Hawkeye Will Still Be Haunted By His Ronin Past In His Disney+ Series

If the trailers for Marvel Studios' upcoming Disney+ TV show, "Hawkeye," are any indication of the tone of the series, viewers should expect something fairly lighthearted. Clint "Hawkeye" Barton (Jeremy Renner) was last seen in 2019's "Avengers: Endgame" mourning the loss of Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson) while reuniting with his family, following their resurrection a whole five years after Thanos snapped them out of existence at the end of "Avengers: Infinity War." Although viewers were only exposed to a small part of it, the five-year period he spent without his family was clearly a dark time in Clint's life. 

Set around the Christmas season, "Hawkeye" appears to pick back up with Clint as he's doing his best to adjust to a post-Blip world. Despite being hunted by some very unfriendly people, he and the newly introduced Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld) still seem to find plenty of time to crack jokes in the upcoming series. 

Comments made during a recent Entertainment Weekly interview with Steinfeld and "Hawkeye" executive producer Trinh Tran once again hinted that the Disney+ series is a semi-adaptation of Matt Fraction and David Aja's critically acclaimed "Hawkeye" comic. Additionally, one of the new series' directors recently referred to it as "an absurd Christmas story" (via GamesRadar).

All of which is to say that everything from its trailers to the comments made by its cast and crew suggests that "Hawkeye" will be even more comedic than most Marvel properties. However, will the Disney+ series still have Clint's dark past come back to haunt him?

Without his family around to ground him in reality, the five-year period between "Avengers: Infinity War" and "Avengers: Endgame" saw Clint Barton embarking down a dark path that few fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe likely expected. Abandoning the superhero moniker of Hawkeye, Clint became the vigilante known as Ronin and spent years murdering every criminal he could find in an attempt to take his rage out on the world. With that in mind, despite the difference in tone between "Avengers: Endgame" and "Hawkeye," fans shouldn't assume that Marvel has completely forgotten about Clint's time as Ronin, or that the studio doesn't plan on exploring the lingering effects of his actions as the ruthless vigilante.

Bert & Bertie, the directing duo behind several "Hawkeye" episodes, even commented recently on the impact that Clint's complicated past will continue to have on him going forward. When asked about Clint's time as Ronin, Bert revealed that actor Jeremy Renner thought it was necessary to consider how that period may have permanently changed or altered the character. "He wanted the darkness," Bert told GamesRadar. "He wanted to go there."

The director added that, while Clint's Ronin period is not the focus of the new series, fans will still see shades of that side of the character in "Hawkeye," teasing, "There are moments that the Ronin Clint resurfaces. It's very important to have those depths that you can explore, so that he can come out of it."

Marvel fans can look forward to seeing for themselves how "Hawkeye" does and does not explore the Ronin side of Clint Barton when the series premieres November 24 on Disney+.