New Hawkeye TV series set photos may have revealed villain Ivan Banionis. Marvel Studios is expanding their MCU slate with a series of small screen projects exclusively for Disney+ including one that would focus on the Avengers' resident marksman, Clint Barton.
Officially announced at San Diego Comic-Con 2019 alongside MCU's whole Phase 4 slate, the upcoming Hawkeye show will tackle Clint's backstory properly after years of being a player in the franchise. Aside from that, the small screen project will also mark the introduction of Kate Bishop, a contemporary version of Hawkeye in the comics played by Hailee Steinfeld. Production is currently in full swing at this point with various set images making their way online giving fans their first look at the upcoming Disney+ project. While images have largely been focused on Clint, Kate, and Pizza Dog, the latest batch reveals what could be the villain, Banionis.
Shared on Instagram by user Lord Frank is a series of Hawkeye set images featuring Renner and Steinfeld filming exterior shots. Interestingly, however, one of the other images from the selection is a photo of an actor wearing clothes resembling what Banionis sports in the comic books as a member of the mafia Tracksuit Draculas. Check out the snaps below:
For the uninitiated, Banionis is a street-level villain in the Marvel comics who owned the building that Clint lived in. But due to his constant abuse of his tenants, the hero had to do something to boot him out of the property. He uses the money he earned as a member of the Avengers to buy the settlement from Banionis, who is forced to sell it to him despite having a different buyer. Somehow, the mobster was deported, but when he returned to the country, he disrupted Clint's peaceful living in an attempt to take back his building with the help of the tracksuit mafia and a different bad guy named Clown. Clint, assisted by Kate, and his fellow tenants were able to take on the bad guys and were handed to the police. It's uncertain if this will be the arc of Banionis in the Hawkeye series, but since this narrative sees Clint work with Kate, chances are that it will be the case.
Regardless of how Banionis fits into Hawkeye's narrative, the show is now confirmed, through set photos coupled with other known details about it, to give Clint Barton his origin story in the MCU. With Natasha Romanoff getting her standalone film in Cate Shortland's Black Widow, this means that after Phase 4, Marvel Studios would've given all six original Avengers their own arcs which is frankly a little delayed for some but is a welcome development nonetheless. This is also a perfect set-up for the official passing of the mantle from Clint to Kate which will also be the focus of the show.
Source: Lord Frank