Sigh, here we go again.
As if stuffing content down our throats with the glut of shows and films from the MCU wasn't enough, Kevin Feige is also hell-bent on destroying whatever goodwill that was built during the first three phases of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Phase 4 has been anything but exciting and engaging. Black Widow was a dumpster fire of a film, Shang-Chi existed to pander to the Asian community the same way Black Panther did to the African-American community. It’s all so tired and predictable at this point. The TV shows didn’t fare any better either. Wandavision showed that you can enslave an entire town of people against their will, as long as you’re a woman with a few issues. Falcon and The Winter Solider devolved into white-man bad, POC good caveman-speak and while Loki did its best to steer the ship back on course, all it did was kick the franchise in the family jewels, much like the actual character in the show. And, the less said about the travesty that was What If…?, the better. So all in all, Phase 4 has been a disaster, so much so that the festering sepsis that is The Eternals is so bad that it’s not even worth talking about.
Does Hawkeye fall into this category? The answer is a resounding YES. Loosely adapted from the original comic book run by Matt Fraction and David Aja, the show resembles the comic in that it emasculates and degrades the main character to introduce a younger, more diverse, preferably female character to kick his ass and take his mantle. Yawn! The comic was critically acclaimed when it was first released but as time passed and the sheen of snarky one-liners and silly ‘lol, omg so random’ humour wore out, the comic was laid bare as a forgettable piece of media that will never stand the test of time. And the show follows the comic book run as Hawkeye is called back into action by diverse, female character number 1453 in the MCU, this time superimposed on a rich, white girl in Kate Bishop. She is automatically an amazing archer, no need to train after all. You go, girl! She’s better than Hawkeye at what he does and why wouldn't she be, she’s not a white man! She does get into a bit of trouble in the first two episodes of the show, but rest assured, she’s tough and amazing and don’t need no man saving her.
Hawkeye is pushed to the sidelines to make way for a ‘better, more relatable’ character that is as bland as chicken soup without the chicken. Kate Bishop was written to appeal to the legion of brain-dead Harry Potter fans and it shows. She’s one-dimensional and Hailee Steinfeld has the expressive range of lettuce. Jeremy Renner is wasted in this show and for anyone who is a fan of the actor, you should check out the much better Mayor of Kingstown. The dialogue is pedestrian at best, but then again, if you’re an MCU stan, it makes sense as to why Whedon’esque dialogue would be the next best thing since sliced bread. The show tries to blanket the weak writing and characters with a light-hearted setting but it fails at everything it is trying to accomplish. Hawkeye isn't given enough time as an OG Avenger, but then again, the MSheU…sorry MCU, is looking at eviscerating every male character they have to make way for a more diverse and ‘modern’ cast, so it all works out in the end. They lose money and we all win.
The plot in Hawkeye is nothing to write home about as there isn’t much to really go on. Hawkeye isn't like a premier Avenger or anything of the sort and even in the comics, there isn’t much to go by. Vera Farmiga phones her way through the first two episodes as the main antagonist of the show and is about as interesting as a bowl of cereal. It really tries to grab the 30-second attention span crowd with ‘witty quips’ and ‘one-liners’ but at the end of the day, it’s the same old, same old. If you’re a die-hard Marvel fan, you should check it out because there is nothing else on this planet for you to consume. If you love great and engaging content, Hawkeye should be a show that you wouldn’t want to torture your worst enemy with. Hawkeye is boring, uneventful and pushes ‘The Message’ a bit too hard. Avoid like the black plague.
Hawkeye premiers today Nov 24 on Disney+Hotstar with a new episode premiering every week.