mcu & ultimates hawkeye vs. 616 hawkeye, for the uninitiated
i’ve seen people be completely confused or misinformed for years, so here’s a simple point-by-point breakdown (scroll down for comparison bullet points)
like a lot of the aesthetic of the early mcu, mcu/movie hawkeye is largely based off of ultimates hawkeye, not 616 hawkeye
what does “ultimate” mean?
the ultimate!marvel universe was a new line of comics aimed more at teens. and, like most things aimed at teens from the early 2000s, was edgy! darker! grittier! modern! everyone’s wearing leather and kinda hates each other! as a new line, it featured a new continuity, where characters may have shared the names or abilities of their original counterparts in the “main” marvel universe, but they weren’t actually those same main universe characters. think an alternate universe, but…more alternate. even more of a different person. think spider-verse! (miles is, incidentally, from the ultimates universe)
this is ultimate hawkeye:
616 hawkeye is from the marvel-616, which is the “main” marvel universe, aka the one that had captain america running around in the 40s, the fantastic four/spider-man/hulk/x-men popping up in the 60s, and is where all “main” marvel comics take place. this line of comics was originally aimed at kids/younger readers, so everything was more fanciful and bombastic and a little silly and had lots of twinkies ads when hawkeye showed up in 1964
here’s 616 hawkeye in his classic iteration vs. now (costume conveniently changed right before the avengers movie):
what are some noticeable character differences?
was a more serious person, then went off the rails
was an olympic archer (never in the circus!)
was never deaf, but his eyeballs were surgically modified to achieve his perfect aim and he consequently has a unique form of colorblindness
head-to-toe leather costume, usually mostly black, with pants
previously worked as a salaried intelligence agent for many years
helped found and works for SHIELD, was a secret agent
literal job as an assassin, once killed people with his fingernails
snarky swashbuckling scamp
was a fringe-wearing carny
was married or in a serious relationship ~1/3 of the time, otherwise runs around single; considers the avengers his family, lived in avengers HQs
deaf from 1984-1996 and 2014-present; does not have literal hawk eyes
mostly head-to-toe purple & blue tunic (until 2012…rip loincloth)
grew up in a circus until he saw iron man one day and got jealous
hated SHIELD, wants attention, wears an H on his head so you know who he is
is one of the main proponents of the philosophy “Avengers Don’t Kill!!!!” which makes him cap’s gold star morality pupil when he’s not calling him grandpa or cheating at three-card monte to save the earth
wait, so who’s mcu hawkeye based off of again?
mostly ultimate hawkeye, though as you can see some traits weren’t used (like Super Eyeballs). but the ronin identity was taken from 616 hawkeye
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