Audiences may now know when in the MCU timeline Hawkeye takes place. The upcoming Disney+ series will focus on Clint Barton (Jeremy Renner) as he takes on a mentor role to Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld). The series will also pick up the post-credit scene from Black Widow with Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) sent to kill Clint Barton for supposedly being responsible for Natasha's death.
Hawkeye is currently set to premiere on November 24 and run for 6 episodes. The 6-episode run will carry the show into December 29, 2021, and allow the series to play throughout the holiday season and between the release of Eternals and Spider-Man: No Way Home. With the appearance of Echo in the series and the fact that Linda Cardellini, who plays Clint's wife Laura, is not present in the cast list, it seemed the series would take place after Thanos' snap and explore the character's time as Ronin. Yet, the training of Kate Bishop and the Black Widow post-credit moment seemed to set up Hawkeye after the events of Avengers: Endgame.
According to an excerpt in the upcoming Fall preview issue for TV Guide, via Reddit, Hawkeye will take place after the events of Avengers: Endgame. More specifically, the series appears to take place during the holidays, possibly explaining why Marvel wanted to release the series by November. Producer Trinh Trin said the series will be "grounded and funny, packed to the brim with Christmas spirit."
Hawkeye taking place after Endgame during the holidays gives a general outline for where the series will fit within the overall MCU. WandaVision took place three or four weeks after the events of Avengers: Endgame and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier takes place six months after, so if Hawkeye could be set between those two series. Spider-Man: Far From Home took place in the summer after Avengers: Endgame, and it appears that No Way Home will pick up directly after that and span a few months until Halloween. This suggests Hawkeye either takes place in the holiday season before Spider-Man: Far From Home or after Spider-Man: No Way Home.
While Marvel is attempting to break out into the holiday special format with a Guardians of the Galaxy special in December 2022 and an upcoming Halloween special rumored to be focused on Werewolf by Night, currently the only traditional holiday story they have is Iron Man 3, which takes place at Christmas. Given Hawkeye is one of the few superheroes with a wife and kids, and it building off the success of Black Widow, the series is in a unique position to be an unlikely breakout event on Disney+ for families to watch when they are visiting one another over the holidays.
Source: TV Guide via Reddit