Over the past decade, Marvel has worked to create a series or movie for each individual character in the MCU (Marvel cinematic universe). Even just in 2021, many of these films and TV shows were released, including “Black Widow,” “Loki” and “Spider-man: No Way Home.” But of the original six characters, only Hawkeye hadn’t received his own film. That was until Nov. 24, 2021, when the first episode of the “Hawkeye” series was released.

Having watched all the previous Marvel films, I have a pretty good idea of the characters I like and dislike. When it comes to Clint Barton (Jeremy Renner), he pretty much was at the bottom of my list. For this reason, I originally wasn’t planning on watching the series, because I felt like his character lacked personality and dimension. However, after seeing many good reviews, I decided to watch it. 

A six-episode series, the film begins with young Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld) forced to flee her home in New York when the city is invaded by the Chitauri, a race of extraterrestrial shape-shifters. She witnesses Hawkeye (Renner) battling the species and aspires to become a hero like him. Their stories intersect when Bishop recovers the suit of the Ronin: a costume with a large past. What Bishop didn’t know was that the previous wearer of the suit had a lot of enemies, one of these being the Tracksuit Mafia. Convinced that their old enemy is back, the Russian gang is intent on tracking Bishop down.  When Barton sees the Ronin suit on the news, he is forced to leave his family and join forces with Bishop. In terms of acting, I feel that both of the leads played their roles very well. However, I noticed that the first two episodes were mainly centered around Bishop instead of Hawkeye. Although Bishop’s side of the story is important, I would’ve liked to see more of Hawkeye’s background. 

Aside from the main plot in the film, the chemistry between Barton and Bishop makes the show much more interesting to watch. Barton, of course, wants nothing to do with Bishop. He wants to fix everything as quickly as possible and get back to his family. Bishop, however, has idolized Hawkeye since she was young, and she doesn’t want to let the partnership go. They have a great kind of combative chemistry: seemingly always approaching problems from different perspectives. The clash in personalities brings a light-hearted feel to the film that I really enjoyed.

An aspect of the film that I felt was important was the diversity. The leader of the Tracksuit Mafia, Maya Lopez (Alaqua Cox) is a key antagonist in the series. Her father had previously been killed by someone wearing the suit of Ronin, so she seeks vengeance when she sees Bishop in it. Lopez was born deaf and comes from Native American descent. I appreciate how Marvel is starting to incorporate more diversity into their films, as I believe it’s important for people to have representation in the film industry.

Not surprisingly, Marvel didn’t disappoint with the action scenes. Like many other Marvel films, the series was pretty fast-paced, and having a short attention span myself, this was an aspect of the series that I enjoyed. The plot was easy to follow, and the film held my attention well. Even the slower parts of the film were filled with witty dialogue and interesting characters. 

As for the character development in the show, there wasn’t a huge amount from Hawkeye. I would’ve liked to see more of his background because background is essential for character development. His chilly personality disappeared when he spoke with his family, and this allowed me to get to know his character better. Although Hawkeye did open up a little near the end, I can’t say the film changed my perspective on him.

Although I wasn’t expecting much from this series, I found it pretty enjoyable. The ability that Marvel has to create a show regarding the arguably least-fun Avenger and make it into a witty, light-hearted film is extremely impressive. The TV show also had a pretty unique plot that didn’t blend in with Marvel’s previous films. Overall, I would rate the series a 3.5/5.