The Maya And Kazi Hawkeye Connection You Definitely Missed

Marvel's newest Disney+ series, "Hawkeye," is now fully underway. The show centers on, you guessed it, Clint Barton a.k.a. Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) and his family-centric life post-Blip. However, during his holiday celebrations with his family, college student Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld) decides to throw on Clint's old Ronin suit and unexpectedly crosses paths with a group of red tracksuit-wearing criminals appropriately named the Tracksuit Mafia. 

When Clint worked as Ronin in the years between "Avengers: Infinity War" and "Avengers: Endgame," he wasn't on good terms with the Tracksuit Mafia. As a result, when the hooded ninja reappears, the Tracksuits show up seeking revenge, which forces Clint to stick by Kate's side until they can put an end to the conflict that brought them together in the first place.

While the series is only halfway through its run, its first three episodes have already introduced several new characters, including Maya Lopez (Alaqua Cox), who may be better known as Echo. The deaf vigilante appears at the end of Episode 2 and is fully introduced in "Hawkeye" Episode 3 as an enforcer in the Tracksuit Mafia. The show's third episode also offers glimpses into her difficult upbringing, martial arts training, and the close relationship she had with her father prior to his death.

However, there's also a detail hidden in the opening flashbacks of "Hawkeye" Episode 3 that even the most keen-eyed of fans may have missed.

As any true crime boss should, Maya Lopez has a right-hand man in the Tracksuit Mafia, who also serves as an ASL translator for her. His name is Kazi Kazimierczak (Fra Fee), and he appears to be the most level-headed of the gang's members. That said, it looks like Maya may not have chosen Kazi as her second-in-command just because of his intellect.

In the flashback sequence that plays at the beginning of "Hawkeye" Episode 3, we see a much younger Maya watch a match between two classmates in her karate class. It turns out that one of the boys she was watching was actually Kazi, with actor Phoenix Crepin credited as "Little Kazi" in the episode's end credits. That means that, rather than just being members of the same gang, Maya and Kazi's close relationship goes all the way back to when they were kids in the same karate class, which likely explains why Kazi knows ASL so well.

Interestingly enough, Kazi is actually more important than you might think. In the comics, he dons mime makeup and an all-white outfit and is known as an assassin named Clown. He's even hired by the Tracksuits to kill Clint at one point. Of course, that plan doesn't go well for Clown, as he is eventually beaten and subdued by Clint (via Marvel Database). 

For now, "Hawkeye" viewers will just have to wait to see how big of a role Kazi actually has in the Tracksuit Mafia.