Of Robin Hoods and Roustabouts

Clint Barton has come back to the Carson Traveling Carnival, the place he called home before becoming Hawkeye, after receiving a call help in the mail from Marcy Carson, the current owner.[1] When he tries to knock at Marcy’s trailer, he is scared off by two heavies guarding the door that pull some kind of ray gun weapon on him. Realizing that there is more going on here than meets the eye, Clint ducks into a tent to change into Hawkeye.

Also attending the carnival is Scott Lang, who has brought his daughter Cassie out for a day of fun on the midway. When Cassie wants to go on a ride called the “Spin-n-Heave”, Scott says no until he spots Hawkeye running by. Believing the Avenger could use some help, Lang agrees to let her daughter go on the ride and pays the operator a stack of cash to keep the ride going.

Meanwhile, Hawkeye spots Marcy being escorted across the lot by the two men who ran him off. Knocking them out with two of his blunt arrows, Hawkeye grabs Marcy and the pair duck into a nearby tent to hide. Clint is taken aback by how beautiful Marcy looks now that she is a grown adult. Telling Barton to focus, she tells him that her family carnival has been taken over by criminals and she was narrowly able to get her message out to him. As she goes to show Hawkeye what’s going on, they are caught by the man who is responsible.

Elsewhere, Scott Lang pulls his shrunken costume out of his pocket and realizes that storing his Ant-Man outfit this way is more trouble than it is worth. After some awkwardness, he has changed into Ant-Man and uses his cybernetic helmet to summon an army of ants that are hanging around the carnival.

As it turns out, the man who is responsible for taking over Carson’s Carnival is none other than the Taskmaster. The villain explains that since he operates training schools for super-villain henchmen, he decided to try and create a mobile operation using a carnival as a cover hoping he can use it as a cover for his training operations. When Hawkeye tries to attack the Taskmaster, the villain uses the skills he learned with his photographic reflexes to defend himself. Utilizing the skills of Captain America, Spider-Man, Tigra, Daredevil, and Iron Fist, the Taskmaster is able to deflect Hawkeye’s attack until he can get close enough to Marcy and take her hostage.[2] Not wanting Marcy to get hurt, Hawkeye surrenders.

When Ant-Man finally finds Hawkeye, he finds the archer has been placed in an electrified cage with a hungry lion. Rapidly returning to his normal size, Ant-Man surprises the lion and tosses it into the electrified bars, knocking it out. Then using his shrinking gas, he helps Hawkeye escape from this trap. When they catch up to Taskmaster and his men they are trying to escape with Marcy. While Ant-Man orders his ants to bite the Taskmaster’s minions, the villain tries to escape. Hawkeye and Ant-Man chase him into the next tent where he reveals that his men are going to fire an explosive filled dummy into the air. This forces the heroes to try and disarm the bomb before it reaches the ground and let the Taskmaster go. Quickly, Ant-Man leaps onto the tip of one of Hawkeye’s arrows which is then shot in the air. This allows Ant-Man to reach the bomb and disarm it before it comes crashing to the ground.

Soon the authorities and the rest of the Avengers arrive to take the Taskmaster’s minions into custody. It’s then that Ant-Man realizes the time and rushes off to find his daughter who he had left alone this whole time. When Scott finds Cassie she is waiting for him on a nearby bench. Seeing her slumped over, Scott assumes the worse but it turns out Cassie is just tired after a long day. Still, she asks if they can come back tomorrow, much to Scott’s relief.

Recurring Characters

Hawkeye, Ant-Man, Taskmaster, Cassie Lang, Avengers (Captain America, Iron Man, Wasp, She-Hulk)

Continuity Notes

1. Hawkeye grew up at Carson’s Carnival and it is here he learned his archery skills. See Avengers #19, 65, Solo Avengers #2, Hawkeye (vol. 3) #3-8, Hawkeye: Blindspot #1, and Hawkeye (vol. 4) #12 & 19.

2. Taskmaster states here that he had his photographic reflex skills since birth, which is the origin he gave back in Avengers #196. This turns out to be a lie as explained in Taskmaster (vol. 2) #3, the Taskmaster — aka Tony Masters — got his abilities by injecting himself with a serum created by a Nazi scientist who was trying to recreate Hitler. This came with a side-effect in that all the skills that Tony would now learn would erase memories of his past.