Clint Barton is currently having his moment in the spotlight in Hawkeye on Disney Plus. The first two episodes of the witty, action-packed show indicate that a major plot point going forward will be Clint’s actions in the period between Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame.
Traumatized by his beloved family collapsing into dust in front of him, Clint became ‘Ronin’, a lethal vigilante devoted to wiping organized crime off the face of the Earth. Though his true identity was never discovered, the criminal world still has a deep grudge against the man behind the mask, and it seems that we’ll see them realize it was Hawkeye during his show.
But, as it turns out, things could have gone quite differently. Marvel Studios’ director of visual development Andy Park frequently posts concept art on his Instagram and today we have an unused variant costume for Hawkeye. Check it out:
Park explains that this costume was conceived while the story was being planned and before the ‘Ronin’ story had been confirmed. The idea is a “high-tech-ish armored look” that’s similar to Black Widow’s Endgame outfit.
It also resembles Hawkeye’s appearance in the video game Marvel’s Avengers a few years later, though I suppose there are only so many ways you can design form-fitting purple and black body armor.
Judging by the trailers it looks like Hawkeye will stay in civilian clothes in the Disney Plus show, but with some fun trick arrows on the way, here’s hoping he once again dons a superhero suit before the credits roll on the final episode.
Hawkeye airs Wednesdays on Disney Plus.