Scarlet Witch's failure to hypnotize Hawkeye in Avengers: Age of Ultron proves that he's not the worst Avenger. Introduced in the 2015 Marvel Studios ensemble film, Wanda Maximoff and her twin brother, Pietro, were experimented on by HYDRA using the Mind Stone giving them superabilities. She particularly made an impression by playing mind games with all the founding MCU heroes with the exception of Clint Barton.

As one of the two original Avengers who does not have any super skill, Hawkeye has been a favorite joke topic in the MCU. While both he and Black Widow are deadly spies, they, admittedly, always got the shorter end of the stick when it came to on-screen depiction. Clint, in particular, has barely had any focus in the MCU. Granted that Age of Ultron explored more of his personal story and Avengers: Endgame saw him assume his ruthless assassin persona from the comic books, Ronin, it's nothing compared to what his fellow Phase 1 heroes got from Marvel Studios.

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All that being said, Hawkeye isn't as lame as some would like to think; his interaction with Scarlet Witch in Age of Ultron proves this. As the founding Avengers went on their presumed final mission to secure the Tesseract from Baron von Strücker and his remaining Hydra cell, Wanda showed her ability to influence people's minds through Tony Stark first. On their next encounter in Johannesburg, she was able to do the same thing to all the other heroes by sneaking up on them, in some instances, with the help of Quicksilver, ultimately planting horrifying visions in their heads and tearing the team apart. Clint, however, was able to anticipate it and neutralize her before she could cast her spell on him.

Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye in Avengers Age of Ultron

This highlights that while Hawkeye doesn't have any special skill, he has heightened reflexes which make him a really effective spy and Avenger. Even Thor wasn't able to foresee Wanda even though she basically snuck up on him the same way she did on Clint. The bow-and-arrow-wielding hero was more cautious about Scarlet Witch's mind-control abilities following his experience with Loki in The Avengers, and it illustrated how he's able to learn from his previous lapses. This might not seem like much, but it means that he continuously improves as a hero, allowing him to acquire new capabilities as he continues his MCU journey making him deadlier.

Admittedly, MCU Hawkeye is nowhere near as cool as the character is in the comic books, but the jokes about him being powerless have grown somewhat tired. Of course, it doesn't help that Marvel Studios has shortchanged the character for years. But it's worth noting that he has some great qualities, not to mention nifty moments throughout the Infinity Saga like this one in Avengers: Age of Ultron. Hopefully, the upcoming Disney+ series Hawkeye can better establish his place in the universe, especially considering that there's only a handful of founding heroes now left in the franchise.

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