Marvel Comics is revealing in a new series how the blind Old Man Hawkeye that fans met in Old Man Logan studied under the tutelage of Daredevil. Marvel opened up a whole new branch of its universe with the release of the widely popular Old Man Logan storyline, which took place in a wasteland future where all of Marvel’s villains succeeded in taking over the world. Since that initial storyline, many other avenues were explored following older versions of Marvel characters including Hawkeye who was integral in Logan succeeding his mission in Old Man Logan. Now, Hawkeye’s story continues as he is being trained by Old Man Daredevil.
Old Man Hawkeye was first introduced in the classic Old Man Logan storyline written by Mark Millar with art by Steve McNiven where he was depicted as a blind, bearded and long-haired version of his former self. Despite his newly established blindness, Hawkeye still proved to be a major asset to Wolverine as the former X-Man was working to head to the U.S. Capitol to kill America’s new overlord, Red Skull. Hawkeye regrettably dies in Old Man Logan, and now it seems Marvel is going deeper into his futuristic development by explaining how he retained his superhero skill set despite losing his vision, using the perfect hero to train Hawkeye.
A preview for Wastelanders: Hawkeye #1 written by Ethan Sacks with art by Ibraim Roberson and Diijo Lima has been released by Marvel, giving fans a first look at the training Hawkeye is going through under the tutelage of Matt Murdock. Matt, who has taken up the moniker "Stick" after his former master, is using the same training techniques taught to him many years prior to help Hawkeye return to his former glory and even reach further into abilities Clint had never known before. The pages show Old Man Hawkeye taking out members of the villainous Hand Clan, putting his newfound skills to use and taking down Daredevil’s arch enemies.
While presumably it is Matt Murdock’s well-established good nature that drives him to help and train Hawkeye after the hero loses his sight, Daredevil may have other reasons for lending a helping hand. After all, Murdock is no longer Daredevil, but is now Stick, which makes one wonder if he is also mimicking Stick’s driving motives as well as his name. Stick was famous for using people, training them for a war with the Hand with no regard for them as people. Perhaps Daredevil is simply using Hawkeye to fight the Hand under the guise of helping the Avenger, which opens up the possibility that the formerly heroic Man Without Fear is the main antagonist of Hawkeye’s Wastelanders story.
Regardless of Daredevil’s true intentions in training Hawkeye, all fans know at this point is that Hawkeye is about to get a Daredevil-sized upgrade in the comics. Answering the questions raised in Old Man Logan, Wastelanders: Hawkeye gives fans a deeper insight into Clint’s more recent past and the trials and tribulations he went through before helping Logan through the wasteland. The all-new Wastelanders book, which raises questions about the future versions of Hawkeye and Daredevil releases on December 8.
Source: Marvel