin is connected to both cases. Witness saw her in costume at both places, but obviously there really isn’t a straight line of reasoning from ‘foiling black-market auction robbery’ to “murder.”  Kate wants to do something, but Clint tells her to stay put while he gets his suit. Kate wants to go to see her mother, who owns a security company and whom she works for. Clint realizes that she’ll just go even if he insists that she stay at the apartment, so escorts her. There’s a funny bit where Kate notices that Clint is walking street side, thinking he’s “being a gentleman” but he reveals that it’s so he can hear her and that he has a hearing aid. She asks what happened, and we get a smash cut of every explosion, hard hit, blast, and other method of hearing damage that Clint has suffered as an Avenger. He says, “too hard to tell.” They see some street performers dressed as Avengers, with Katniss Everdeen instead of a Hawkeye. Kate tells him his problem is branding, to which he says his problem is her. She tries to convince him to embrace branding, but he refuses. Clint is hoping that this is the last time he’ll see her as he wants to grab the suit and run, much to Kate’s disappointment. He gets her cell number, for emergencies only, and then walks off.

 

Kate goes to Bishop Securities and to see her mom, and Jack, who is also there. Kate tries to pump Jack for information but is bad at it. Eleanor asks about the gawdy suit Kate is wearing and about the fire she heard happened at Kate’s apartment. She asks Jack to leave, where he reveals that he understands because he read a pop-psych book on being a stepparent. Eleanor wants Kate to have dinner with them to figure all this stuff out, which she agrees to, begrudgingly.

 

Suit recovered! Wait, we have four more episodes?
Oh no.

Clint goes to the NYC Larpers, where he’s roadblocked by security. He just wants to talk to Grills and get his suit back, but the guard won’t let him through. The LARP goes until Midnight, which obviously doesn’t work for Clint’s schedule, so he insists on being able to talk to Grills. She reveals that she knows he’s Hawkeye and warns that if he breaks the rules with a bunch of firefighters and cops, things will get messy. Clint agrees to “follow the rules” to move this along. Sort of, he gives them no information about him, gets the gear and the warning that as a newbie he gets one free hit. He puts on the “armaments” and heads out. There’s a funny scene where Clint, a professional assassin, martial artists and one of the greatest weapons fighters in Marvel comics kind of just walks through these LARPers to get to Grills. He wants the suit, he’ll either pretend hit him and take the suit, or real hit him and take the suit. Grills agrees to just give him the suit, if he’s allowed to “Kill” Clint, for the story. Clint is obviously annoyed, muttering “I fought Thanos” but agrees, but they must do a whole trial by combat thing.

 

Back at Bishop Securities, Kate is texting Clint to try to get his attention when she gets a call from the police. The detective wants her to come in for a “quick chat” about the fire in her apartment. They set an appointment for tomorrow.

 

Clint and Grills have their trial by combat, though Clint isn’t enthused. They have a few exchanges before Clint can get Grills to “kill” him. Grills is declared the winner and Clint gets the suit back. Grills thanks Clint for doing this for him, and while Clint pretends to be grumpy, does admit he had fun. He runs off. He calls home, telling Laura he’s not going to make his flight and he’ll be stuck in New York for one more day. He tells her he has the suit and that he’s dealing with the Tracksuit mafia. He locks the suit in a locker. He plans a “catch and release” play, a Nat special, and says goodbye. Oh, and he missed Gingerbread house construction.

 

At the Bishops, they have dinner and Kate again badly tries to grill Jack. They get into fencing talk, and somehow end up doing a fencing match. Considering who Jack is based on… this is a bad idea, but more on that later. They suit up in those fencing suits and sword fight. Kate gets two touches on Jack, but he’s clearly sandbagging. Kate wants to know what he’s hiding, but Jack plays it off. She lunges at him, and Jack easily parries, revealing that he’s way better at swordplay than he acted. Jack walks off. Kate tries to convince Eleanor that Jack is involved in Armand’s death, but she won’t listen. Eleanor thinks this is all young adult rebellion stuff. Kate plays nice with Jack, but that ends when it seems like he’s taunting her with a butterscotch. Those were in Armand’s house. Kate leaves, claiming it’s a work thing. Her mom points out that, as her boss, she could probably get Kate out of it, but Kate insists she has to handle something and will explain later.

 

Clint gets picked up by the Tracksuit mafia. “Guys, I can see through the bag,” made me snicker. Kate tries to call Clint, but obviously he can’t answer. She tries calling again, but this time someone besides Clint answers, saying he can’t answer right now. Kate uses her Bishop Security access to track Clint’s phone and tells her taxi driver to speed up.

 

Went about as well as I expected.

The Tracksuits have Clint tied to a chair. He tries to convince them to not go after Kate Bishop, but they aren’t listening. He insists that they take him to their boss, revealing he got his slip-ties off to show that they can’t hold him. They pull guns on him and demand to know where Kate Bishop is. He tries to act like he doesn’t know who Kate Bishop is, only for her to literally fall into their crowd. Kate and Clint are taped to two of those coin ride things. We’re shown a woman putting her hand on a speaker in a creepy way. One of the Tracksuits tells this woman that they have them both, and she waves him off. Oh, hey Echo.

 

It's funny, a couple years ago, I wrote up a rough outline for a potential Black Widow story that introduced Kate Bishop and had the similar buddy cop dynamic, just with Natasha in for Clint. I enjoy him being grumpy about missing out on Christmas activities with his family, something that he’s been desperate for since they were blipped, I’d wager, but still also begrudgingly mentoring Kate. She’s chipper and he’s a sourpuss. I enjoy Tony Dalton as Jack Duquesne, even if he’s a blatantly obvious red herring. What, Kate’s soon-to-be stepdad is weird and mildly threatening at times? I guess he must be involved in his uncle’s death, right? … Even though her mom was the one fighting with Armond. Huh. Oh, and that identity I mentioned, Jack Duquesne is better known as Jacques Duquesne and even better known as the Swordman. He’s an on-again, off-again villain of Hawkeye and the Avengers. Hence his fascination with swords, and why I think the red herring status is obvious. In two episodes, if he was the villain, we’d have seen a crazy person with a sword attack Hawkeye at some point. Just saying. Oh, and I loved the LARPing scene. Just a bizarre twist in Clint’s over worked schedule. And I also liked that Laura is 100% in the loop about what is going on. In most other stories like this, Clint would be lying and making excuses to his non-superhero wife to, I don’t know, spare her feelings now but upset her more if he dies? Clint doesn’t do that, as he’s been married for… judging from Cooper’s age… 20 years or more, so he knows that lies lead to pain. Ha. I also enjoyed the fact that Clint tried to do a similar “get captured, beat up captors” plan that Natasha did in Avengers 1, but screwed it up royally as he’s not the one to normally do the in-person stuff. It made me laugh. And, final thought, I love that the Tracksuits refer to everyone as Bro. It’s just a funny verbal tick. Have a good night!

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