I’ve really enjoyed a lot of Marvel’s Disney Plus shows. WandaVision was spectacular, Ms. Marvel was oodles of fun, and What If? was a favorite of mine, although I accept that it’s an unpopular opinion. But my favorite of the Disney Plus MCU shows to date has been Hawkeye. I’ve just re-watched Hawkeye for a fourth time, and it absolutely holds up.
Hawkeye Re-Scores Traditional Music
The renditions of traditional pieces such as “Carol of the Bells” and “Dance of the Sugarplum Fairies” which have been scored to fit the various action scenes stuck me hard from the first time I watched Hawkeye, and the music continues to impress me after multiple viewings. I can still hear the music in that one long set piece where Clint and Kate are pursued by the Track Suit Mafia in the panel van and the Dodge Challenger. Speaking of which…
The Track Suit Mafia, Bro!
Bumbling bad guys are always a fun trope, and the Russian-accented, track suit wearing flunkies who constantly pursue Clint and Kate are just excellent characters. Having one ask Kate for relationship advice was just the icing on the cake.
Echo and Her Impending Spinoff
When I watched Hawkeye, I was immediately impressed by Alaqua Cox’s portrayal of Echo. When I learned that Alaqua Cox was born deaf, and is an actual amputee, I was even more impressed. She really does deserve her own series.
Disney Plus is planning to release the Echo miniseries soon, on January 10th.
Jack Duquesne
My personal favorite character is Jack Duquesne, likely because he’s such an unapologetic goofball and I identify. He constantly mixes his metaphors to hilarious effect, and with any luck we’ll be seeing more of Jack, who on the comic book page is known as The Swordman.
Yelena and Her Mac and Cheese
If you’ve seen the show, do you recall the scene in which Yelena shows up at Kate’s apartment and has an impromptu and incredibly awkward “girls’ night” with Kate during which she professes her love for boxed mac and cheese while slathering it in hot sauce? Not only is this one of my favorite scenes in Hawkeye, it’s likely my favorite Yelena Belova scene out of all her appearances in MCU properties.
Rogers the Musical
Because, come on. Of course. The production of the song “Save Our City” for Hawkeye led to the creation of Rogers: The Musical as an actual complete musical. It’s fun, it’s well-performed, and it’s intentionally a bit cheezy.
Vincent D’Onofrio’s Kingpin
I was a fan of the first season of Daredevil on Netflix. And while the second season was a dumpster fire, the third season was my favorite biut of Marvel content to come out of Netflix’s pre-Defenders run. That was in no small part due to Vincent D’Onofrio and his portrayal of Kingpin.
Hawkeye‘s Kingpin is a bit more comic booky than his Daredevil portrayal, but it’s D’Onofrio playing Kingpin, and when I saw his first reveal at the end of Daredevil‘s penultimate episode, I leapt out of my chair.
