This Is Who's Joining Jeremy Renner And Hailee Steinfeld On Hawkeye
A bunch of exciting new information has come out about the Disney+ television series Hawkeye as production has begun ramping up. One of the biggest revelations has been the casting of Hailee Steinfeld as Kate Bishop — the protégé of Jeremy Renner's Clint Barton — after months of unconfirmed rumors. Just this week, Steinfeld uploaded a picture to her Instagram that hinted at her playing Bishop, but it wasn't until she was actually seen on set with Renner and Lucky the Pizza Dog that it was official.
Now that the series is in production, Marvel has announced a bunch of other additions to the cast. One surprising new cast member is Florence Pugh, who will star in Black Widow alongside Scarlett Johansson when it finally makes it to the screen (hopefully) on May 7, 2021. She plays a character named Yelena Belova, a fellow assassin and "sister" to Natasha Romanoff (Johansson). Currently, Hawkeye has no solid release date, only that it will likely appear on Disney+ in late 2021.
Alongside Pugh, Variety now has a report officially confirming five new actors joining Hawkeye, along with details about their specific roles.
Vera Farmiga joins Hawkeye in the role of Kate Bishop's mom, Eleanor Bishop
When Vera Farmiga, who is known for The Conjuring films and Bates Motel, was first announced as an addition to the cast, there was no information about her role, leading fans to speculate that she might be playing a villain like Madame Masque. Now, thanks to Variety, we know that Farmiga will be playing Eleanor Bishop, the mom of Steinfeld's Kate Bishop.
It's still possible fans are right on the Madame Masque front, as the character of Eleanor in the comics has a direct tie to the supervillain, though she is not actually her. Initially, Eleanor is simply Bishop's mother, who Bishop says died on a visit to Boulder, Colorado, as discussed in Young Avengers Vol. 2 #5. But everything changes when Eleanor is discovered to have been alive the whole time and working with Madame Masque, all of which comes to light in Hawkeye Vol. 5. Both Barton and Bishop go on to have quite a few other run-ins with Madame Masque.
With this in mind, it will be interesting to see if Farmiga actually ends up playing Madame Masque, as the Marvel Cinematic Universe has never strictly been a direct adaptation of characters or storylines from the comics, with plenty of reworking and streamlining throughout its run.
Fra Fee and Tony Dalton will play possible villains in the Marvel series
Irish actor Fra Fee will be playing a character named Kazi. Though it's not officially confirmed, his character's name is likely short for Kazimierz Kazimierczak, a character known in the Marvel comics by his villainous alter-ego, Clown. Raised in the circus, Kazimierczak goes through a few traumatic experiences that drive him to murder, in turn leading him to begin a career as a mercenary. Featured in Hawkeye Vol. 4, Kazimierczak encounters Barton when he is hired by multiple people to kill him.
Tony Dalton, who fans might recognize from Better Call Saul, will be playing Jack Duquesne. This is presumably a take on a character from the comics named Jacques Duquesne, also known as Swordsman. Duquesne trained Barton in archery and handling blades when he was a young boy living at the carnival. After Duquesne runs into some trouble with debt, Barton witnesses him stealing, leading them to fight and Duquesne to leave Barton wounded and presumed dead, as shown in Avengers Vol 1 #19. Of course, it doesn't take, and Barton grows up to become Hawkeye.
Duquesne changes alliances a lot throughout the comics, being on both the good and the bad side depending on the period, so it's not clear which way the live-action series' version of the character will lean. Either way, we're clearly going to see some of Clint's circus-based basckstory.
Alaqua Fox and Zahn McClarnon are playing an important father-daughter duo
A complete newcomer to the screen, Hawkeye will be actress Alaqua Fox's first on-screen appearance. She will be playing a character named Maya Lopez, also known in the comics as Echo.
A Native American woman who was born deaf, Lopez has the ability of Photographic Reflex, as her Fandom profile calls it, though it can also be referred to as mimicry, as she can perfectly replicate any physical action she sees. This is a very similar ability to that of Taskmaster, who will appear in the upcoming Black Widow film. Lopez is also known to have a hand print permanently marked on her face from an incident when she was very little, when Wilson Fisk (also known as Kingpin, antagonist of Netflix's Daredevil series) had her father murdered. Lopez also takes on the identity of Ronin in New Avengers Vol. 1, which could be part of the character's storyline in Hawkeye — as you may remember, it's an identity Barton already assumed on-screen in Avengers: Endgame.
Zahn McClarnon, recently seen in The Son and Doctor Sleep, is joining Hawkeye as Echo's father, William Lopez, whose comic book counterpart goes by the name Willie "Crazy Horse" Lincoln. Before his death, he works as a mob enforcer for Kingpin. As he is dying, he makes Kingpin promise to raise Lopez as if she were his own daughter.