An eagle-eyed Marvel fan may have just found a hint toward Hawkeye‘s future plot that was dropped more than 6 years ago.
Pointing to a very specific scene from Avengers: Age of Ultron, Reddit user bucketofsteam proposed that Tony Stark revealed a key Hawkeye plot point when the Avengers gang visited the Barton family home.
In the scene, Tony, Thor, Natasha, Bruce, Clint, and Steve make their way to the remote Barton farm, where Clint has hidden his family away from prying eyes. As they approach the home, Thor asks Tony about the location, which Tony refers to as a “safe house.” Seemingly in keeping with his sarcastic nature, he later identifies Clint’s wife, Laura, as “an agent of some kind,” before referring to their children as “smaller agents.”
The scene makes perfect sense in the context of the film, as Tony appears to be joking. Since he and the rest of the team ⏤ minus Natasha ⏤ had no idea that Clint even had a family, he is sardonically complaining about being left out of Clint’s life by identifying the home as a “safe house” and his family as “agents.”
Thanks to some recent moments in Disney Plus’ Hawkeye, however, bucketofsteam believes that Tony actually hit the nail on the head in that long-ago movie moment. The series’ latest episode dropped hints that some fans think may be leading up to Laura’s reveal as Mockingbird, a highly-trained S.H.I.E.L.D agent.
The MCU has kept Laura at arm’s length thus far, portraying her as nothing more than Clint’s devoted wife, but several key moments in Hawkeye are starting to make viewers doubt the facade. The appearance of an Avengers Rolex next to a list of Clint’s family got some fans thinking, as did several lines from Clint noting that the watch belongs to an old colleague who has since retired.
Laura is also shown to be exceptionally helpful to Clint, tracking down the Rolex remotely and even engaging in a secretive, non-English conversation with him. Plus, why didn’t she join the rest of the family on their trip to New York City? They are celebrating the holidays without a vital family member, a decision that seems odd ⏤ unless it was made to keep Laura far from curious eyes. If traveling to New York could potentially threaten to reveal her former identity, it would make sense to keep her far from the action.
These hints have some fans predicting that Laura has been Mockingbird all along, retired and hiding out on the family’s remote farm. The reveal would be particularly impressive if bucketofsteam is correct, and Marvel dropped hints about her real identity all the way back in 2015.
A few people tried to poke holes in this theory, noting that Bobby Morse ⏤ aka Mockingbird ⏤ already appeared in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D, but the believers would not be outdone. They pointed out that Laura could have been the original Mockingbird before she retired, passing the torch to Bobby. It’s entirely possible to have multiple Mockingbirds, after all. Laura could have also had another name, and even a different face, before retiring, since we are all well aware of what S.H.I.E.L.D is capable of.
With no definitive confirmation of Laura’s identity, fans will likely continue to debate the possibilities until Hawkeye‘s final episode drops on Dec. 22. Hopefully it will provide some answers.