Hawkeye Proved Why There Can Never Be Another Human Avenger

Warning: SPOILERS for Hawkeye.

Marvel's Clint Barton (Jeremy Renner) wants nothing more than to hang out with his kids for the holidays but after Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld) wears his Ronin outfit to fight crime, Hawkeye abruptly delays those plans. Forced to confront his own sins, Clint is also forced to do so while dealing with the toll of his heroism as an Avenger.

In Hawkeye episode 3, Barton tries to tell Bishop that being a hero isn't as glamorous as it seems. Hawkeye explains that the life of a superhero comes with a lot of sacrifices. "Some things you'll lose forever," he says. However, Hailee Steinfeld's Kate Bishop chooses to look at the situation more optimistically. "There's also things you gain, like trick arrows and cool costumes," she says. Hawkeye disagrees, shaking his head in exasperation. The archer also explains to Bishop that he's "not a role model." In the Hawkeye finale, Bishop offered her own assessment, saying she was inspired by Hawkeye's fearlessness, and came to the conclusion that heroism wasn't about flying or shooting lasers out of your hands. In effect, Bishop was inspired to become the MCU's second Hawkeye by Clint's vulnerability.

While that sentiment was great, Hawkeye shows the devastating toll that superhero life has taken on Clint Barton. In the series premiere, Barton wears a hearing aid while watching Rogers: The Musical with the later revelation that repeated traumas, such as crashing through windows while fighting aliens and surviving Thanos' (Josh Brolin) attack in Hawkeye episode 5 showed Barton make an emotional speech about Natasha's sacrifice in front of a plaque honoring Romanoff and the other Avengers. All-in-all, Hawkeye established that while idealism is irable - and Kate Bishop's is - the reality of heroism for non-superpowered humans is grim.

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Fundamentally, the Disney+ series shows it's time for Marvel to stop adding human Avengers because throughout its narrative, Hawkeye reveals the cost that saving the world has on a non-enhanced person. While Chris Evans' Captain America often takes a beating and gets right back in the next fight, years of playing superhero have left Barton with hearing loss, his life in constant danger, and his family threatened. Likewise, Chris Hemsworth's Thor, wouldn't need to rely on over-the-counter pain relief. However, by leaving the world-ending fights to superpowered individuals, the Avengers could drastically lower their medical bills and protect their heroes from long-term trauma.

Non-enhanced Avengers served an essential purpose in the MCU, because by including Clint Barton and Natasha Romanoff in the superhero team, Marvel gave audiences more relatable characters. Anthony Mackie's Sam Wilson will continue that narrative as a non-enhanced Captain America, but his wingsuit puts him more in the bracket of Tony Stark. However, it doesn't make sense for the Avengers to add more non-enhanced heroes. Regular humans don't stand much chance when giant purple aliens can snap away half of all life. So, for the safety of their heroes, Marvel should remove humans from the equation and leave the avenging to the "big ones," as Yelena put it. Perhaps Hawkeye's ending, which sees Kate Bishop Clint and the Bartons on their farm will teach her the true value of a normal life and not one spent either on the road on missions or hiding family from enemies.

More: Is Clint Barton Still An Avenger After Hawkeye? MCU Future Explained