Warning: SPOILERS for Avengers #60The his skills with a bow and arrows, is easily the most "human" member of the team, both for his physiology and his rather lackadaisical approach to life. In a landmark issue, Avengers #60 reveals exactly how Hawkeye succeeds where other Avengers have failed: by simply failing to recognize his enemy's authority and power.
Marvel's Judgment Day event is the company's latest story that threatens a world-ending catastrophe, and the Celestials are to blame. What initially began as a war between the Eternals and the X-Men exploded into a planet-wide conflict when Iron Man activated the Progenitor Celestial in an effort to stop the fighting. This backfired horribly when the Celestial decided to judge humanity (along with all mutants and all Eternals) to see if they were worthy of their continued existence. Heroes are judged all across the Earth - and even though many have devoted their entire lives to fighting evil, many still fail the Celestial's tests.
In Avengers #60, written by Mark Russell with art by Greg Land & Jay Leisten, the Celestial appears before Hawkeye (in the form of Black Widow), meaning Barton's test has officially begun. Despite his fate hanging in the balance, Barton doesn't appear to panic at all; he continues to converse with the Celestial in as casual a manner as possible. When the Progenitor Celestial advises Hawkeye to take the matter more seriously, but Hawkeye simply doesn't recognize its authority, and accuses the Celestial of measuring humanity by arbitrary and opaque standards.
Hawkeye argues that the Celestials have no baseline by which to judge humanity - and they mustn't think themselves so high and mighty that they are beyond judgment as well. Hawkeye goes about his day as planned - he saves a few innocent people, stops an assassination, gives a cheeseburger to a dog, watches TV - and doesn't change a thing about his daily routine, even in the face of Armageddon. At the same time, he pokes enough holes in the God Celestial's plan that it eventually realizes it must Hawkeye - but the rest of humanity may not be so lucky.
The Celestial its that humans (and mutants and Eternals alike) are deeply flawed creatures who make mistakes upon mistakes, but at the same time, they are capable of change. Meanwhile, the Celestials' behavior appears to be rooted in stone, as it can't learn from humanity. Hopefully, it can learn from Hawkeye before it's too late - since the most human Avenger may not have superpowers or a legendary mystical weapon like a hammer or a shield, but he does have the ability to see the world from a skeptical perspective.
