Kate Bishop Means Hawkeye Can Outdo A Big Arrow Storyline

Clint Barton's (Jeremy Renner) mentorship of Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld) in Hawkeye can outdo how Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell) trained multiple archers on Arrow, especially since the Green Arrow often had issues being a teacher to younger heroes. When Hawkeye premieres on Disney+ in November, Bishop will lay claim to the codename Hawkeye and become one of Marvel Cinematic Universe Phase 4's integral new heroes, thanks to Barton's help.

When Arrow premiered in 2012, Oliver Queen was a lone vigilante known as the Hood looking to avenge his late father by wiping out his criminal cohorts. Arrow systematically integrated countless other DC characters into the show; it wasn't long before the Green Arrow's comic book partners like Arsenal, Speedy, and Black Canary donned costumes and fought crime in the series as well, but Arrow didn't quite replicate Green Arrow's partnerships in DC Comics. When they became Arsenal and Speedy, respectively, Oliver tried to be an example for Roy Harper (Colton Haynes) and his younger sister Thea (Willa Holland) to follow. In Arrow's later seasons, a whole Team Arrow comprising many new heroes was formed, but they also initially had problems working with the temperamental Oliver Queen. Throughout the series, Green Arrow never really came off as a strong mentor, despite the loyalty he inspired from Team Arrow.

Hawkeye is already poised to do a better job of establishing Clint Barton as a mentor to Kate Bishop than Oliver Queen ever was to Thea, Roy Harper, and the rest of Team Arrow. The very nature of Clint Barton's character means Hawkeye is a more natural mentor to Kate Bishop than Ollie ever was. Avengers: Age of Ultron established that Clint Barton is a family man, and he was even teaching archery to his daughter Lila (Ava Russo). Clint already knows how to work with young people, so he can train Kate Bishop to be the next Hawkeye. Barton was also able to balance being a loving father and husband with his dangerous life as an Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. and an Avenger. Although Oliver did his best to be a teacher on Arrow, he was prone to defaulting as the lone vigilante he intended to be — not to mention being very difficult to get along with on many occasions.

Kate Bishop is also a very different character than Thea Queen, although they're both daughters of wealthy and powerful businesspeople. As Jeremy Renner told EW, Kate is a "big Hawkeye fan... She has a wonderfully annoying and equally charming manner about her, because she's such a fangirl of Hawkeye." Bishop models herself after Barton and wants to be like him, to his chagrin. In contrast, Thea in Arrow was a troubled young woman who didn't know her brother Ollie was the Hood at first, and it was her father, Malcolm Merlyn (John Barrowman), who initiated Thea's training to become Speedy.

One of the advantages Hawkeye has over Arrow is that it joins the already well-established MCU and fans already know Clint Barton's character. Hawkeye simply gives the marksman the spotlight he had to share in the Avengers movies. Arrow had the arduous task of building out its DC Universe on The CW and also serving as the foundation for the Arrowverse that formed from it. Oliver's relationships with Speedy and Arsenal are very different from DC Comics while Marvel Studios can hew closer to the source material while reconfiguring characters and storylines to fit into the MCU.

Hawkeye is adapting the critically-acclaimed series of the same name by Matt Fraction and David Aja — but with MCU-style twists, like having Black Widow's Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) contracted to kill Clint Barton. Arrow was also not originally designed as a show about Oliver Queen mentoring other heroes and that just developed over time as part of multiple ongoing storylines. Perhaps not coincidentally, the downtown of Arrow's overall quality coincided with Oliver as Team Arrow's mentor and leader. Meanwhile, Hawkeye is specifically about Clint Barton passing the mantle of Hawkeye to Kate Bishop and it should hit the mark in a way Arrow never did.

Next: Black Widow Theory: Yelena's Mission Is To Recruit Kate Bishop (By Killing Hawkeye)