New Avengers: Endgame fan art imagines what happened to Clint Barton aka Hawkeye following Thanos' snap in Avengers: Infinity War that wiped out half of life in the universe. Debuting in 2011's Thor, before officially being introduced to the MCU the year after in The Avengers, Jeremy Renner has been playing Earth's mightiest marksman for seven years across four films, with the fifth one coming via next year's Phase 3 capper.

Hawkeye sat out the initial bout with Thanos as, like Scott Lang/Ant-Man, he was on house arrest following what went down in Captain America: Civil War, where he joined Team Cap in refusing to sign the government-imposed Sokovia Accords. Instead of joining Cap, Black Widow and Falcon as the MCU's version of the Secret Avengers, he opted to strike a deal that would allow him to come home and rejoin his family. According to the Infinity War Prelude comics, Clint had been living a normal life on his farm until the events of Avengers 3 unfurled.

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No one really knows what exactly happened to Hawkeye, and Marvel Studios had remained coy about it until his reveal in the recently released Avengers Endgame trailer, looking very different from the character people know. Renner has repeatedly said that he has his own story-arc in the upcoming film, but he never gave any specifics about it. However, one of the most popular theories as to what drove him to become who he is in Avengers 4 suggests that his whole family may have been affected by The Decimation. This heartbreaking theory is visualized in brand new fan art from digital artist BossLogic. Check it out below:

Despite being one of the original six Avengers, it's no secret that Clint and Natasha Romanoff have always been cast to the side a bit, as the main focus is usually on MCU's big three - Iron Man, Thor, and Captain America. But with Black Widow finally getting her long-overdue standalone movie, Hawkeye risked becoming the only Avenger without a proper story arc in the franchise. Avengers: Age of Ultron showed a different side of him as a family man, and considering that he's been a trained assassin who's probably seen it all, only the unexpected death of a family member, let alone all of them, would be enough to push him toward assuming the persona of Ronin.

Fan reaction to Hawkeye's reveal in the Avengers: Endgame trailer proves Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige was right on when he said leaving the character out of Infinity War was possibly the best thing that could've happened to him. Now, more fans are actually invested in his story and where he goes from here. Considering that he's among the principal heroes of the MCU, it'll be interesting to see if the upcoming ensemble film is the end of his journey on the big screen. Regardless, giving him his own personal subplot in the movie will be a great way to appease Hawkeye fans who've felt disappointed by what's been done with his big screen adaptation so far.

More: Avengers 4: What Happened To Hawkeye In Infinity War

Source: BossLogic

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