Hawkeye director Rhys Thomas reveals an amazing Kate Bishop Easter egg that few fans probably noticed. 2021 brought about the first of Marvel's highly anticipated Disney+ shows, and overall the results have been pretty good. From the sitcom homage that was WandaVision to the time-traveling Loki, Marvel covered a lot of ground this year. Everything came to a close with Hawkeye just last week. The street-level Christmas adventure starred Jeremy Renner as archer Clint Barton in his first-ever solo project and followed him as he tried to put his Ronin past to rest once and for all.

Fans were excited to see Clint get his own showcase with Hawkeye, but the series also contained a debut many had been waiting a long time for. Hailee Steinfeld played Kate Bishop, the young hero who, in the comics, takes on the mantle of Hawkeye during a period when Clint is dead. The two have a mentor-mentee relationship in the source material, and Hawkeye brought it to life with the perfect amount of quips and life-threatening antics. Going forward, Kate is expected to help lead a new generation of MCU heroes.

Related: What's The Next MCU TV Show After Hawkeye?

Like any Marvel project, Hawkeye has many Easter eggs. However, there's one so subtle that few viewers probably picked up on it. Speaking to Metro.co.uk, director Rhys Thomas revealed episodes 2 and 3 have a clever background detail that specifically references Kate's comics debut. It's in the warehouse where the Tracksuit Mafia apprehend Clint and Kate. Thomas said:

‘I don’t even know if you can see it because of the way the scene’s edited. This is a super deep cut, but I’m going to say it because it amused me. There’s a sort of display and the light is flickering. Our board operator, he’s worked on other Marvel projects, I think including Guardians of the Galaxy, he’s a huge Marvel fan. In the flickering lights he frequently programmes Morse code, and so that light is actually flickering the date of the first Kate Bishop issue of Hawkeye.’

Hailee Steinfeld as Kate Bishop Hawkeye

Fans can go back and try to spot said flickering light during their inevitable rewatches. While some of the Hawkeye Easter eggs - like the Pym arrow and Yelena Belova's offhand reference to the new Statue of Liberty from Spider-Man: No Way Home - are easy to spot for avid MCU followers, that light trick is bound to have missed many viewers' notice. It's a fun twist on a typical background reference, and it shows that the level of detail in certain projects can be absolutely incredible. This might cause some viewers to try out Morse code for all flickering lights, though, which could lead to disappointment.

The MCU has introduced numerous new characters this year, but Kate was easily one of the most anticipated. Rumors of her introduction have dogged the franchise for years. That Hawkeye's board operator worked in a reference to her first comics appearance shows Kate has become a major Marvel character in her own right, and it'll be interesting to see where she goes next. Marvel has been quiet about where Steinfeld will appear in the future. Still, based on the Hawkeye ending, it's all but certain she will be back to continue making her mark on the MCU.

More: Hawkeye Proved Why There Can Never Be Another Human Avenger

Source: Metro.co.uk

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