Hawkeye has a set of contingencies prepared in case he has to stop his Avengers teammates which gives even Batman a run for his money. The Dark Knight may be best known for his contingency plans that would target his allies’ biggest weaknesses if they ever went rogue. However, Marvel has demonstrated that Hawkeye can do the same – for two different teams.
Debuting in 1964, Hawkeye has been a long-term member of the Avengers. He may not be very similar to Batman at first glance, but the two certainly share some commonalities. Neither of them has superpowers, though they are on teams with lots of superpowered allies. This may be exactly why the two think similarly when it comes to threats, even if Hawkeye has hidden it better.
Hawkeye Is Ready To Take Down Two Superteams
Avengers/Thunderbolts #6 is the concluding issue of a limited series from 2004. It has the creative team of Kurt Busiek, Fabian Nicieza, Tom Grummett, Gary Eskine, Richard Starkings, Albert Deschesne, Brian Reber, and Chris Sotomayor. While the two titular teams are dealing with complications involving Moonstone, they are still at odds with one another. Yet Hawkeye has been a member of both and reveals that he is prepared to take down any of his teammates on either side if it becomes necessary, just like Batman is for the Justice League.
Vision tries approaching Moonstone and reaching into her, which Hawkeye does not want to happen since the Avengers’ interference has caused more problems than solutions in this situation. To prevent this, Hawkeye shoots him with a specialty arrow that according to Vision “contained a bioelectric scrambler attuned to my phasing frequency…enough to disrupt me without causing damage.” Hawkeye follows this up with “You know I got an arrow for every single one of you! Don’t think for one second that I didn’t come here ready to take down both teams if I had to!”
Hawkeye’s “Prep Time” Makes Him Batman’s Opposite
Hawkeye has recently returned to lead the Thunderbolts, and he always had a soft spot for its members and future potential. However, having faith in their possible goodness and reformation puts him at odds with Captain America and the other Avengers in this series. This is ironically, counter to Batman’s usual operations. The Dark Knight doesn’t trust that his allies could be unaffected by evil at times, making them possible threats to prepare against. Contrarily, Hawkeye has a lot of trust in his teammates, but even he knows that trust isn’t enough to merit failing to prepare for the worst-case scenarios.
Hawkeye may not be the main leader of the Avengers, but he does have leadership experience. He has also been on the team long enough to know how much trouble they tend to come across – and get into. When push comes to shove, he isn’t going to hesitate to do what he needs to do and it doesn’t matter that he doesn’t have the same kinds of abilities as his allies. Hawkeye is the Avengers’ version of Batman exactly because he has taken steps to address their strengths in spite of not having powers himself.
