Boy, chaos sure makes Earth’s Mightiest talk salty, doesn’t it?
(The following contains spoilers.)
The death in Avengers #502 probably won’t be popular, but it certainly is smart.
If you’re trying to transition the Avengers from What They Are to Something Else, and a body count is part of your formula, Hawkeye is an ideal candidate. With one possible exception, he leads the pack of emblematic Avengers who aren’t the Big Three (Captain America, Iron Man, and Thor). He’s been around for most of the big events, and the bulk of his own big events have been confined to the Avengers titles. Taking him out of play is a decisive way of breaking from the past.
That dramatic function spares Hawkeye’s death from the “shock value” brand (though there are more than enough examples of that kind of passing in evidence, too). It can also support the argument that This Matters. It’s almost, for lack of a better term, ballsy.
I think many fans identified Hawkeye as the gateway character: the average guy who, through persistence, got to hang out with the big guns and be treated as an equal. With the exception of an ill-advised period as Goliath, he relied on skill to hold his own. No serums or mutant genes, no magic hammers or suits of armor, just a guy who worked really hard to be the best with a bow and some arrows. It’s an interesting, atypical example of super-heroic wish fulfillment, at least for Marvel. (DC seems to have more of these types.)
It might also explain why many identify themselves as follows: “I’m not much of an Avengers fan, but I’m a huge Hawkeye fan.” (This is the reason the clerk at the store was so grumpy yesterday, beyond the usual new book madness.) Even though he’s never been able to sustain a solo title, he’s the sentimental favorite.
Of course, he’s the sentimental favorite at least in part because he’s such an effective foil in a team book. Blunt, impulsive, and smart-alecky, he’s great counterpoint to the stalwart (Cap, Thor) and the spooky (Vision, the Scarlet Witch). Taken out of a group setting, he loses that value, and I’d guess that’s why readers who love to see him in a line-up are less enthusiastic when he goes off on his own.
(As a side note, I’m not sure how well the actual death sequence works in #502. The event is consistent with the day’s chaotic (we get it) quality, but the whole thing seems strangely… malnourished. Effective in principle, but less successful in terms of execution.)
So, good for Bendis for coming up with a death that doesn’t seem quite so rote or inconsequential. I’ll be interested to see how he explains the next Big Twist, if it’s what I think it is. With Hawkeye (and Vision, I guess) out of the way, that leaves the Scarlet Witch, pin-up girl for the Old Guard, to address. If Bendis is going in the direction I suspect, I hope he has something smart up his sleeve, because there are any number of ways it could go badly off the rails.
But, that’s something to think about next month.