How did Hawkeye lose his hearing in Disney+'s Hawkeye TV show? Jeremy Renner's Hawkeye has been a staple of the MCU franchise despite being the butt of far too many jokes since his debut in Thor, and the Hawkeye hearing aid offers a stark reminder of what it cost him to be an Avenger. Having gone on to play key roles in The Avengers and Avengers: Age of Ultron, Clint Barton put his body through hell without the help of super soldier serum or God-like powers. Also, Clint Barton's story appeared to close out alongside the culmination of Marvel's Infinity Saga.

Thanks to the Avengers' time heist, those who disappeared at the behest of Thanos' snap were restored, and Barton returned to his family once again, five years older and carrying the emotional scars of his vigilante murdering spree as Ronin. And yet the stories of the original Avengers are far from over, with each of the core six heroes represented in the MCU's future, one way or another. For Hawkeye's part, the eagle-eyed archer trains his skilled, overeager successor, Kate Bishop, as well as wrestles with Ronin's ghosts after Endgame, while adjusting his life to deal with his hearing loss.

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Hawkeye Loses His Hearing For Different Reasons In The Comics

Custom image of Jeremy Renner in Hawkeye and some physical therapy equipment.

How did Hawkeye lose his hearing in the comics? Hawkeye's battle with hearing loss derives from Marvel Comics. In a miniseries in 1983 by Mark Grunwald, Hawkeye teams up with S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Mockingbird (played by Adrianne Palicki in Agents of SHIELD, incidentally) and encounters the supervillain known as Crossfire, who is building a sonic weapon to send superheroes into a frenzy. Using one of his own sonic arrows to counter the effects, Hawkeye is left predominantly deaf thanks to the ensuing bang. Although he later heals from this injury, the Clown physically stabs Barton's ears with two of his own arrows, giving another answer for why is Hawkeye deaf.

The 2014 comic run, Hawkeye: My Life as a Weapon by David Aja and Javier Pulido revealed that Clint's deafness began due to abuse suffered during childhood. Neither of those backstories is adapted into Clint Barton's MCU series, which establishes that Hawkeye is deaf as a result of repeated trauma on Avengers missions. A flashback montage shows him being injured during the events of The Avengers, Avengers: Age Of Ultron, and Avengers: Endgame. So, when did Hawkeye lose his hearing?

How Hawkeye Lost His Hearing In The MCU After Endgame

While the answer to how did hawkeye lose his hearing isn't explicitly spelled out in the Disney+ series, the reason is a condition known as noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL), which can often follow extreme tinnitus. It's something a significant proportion of ex-servicemen who saw action without ear protection face in their later life. NIHL doesn't necessarily need one trigger event. Hawkeye's hearing loss is a result of the cumulative impact of trauma, which offers a physical balance to the mental trauma that played such a key part in Iron Man's Phase 2 story arc and for Black Widow in her life, as well, which also explains Natasha's use of ibuprofen.

Introducing Clint Barton's hearing loss and hearing aids into the MCU is a very welcome story development for the character and one that will go a long way toward improving the representation of disability in the franchise. For all its critical acclaim, the MCU has previously been criticized for glossing over the human "weaknesses" of its superheroes - Tony Stark's alcoholism, for example. Hawkeye might've escaped his movie career without suffering any adverse effects, but since the Disney+ series is a passing of the torch from Clint Barton to Kate Bishop, it makes perfect sense to explore a more personal struggle and the more realistic side of superhero life.

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Hawkeye's Hearing Aid And Echo's Intro Were Deaf Representation Landmarks

Echo and Ronin in Hawkeye

Showing how Hawkeye lost his hearing wasn't only an MCU representation landmark for showing the Hawkeye hearing aids but also the introduction of Maya/Echo (Alaqua Cox), a profoundly Deaf Marvel character who will soon have her own Disney+ spinoff. The show represented different types of hearing loss, showing that one member of the Deaf community may understand sign language having been Deaf from birth, while some who develop it later may struggle to connect with others in the Deaf community through not being able to sign. Watching Hawkeye sign to Echo incorrectly was a sweet way to show this potentially isolating disconnect.

Echo cannot damage her hands in a fight, as they're her only way to communicate, so the show shaped her fighting style around this idea. Plus, the moment his hearing aids are stamped is a genuine heart-in-the-throat moment for any audience members who've worried about losing or damaging their window to the world. A similar struggle was shown in the heart-rending Sound of Metal, but that's more expected in a movie of its kind, not in mainstream superhero content that can reach and inspire younger viewers. The Hawkeye hearing aids allow young fans who share his condition to identify with an Avenger, while also unveiling new, more human aspects to Clint Barton's character.

What Hawkeye's Hearing Loss Means To Jeremy Renner

Jeremy Renner as Clint Barton in Marvel's Hawkeye gesturing with his hand

The show also demonstrated that there are different levels of hearing loss, they affect the people who live with them in different ways, and the distinction is important. It explored a rare, human, vulnerable side of an Avenger in a new way. Jeremy Renner is also hard of hearing and Alaqua Cox is Deaf, meaning that young hearing aid users finally have both an Avenger and an extremely cool antihero to look up to who are played by actors with their lived experiences. In an interview, Renner mentioned that he is hard of hearing and not Deaf, but it gave him a way to connect to Clint Barton.

"And now, there is a wonderful vulnerability that comes in. There’s a lot of ties into other characters because of it, in a fun way, in a negative way, in a positive way, it’s really really interesting there. I found it to be quite a dynamic, interesting ... Sometimes an obstacle, sometimes an asset, not being able to hear."

On top of that, it's finally an opportunity to have MCU merchandise serve a social purpose. Hearing-impaired and Deaf children may find themselves begging their parents for Hawkeye-branded Stark Tech hearing aids and this could shatter the stigma of hearing devices not being "cool," leading to earlier diagnosis. Hawkeye was a real step forward that deserves more credit – and more follow-up from Marvel.

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