Clint’s whole thing is “we’re weapons but we have a choice”.
That started with Laura it seems. Laura who was this talented young Shield agent (especially if she was actually Mockingbird) and then, likely before she was thirty based on the ages of the kids, she decided to choose a completely different kind of life. She walked away from being a spy and a weapon in order to be a wife and a mother and a homemaker because that’s what she wanted. And Clint was right there with her in that, supporting her, helping her work out logistics with Fury, being her partner.
And after watching Laura make that choice, offering that choice to other people becomes this central part of who Clint is.
He offers it to Natasha. This young woman who has spent her entire life forced into being a weapon for other people. He sees that she wants out and he offers her that choice and helps her get out. For Nat, it’s not to a normal life like it was for Laura. It’s a choice to work for Shield and then to be an Avenger (and ultimately, the emphasis lands on how it was her choice to save the world at the cost of her life, and he has to live with that).
He offers it to Wanda (and Pietro). This young woman who has been abused and manipulated and weaponized. He tells her that her past doesn’t define her, that she can be what she wants to be. He’s not pushing her to be an Avenger. It’s totally open before her “you don’t have to do this. you can stay here and I’ll make sure you get to safety and you can have a normal life. Or if you want to be an Avenger, you can be. You just have to choose.” He’s not ‘judging her by her worst mistakes”. He’s not doubting her capability. He’s giving her an option whatever direction she wants to go.
Then again in Civil War, he comes and gives her the choice that Vision and Tony (well meaning as they are) are taking away from her. “You don’t have to be defined or controlled by their fear. You choose who you are and what stands you want to make.”
He offers it to Maya. He’s open with her, shows her his face, tries to connect with her. He wants her to have the truth about what happened with her father and Fisk’s role in all of it. He tells her that, like him, she’s a weapon, but that it’s her rage that makes her easy for people to use and manipulate. Maya has been trying to kill him, and she’s even been researching his family, potentially threatening them. And Clint makes clear what will happen if she does. But he also wants something better for Maya. He sees the way Fisk has manipulated her and he doesn’t blame her. And by giving her that information, he gives her what she needs to make her own choice and turn on Fisk and the gang. To make herself into whatever she’s going to become.
He offers it to Yelena. Though in this case most of that has already been done by Natasha. But he gives her the gift of telling her a little more about her sister’s love, and assuring her that it wasn’t her fault. She couldn’t have saved Nat because Nat had made her choice, and Nat was the best there was so no one could have stopped her. In the way that Maya was made vulnerable by her blind rage, Yelena has been made vulnerable by her grief and ended up back in a position where she’s being used by others. And Clint offers her away free of that– the tools she needs to grieve and have her choices be her own again.
And Clint offers that choice to Kate. Here he’s a little more hesitant. Because Kate isn’t like Nat or Wanda or Maya or Yelena. She has skills sure, but she hasn’t been weaponized. And when you’re a weapon you have a choice but its so easy to lose sight of that or to have others try to take that away from you. Even as the web of lies around Kate is revealed, she’s still not in the same position. So Clint cautions her. You will get hurt. You will be lonely. You will lose people. But it’s still her choice and he lets her make it. And once he’s confident that she knows what the choice she’s making actually is (what the consequences could be) he supports her. He teaches her. He encourages her and tells her he’s proud of her. He gives her supplies. And he welcomes her into his family so that maybe she’ll be less hurt, less lonely, have less loss. He gives her the structure so that she can be a weapon but without letting rage or grief or hopelessness rule her and instead can keep her choices her own and be a hero.
kaledo-art
theartofmadeline
gummygunk
prguitarman
annaxmalina
blakekathryn
stormborns
