#cj barton

[avengerscompound]

Clint “CJ” Barton Jr

What If? (1989) #114

[ootcs]

CJ Barton, aka Clint Barton Jr., aka the son of Hawkeye and She-Hulk is on a variant cover for Avengers Forever (2021) #1!

I hope he's in the book because he's awesome and because Clint/Jen is one of my favorite non-Hawkingbird Clint ships and one of my favorite forgotten Clint friendships, the backstory of how he came to be is actually kind of heartbreaking.

CJ was born in a "What If?" universe where the heroes and villains transported to Battleworld in Secret Wars (1984) never found a way home. Now, Secret Wars started smack-dab in the middle of an Avengers party to celebrate the wedding of Hawkeye and Mockingbird:

And both of them were gutted sick to have been separated:

In Earth-616, Hawkeye and Mockingbird were reunited after a few days, but in Earth-9811, it never happened. They must have held out hope for weeks, months, even years, but Clint eventually realized he would never be able to make it home to his wife. Somehow, he moved on with his life, and Jennifer helped him do that. As bittersweet as that story must be, I'd like to see it.

As for Bobbi? At the end of the What If? story, the children of the Battleworld Avengers (CJ included) eventually make it back to Earth, only to find it ruled by Sentinels. We don't know what's become of the Avengers on Earth, but that's another story I'd like to see told.