Kevin Feige: Marvel’s Hawkeye is “a breath of fresh air”

Clint Barton, aka Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), is one of the few remaining heroes from the original team of Avengers. Tony Stark, Steve Rogers and Natasha Romanoff are no more, and the Hulk is much changed. Most of the time we’ve seen Barton throughout the franchise, he’s been caught up in massive, high-stakes wars. However, the upcoming Disney+ show Hawkeye will be a more grounded, family-focused adventure, seeing him work alongside up-and-coming archer Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld) as they struggle to make it home in time for the holidays.

“Will Clint make it home for Christmas?” Marvel boss Kevin Feige asked during a press conference. “Which was fun and a breath of fresh air after world-ending stakes and Celestials bursting out of planets and multiverse shenanigans. This is, like Hawkeye himself, a grounded, family-based show.”

Hawkeye won’t be the first MCU project to take place during Christmastime. You may recall Iron Man 3 was set during the holiday season but released in the summer. To this day, fans still argue about whether it counts as a “Christmas” movie. However, there’ll be no such debate over Hawkeye, which takes the holiday theme and runs with it:

"[Iron Man 3] came out in the summer. This is fun because it’s a Christmas story taking place during the holidays. It’s also based on early discussions about a limited time period, about setting a series in — not quite real time — but, essentially, in a six-day period, six episodes, six days."

Feige has always been on the lookout for opportunities to tell Christmas stories within the MCU. Hawkeye isn’t the only upcoming show set during the most wonderful time of the year, either, as next year will see the release of the Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special, a show four years in the making.

“I’ve always loved films or shows or specials that take place over the holiday season,” Feige said. “I think there’s a heightened amount of emotion and a heightened amount of conflict and tension that can occur in this glorious season.”

What inspired Kevin Feige to give Hawkeye a show?

When Feige was asked why he decided to give Clint Barton his own solo outing, he gave a pretty obvious answer. Basically, he just wants to see more of Jeremy Renner. Who doesn’t?

He also cited a scene from Avengers: Age of Ultron that shows how good of a mentor Barton can be. “One of my favorite scenes in all of our films is the scene with Clint and Wanda in Sokovia,” Feige explained. “Where he basically says, ‘When you go out that door, you’re an Avenger.’ And motivates her to join the fight. And that was the kernel of how we could connect our MCU incarnation of Clint Barton into the Matt Fraction storyline in relationship with Kate Bishop.”

What’s up with that Captain America musical?

One huge talking point regarding Hawkeye is that tiny glimpse we got of what looks like Steve Rogers: The Musical in the trailer. We know we’ll see the Hamilton-esque musical in the season premiere. “It gave us context for the opening episode, context for why he is in New York, and context for how Clint sees himself,” Feige told SYFY Wire. Director Rhys Thomas said the idea of a musical was an “innocent suggestion” that crept its way into the final cut.

The first two episodes of Hawkeye drop on Disney+ on Nov. 24. There are six episodes in total, taking us almost all the way to Christmas. After that, who knows what’s in store for Hawkeye? “[H]aving Hailee come in, and these characters, I think it opens it up for six great episodes for this event type of television,” Renner said. “After that, I have no idea. But these six episodes are pretty exciting.”

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h/t SlashFilm, Hype Beast