The Eleanor Scene From Hawkeye Episode 4 That Has Fans Raising Their Eyebrows

Contains spoilers

The Disney+ limited series "Hawkeye" is already four episodes deep, and within that span, it's already shaping up to be quite a strong Marvel Cinematic Universe addition. Centered on archery prodigies Clint Barton (Jeremy Renner) and Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld), as well as their furry companion, Lucky the Pizza Dog, the show has taken viewers into the seedy criminal underworld. It's in this setting that the duo has to work together to not only save their own lives from mysterious, powerful forces but ensure their families are kept safe from harm as well.

As the program has established, Clint and Kate both come from drastically different households. A devoted father and husband, Clint's main objective is to get back to his family for the holidays. After all, they're a tight-knit group, and in the wake of their five years apart due to Thanos' (Josh Brolin) snap, he wants to spend all the time with them that he can. In contrast, Kate's home situation is far more strained and fairly impersonal. Not only is her soon-to-be step-father, Jack Duquesne (Tony Dalton), revealed to be involved in some shady business, but her bond with her mom, Eleanor (Vera Farmiga), is rapidly deteriorating at the same time.

Despite being Kate's only living parent following her father's (Brian d'Arcy James) death in 2012, Eleanor is far from a loving mother. In fact, as evidenced by a scene from "Hawkeye" Episode 4, titled "Partners, Am I Right?," there may be something more sinister to her than meets the eye.

To kick-off "Partners, Am I Right?," Jack has caught Kate sneaking around Eleanor's home with Clint in tow. Naturally, this revelation leads to Kate coming somewhat clean to her mother about what she's been up to the past few days. She claims to be helping Clint with an Avengers-level mission, which sets off numerous red flags in Eleanor's mind. Concerned for her daughter's safety, she sees Clint out and effectively tells him to leave Kate alone, using the death of Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson) — the famed Black Widow, a founding member of the Avengers and one of Clint's best friends — to make her point.

Given that it's blatantly disrespectful to speak about the deceased in such a way, especially someone who saved the world many times and that she didn't know personally, it goes without saying that Eleanor was out of line with her comment. Much of the MCU fandom seems to agree, seeing as those on Reddit quickly expressed their distaste for Eleanor's attitude. "how dare Eleanor talk about Natasha like that," wrote tinyanxioustortilla, prompting another Redditor to claim this is a "dead give away that she's up to no good."

Referring to Jack, RebelliousFriend commented, "My guess is he's a red herring, her mom is the real bad guy. Marvel loves their parental issues." While this theory may hold some merit, other "Hawkeye" viewers remain unconvinced that Eleanor's actually a villain in disguise. "She's a mom...I'm pretty sure most mothers would be willing to use a sentence like that to drive in a point," said user LordKeystone, and vaporakion agreed with that sentiment, although, "since it's a show, i do think the decision to say that line does indeed hide some ulterior motive."

With only two episodes left on the docket, hopefully, most of our lingering "Hawkeye" questions — relating to Eleanor, Jack, the antagonist of the piece, and everything in-between — will get some kind of answer.