Here Comes Hawkeye

Hawkeye (Clint Barton) is putting on an archery show for charity and is practicing with some stunt clowns for the big day. Watching from the stands are his fellow West Coast Avengers, Wonder Man (Simon Williams) and Mockingbird (Bobbi Morse). Bobbi is proud of her husband and tells Simon about how Clint became such a good archer. Coming from an abusive household, Clint and his brother Barney ran away from home when they were teenagers. They ended up taking jobs at a traveling carnival. There, Clint was taken under the wing of the Swordsman who taught him everything he knows about archery.[1] After practice is done for the day, Hawkeye tells Mockingbird that he is free until showtime, prompting Wonder Man to head off so the couple can spend some time alone.

A man watches Simon leave the stadium and reports back to his boss, a mysterious archer who is running some assassins through a training exercise. The man is pleased by the update and looks forward to making Hawkeye pay his debts in blood.

A few hours later, the trained assassins ambush the stunt clowns before the show and take their place. When the show begins, the assassins instantly try to kill Hawkeye when he arrives in the arena. While the crowd thinks this is all part of the show, Clint realizes that he is in danger since these men are trained with weapons to counteract his archery skills. However, despite their abiltiies, these would-be killers are no match for Hawkeye’s trick arrows and he quickly incapacitates them all.

In the aftermath of the battle, Mockingbird comes rushing to her husband’s side having just been in a fight herself. She shows him a trick arrow she recovered from her own fight and asks Clint if he has ever seen anything like it before. Hawkeye instantly recognizes the weapon and tells his wife that his past has returned to haunt him.

Elsewhere, the man who sent the assassins after Hawkeye — who calls himself Trick Shot — believes that it is now time to confront his student to find out which of them is a superior archer. Crushing a bust of Hawkeye under his foot, Trick Shot vows that he will be the ultimate victor.

Recurring Characters

Hawkeye, Mockingbird, Trickshot, Wonder Man

Continuity Notes

1. This version of Hawkeye’s origins were first told back in Avengers #19. However, they have been expanded upon in Avengers #62, Solo Avengers #2, Hawkeye: Blindspot #1, and Hawkeye (vol. 1) #1 (vol. 3) #1-3, 5 , 7-8 and (vol. 4) #12 and 19.

Listen to the Mockingbird

Mockingbird is running late for her husband’s big show when her taxi gets stuck in a traffic jam. Paying for the fare she goes to the roof of the vehicle and uses it to leap up and grab onto landing skid of a news helicopter reporting on the Los Angeles traffic. As it flies her to the stadium, Mockingbird reflects back on her life. She remembers when she was ordinary Bobbi Morse, a student of biology for George Tech. That all changed when she joined her professor on a sabbatical to work for SHIELD. Discovering that she craved action, she underwent spy training under the tutelage of Nick Fury himself. A field agent for a while, Bobbi decided that she wanted to solo and created a costume identity for herself. However, thing changed when she met Hawkeye and after whirlwind romance they were married and joined up with the West Coast Avengers.[1]

Arriving at the stadium, Mockingbird heads to the dressing room and discovers the stunt clowns working with her husband have been knocked out. Before she can go and warn Clint, she is ambushed by more assassins who have been hired to kill Hawkeye on behalf of Trick Shot. However, they discover that Mockingbird is far from harmless. One of the assassins grabs a hostage and uses her as a shield to cover their escape in a van. Mockingbird leaps onto the roof of the van and slams through the windshield, saving the hostage and making the vehicle crash.

As she fights the remaining assassins in the parking lot, she is being observed by Trick Shot who is sitting inside a parked limo. Impressed by her moves, Tricky fires a flaming arrow. Luckily, the woman Bobbi just saved sees the flaming projectile heading her way and warns her. Mockingbird leaps up and catches the arrow between her legs and prevents it from igniting the spilled gasoline from the wrecked cars.

With the battle over, Mockingbird rushes back into the stadium to discover that Hawkeye dealt with his own assassins. When she shows him the arrow she recovered from the battle, he tells her that it belongs to the man who actually trained him. While Hawkeye wants to put a stop to him, Mockingbird has him promise not to do it alone.

Recurring Characters

Mockingbird, Hawkeye, Trickshot

Continuity Notes

1. Mockingbird’s origins were chronicled in Astonishing Tales #12 and expanded upon in Hawkeye #2, Mockingbird #4, and West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #11. Her time as a SHIELD agent ran from Astonishing Tales #6-20 and Ka-Zar (vol. 2) #3-5 and Savage Tales #8. She became a solo crime fighter in Marvel Super Action #1 as the Huntress before changing her identity to Mockingbird in Marvel Team-Up #95. She met and married Hawkeye in Hawkeye #1-4, and later the couple went west to form the WCA in Avengers #243.