The Marvel Cinematic Universe’s foray into television was a welcome development for many, having allowed the world to expand its storytelling potential and veer away from the film beats that have been relied on for so long. Hawkeye is fantastic example of this, drawing the stakes down to street/organized crime level, to say nothing of the poignant personal stakes, and giving Marvel Studios the opportunity to play around with the crime genre. Now one of its stars is looking for a comeback to get some more development.
In an interview with Discussing Film, he expressed his hopes that we haven’t seen the last of Duquesne in the MCU, as the actor would be quite eager to don the Swordsman mantle once again.
Of course, I would do that role again. It was fun. It’s nice to be the good guy for a change.
Even with the shift in style, Hawkeye was still recognizably MCU material, rife with new characters to cheer for, such as Kate Bishop and Echo, and its unmistakable sense of humor (mainly by way of Yelena Belova and Kate being in the same room together). But as fun as the humor can be, ask any Marvel fan, and they’ll tell you that they’ve stayed with the MCU because of its characters.
And perhaps the cream of the crop from Hawkeye‘s wealth of MCU newcomers was Jack Duquesne (played by Tony Dalton), Kate Bishop’s almost-stepdad who everyone suspected would be revealed as the show’s villain. However, he turned out to be on the side of justice, assisting Hawkeye and his other associates in protecting civilians and fighting off the Tracksuit Mafia. For those of us familiar with the comics, it may not have been quite as surprising, but perhaps some of that surprise came from Tony Dalton himself.
Dalton posited that Duquesne’s alignment being a surprise may partially have to do with the actor being so well known for his role of Lalo Salamanca in Better Call Saul, which may make it difficult for audiences to view the actor’s characters as anything other than a villain.
I would think my history with Lalo and with a whole bunch of other characters, I’ve been doing this for a while… four years playing a hitman so that doesn’t help to have a good image of your characters,
Hawkeye is available to stream on Disney Plus.