The Hawkeye Fan Theory That Changes Everything About Ronin

The Disney+ "Hawkeye" series is well underway, and there's quite a bit to look forward to in the weeks ahead. The main thought at the forefront of most fans' minds involves discovering the true identity of "Uncle." After all, all the hints from the show, as well as what we know from comic books, tell us that this would be Kingpin, and hopefully, it would be the version played by Vincent D'Onofrio in Marvel's "Daredevil" series on Netflix.

That's just one fan theory that's emerged ever since the show aired. Fan theories and Marvel TV shows tend to go hand-in-hand, and there are a ton on the table for "Hawkeye." One of the most intriguing has just emerged courtesy of u/LR-11 on Reddit. It ties directly into Episode 3 of the series when we get Maya Lopez's (Alaqua Cox) backstory where we see her father die at the hands of Ronin, who's actually Clint Barton (Jeremy Renner). The only problem, according to the theory, is that we don't really get a good look at the killer. The question u/LR-11 raises is: Was that really Clint under the hood?

The Redditor offers compelling evidence to suggest Clint Barton wasn't the one behind the fatal attack. That includes, "The biggest evidence of it not being Ronin is the sword. In episode [1], we draw attention to the fact that Ronin's sword retracts (I know it doesn't in Endgame, and that is a limitation). Chekhov's gun dictates that this will be called back to later, and we see this killer with a scabbard on his back — even in Endgame, Ronin's sheath was never on his back. I think this is a different guy."

So if it's not Clint, who could it be? There are a couple of different ideas floating in the thread, including Kingpin, but one of the most plausible explanations pins it on Jack (Tony Dalton). In the comics, Jack is a villain known as the Swordsman, and the show depicts his massive weapon collection. It's entirely possible that he mimicked Ronin for whatever reason and was the one actually responsible for the death of Maya's father. It would still force Clint to reckon with the murders he committed as Ronin while letting him off Maya's hook. She can then turn her attention toward Jack, leading to some kind of final showdown. 

But Jack doesn't exactly seem like the kind of guy to kill a bunch of gangsters without reason. Perhaps he was following orders from a criminal mastermind ... a kingpin, if you will.