Complete History of the Archer
Growing Up...
Clint Barton was a child with no parents and an older brother. His parents will killed in an accident, so Clint and Barny were sent to a orphanage. When Clint was about thirteen or fourteen, Barney decided he had tired of life in the orphanage and resolved to run away. Clint didn't want to go. but since Barney was all the family he had left, he went with him. After a few rough days on the road, the boys were able to get jobs as roustabouts with a traveling carnival.
Soon after that Clint became assistant to the starring attraction, the Swordsman. Both boys idolized the dramatic showman, little realizing what an impact he would have on their lives. Although the Swordsman started to train Clint to throw knives at a target he soon turned our young hero over to the tutelage of the carnival's newest attraction, Trickshot the Archer. With a natural flair for the sport Clint soon became a talented bowman.
Trouble at the Circus
Meanwhile, the Swordsman's gambling debts had accumulated. One night the paymaster's wagon was robbed. Clint rushed to tell his idol the news, only to discover the Swordsman with the stolen money. Refusing to join him as an accomplice Clint ran to the main tent, the Swordsman in pursuit. He climbed to the high wire, hoping to escape, but the Swordsman followed him and cut the rope sending Clint crashing to the ground.
The Swordsman was chased off by Trickshot and Barney,. When Clint told his brother what had happened Barney was disgusted that Clint had turned down a share of the loot and, after getting Clint to a hospital, he left for good. Suffering form compound fractures in both legs, Clint spent almost a year recovering as well as honing his archery skills under Trickshot's care.
Betrayed by His Mentor
Trick took the now recovered Clint with him one night on an undisclosed errand. What Clint didn't realize, was that his mentor was a paid assassin. While standing look-out, he was attacked by two men. He had just succeeded in pinning them against a wall when another one arrived. He fired an arrow and hit his newest opponent but was shot in the side. Staggering forward, he was stunned to see that his victim was, in fact, his brother Barney.
At this point Trickshot returned and tried to insist that Clint accompany him. Clint refused, insisting he had to get his brother to a hospital. Trick pinned Clint to a tree and vowed to return some day for revenge. Getting his brother to a hospital Clint left and returned to the carnival. Ashamed of his brother's criminal activities, Clint forsook his name and used his stage name of Hawkeye the Marksman.
Hawkeye Meets Iron Man
Back at the carnival Hawkeye continued his performing career. One day, while he performing at Coney Island, one of the rides began to spin out of control. Iron Man flew in and rescued the trapped patrons. Hawkeye was both impressed and jealous at the same time. Realizing that Iron Man's powers came from mechanical devices he decided to create his own costume and trick arrows and pursue a career as a costumed adventurer.
A New Hero
His first outing didn't go too well. He stopped a jewel robbery, but the criminal escaped, dropping his loot. Hawk tried to gather it up to return it, but the police arrived and thought he was one of the crooks. He fled and was apprehended and assisted by Natasha Romanoff, the beautiful Black Widow. Soon, Clint and Natasha began dating each other. She convinced Clint that she was really working for world peace, while secretly she was working for her Communist masters.
Still thinking that he was fighting on the side of good, Hawkeye took on Iron Man in an attempt to steal plans and components from Stark Enterprises. He was finally unable to delude himself about Natasha's motives, but by this time she had fallen in love with him and was determined to leave the employ of the Communists. She was shot attempting to escape from them and Hawkeye vowed to dedicate his life to making amends for his past errors.
Clint Joins the Avengers
The Avengers had just decided to seek some replacement members when Hawkeye broke into the mansion, seeking to join them. He was quickly accepted and soon after the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver also joined. Led by Captain America the affectionately named 'Kooky Quartet' became the new Avengers team. Loud mouthed and openly disrespectful, Hawkeye's fighting skills still proved him a valuable member. His attitude towards Captain America changed abruptly when, unable to fire at a fleeing and brainwashed Black Widow, he expected criticism from Cap and, instead, received understanding. Hawkeye also recieved training from the star-spangled hero. He and Steve have been pals ever since.
Long-time Avenger
Teammates came and went, but Hawkeye remained. After Hank and Jan's wedding, Hawk became disgruntled, believing his powers to be insufficient. When Hank announced he would no longer use his growth formula, but would continue his career as Yellowjacket, Hawk took the formula and began his short-lived career as Goliath II. Although he had finally reunited with Natasha she dumped him shortly after this, for reasons that were never disclosed. Clint continued to fight for the Avengers as a giant until the Kree/Skrull war.
Just before the Avengers left for space during the war Clint ran out of growth formula. Using a single man scout ship he chased the Skrulls who were trying to bomb earth. Unable to change size he threw together a bow and arrow out of ship parts and defeated them. His own ship crashed on earth and he joined a traveling carnival until he reached civilization. While with them he donned a new costume and resumed his career as an archer.
