“Hawkeye” premiered on Disney+ on Wednesday, Nov. 24. The first two episodes are being made available at the same. The remaining episodes of the show will be released on a weekly basis after that. However, without any doubt, the new Disney+ series is the closest title Marvel has released as a Christmas special.
There’s nothing like New York City at Christmas, as we all know. And Hawkeye unfolds such an evening where the eponymous Avenger; Clint Barton (played by Jeremy Renner) leaves his house with three children to see Rogers: The Musical. In an unexpected and wild turn of events, Barton spots an imposter dressed up as Ronin; his alter-ego nemesis.
#Hawkeye making me miss #NYC right now. Nothin better than New York at #Christmas. #mcutwt #marvel pic.twitter.com/clQD4Jd09l
— Bjorne Digital (@BjorneDigital) November 25, 2021
The imposter is none other than young archer Kate Bishop (played by Hailee Steinfeld), who, as comic book fans already know, is all but confirmed to eventually take over the mantle of Hawkeye in the MCU. After Barton decides to send his children home so that he can neutralize Kate’s situation, a mystery is unleashed: will Clint Barton make it home for Christmas? Moreover, you can watch your favorite Marvel movies in order .
Ahead of the release of the fifth MCU title to debut on Disney+ this year, Executive Producer Trinh Tran revealed, “We wanted to figure out a way to set it apart from all the series that have come out, and all the series that are coming out [in the future].” He further added, “And we love the holidays. We love holiday events. And other than Iron Man 3, we haven’t really [dove] into that area. And out of all the characters, Clint Barton made the most sense. He is one of the few Avengers with the family, with kids. Family is central to him, and especially after Endgame where he lost his family [to Thanos’s snap], took on a different persona for five years, and then got his family back. He’s lost all this time, yet then again, he [gets stuck] on this mission where there’s a ticking clock of, is he going to get home in time to spend the holidays?”
Speckled with the surroundings of illuminating trees, glitter, shimmering lights, nutcracker decorations, snowflakes, and all the vibes of Christmas, Hawkeye is definitely MCU’s first-holiday show. As Kevin Feige told Marvel.com, “I think there’s no debating it, I think it’s a hundred percent a Christmas show, that’s what people will see very soon.”
Scheduling the series during the Christmas season was always deep-rooted in the main idea behind the show, as Feige reveals, “Other than of course, more [Jeremy] Renner…our tonal touchpoints were more [of the comics run by Matt] Fraction, more Christmas. That is what we wanted to do because Fraction had such an amazing tone in that run. We wanted to experience that. We wanted to take our version of Hawkeye, which is actually quite different from his version of the comics, and adapt Renner into that tone. What would it be like if he was thrust into that street level, New York City realm?”
Furthermore, Jonathan Igla; Head Writer stated, “I definitely had Christmas songs playing when I was doing a lot of the writing and I had certain [holiday aspects] in my head.” He continued, “I love the vibe of it. I love the feel of it. I was thrilled to get to make a Marvel holiday show.”
“There’s not enough Christmas!” Executive producer Trinh Tran said jokingly. “I told Kevin at one point, ‘Tell me when actually there is too much.’ When you actually tell me that there is too much Christmas, that’s when I know to pull back. And he never said a word in terms of that. He wanted more because it’s about the festivity of the holiday season and spending time with family. So that was that. Christmas season and the holiday season, [it’s] kind of like a character in itself for this show.”
“What we try to do at Marvel Studios is take these incredible characters and these incredible stories and adapt them and readapt them to different genres of Marvel movies. The holidays are a big, great genre that I’m one
of those people that will veg out in front of a classic holiday movie every year. It’s fun to be able to tap into that genre. And yet at the same time, be a very essential part of the MCU.”
Hawkeye has been majorly influenced by famous Christmas classics ‘Die Hard (1988)’ and ‘Home Alone (1990).’ “There’s definitely that style in there,” Tran says of the show’s inspiration taken from Die Hard.
“There’s Home Alone, that I really love as well, too. Die Hard obviously has the action, has that character. So we looked at a ton of them. We looked at different Christmas music as well, too. But most importantly was also, ‘How do we integrate it and maintain that feeling that we’re after in all the projects that we have created?’
The cast was also fully on board with Marvel’s idea.
“The fact that this takes place during the holiday time, it’s beautiful and wonderful and lovely and heartfelt and emotional,” stated Steinfeld.
Or as Renner explained it: “The best gifts come wrapped in a bow, duh.”
Disney+’s Hawkeyes is going to be an epic watching experience for MCU fans and other alike. Grab a bucket of popcorn and enjoy Clint Barton in action in an MCU epic title.