Shortly after his return to New York he became interested in the Scarlet Witch. But she didn't share his interest and proclaimed her love for the Vision. Clint became sad and angry. Soon after, he left the team to strike out on his own.
Now What?
Hawkeye tried to reunite with Natasha but was turned away as she now had a relationship with Daredevil. He returned to New York and, after a brief run in with the Hulk, joined the Defenders for a short time and was involved in the Defenders/Avengers war. When he left he had a short adventure with Spiderman then donned Golden Archer threads and trid to convince Steve Rogers that he shouldn't give up his super-hero career. The formed Captain America had become fustrated with the government he no longer had faith in. After the talk with Clint, Steve went on to become Nomad.
Upon hearing that the Avengers had been attacked Clint raced to the mansion only to be met by the Swordsman and become entangled in the Celestial Madonna saga. Once the team returned Hawk tried to use Dr. Doom's time machine to find the Black Knight and ask him to join up, only to be transported to the old west. Joining with the Two-Gun Kid, Thor, and Moondragon he battled Kang and returned to the present with Two-Gun in tow. He had rejoined the team but now chose to remain on 'detached' status in the west with Two-Gun.
While they were returning to New York Two-Gun disappeared and it turned out he had been captured by the Collector. Once the Collector was defeated Two-Gun returned to the past and Hawk remained with the team to battle Korvac. Then, the government stepped in. The government decided they would regulate who would be on the Avengers roster, and Hawkeye was dumped as Peter Gyrich insisted that Falcon be included to represent minority groups.
Pissed-off Archer
Broke and angry, Clint tried to get jobs but was rejected time and time again. He finally realized that, while finding work as Clint Barton wasn't going well, perhaps finding work as Hawkeye might be easier. He was soon hired as Chief of Security for Cross Technologies. A high salary, a luxury apartment and respect.... Hawkeye was finally a success... but that was just the beginning.
Hawkeye often rejoined the Avengers to assist them but he was happy with his new career and the prestige he had finally achieved. Then one day the team was on a recruitment drive. Approached by Captain America and Iron Man, Clint at first refused but only moments later, realizing that he missed the danger and comraderie of being with the team, he changed his mind and, along with She Hulk, joined the team once again. After just a few brief adventures however, Clint broke his leg and was sidelined once more.
New Life
When his leg had healed and he was ready to rejoin the team, Hawkeye met the S.H.I.E.L.D agent Mockingbird when she broke into Cross Technologies. It turned out that Mockingbird was only trying to help Hawkeye, informing him that Cross had a secret, evil objective in mind. At this time Clint thought he had lost everything, because the crooked Cross associates had taken away his apartment, money, and the girl he was dating who turned out to be one of them. After doing battle and winning against Cross Tech and it's paid assasins, Hawkeye and Mockingbird fell in love. The two got married.
Team Leader
Clint and Bobbi (Mockingbird) returned to the mansion to chill with the Avengers, but didn't stay long. Hawkeye made a decision. He was going to go out on his own and start a new team. This team would be called the West Coast Avengers, and would be the Avengers' western equal. The members consisted of Hawkeye, Mockingbird, Iron Man, Tigra, and Wonderman. Over time the roster varied to include Moon Knight, Dr. Pym, War Machine, and several others. This team went over well, and the heroes had many successful adventures led by the archer.
Tragedy
But unfortunetly, in the later issues of the West Coast Avengers, Mockingbird was killed by the devil-being Merphisto during a battle. Crushed by his wifes death, Hawkeye hung with the team for one final mission in the war-torn nation of Genosha, and then left the team, which was disbanning anyway. The remaining members formed a new, short-lived team called Force Works. He ran away from the hero business, becoming reclusive and self-pitying. A few of his Avenger friends such as U.S. Agent even searched him out in the Northern Wilderness and attemped to comfort his and bring him back. But Hawkeye rejected all attempt of help from them. But overtime the wounds healed, and Hawkeye returned to the hero scene to once again fight crime and save humanity!
The Archer is Back
Hawkeye helped during the Onslaught crisis, in which the whole Earth was threatened by the power of Onslaught. After words, many of Earth's Heroes went missing for a short while, among them the Avengers. But they returned, and the bowman began hanging out with the Avengers again. At this time there was no set roster for the Earth's Mightest heroes, and the founding members decided that it was time to make a new solid team with 7 members. Hawkeye has asked to join them, and he agreed to under the condition that Justice and Firestar, two previous New Warriors members, could sign on as reserve. The other members agreed and Hawkeye took those two under his wing. Hawkeye ran a few big ventures with the Avengers, until things started to go sour. Hawkeye took his leave of the team without giving much explaination, to strike out on his own again with his own plans.
New Team, New Rules
These plans included helping out a new team on the hero scene, known as the Thunderbolts. Hawkeye learned of the team's past history as criminals and offered to lead the team if Mach-1 (the Beetle) turned himself in for murder. The Beetle agreed, looking out for the teams best interest, and the archer leads the team of young heroes!
Back to main page