HAWKEYE

"I mean, I can't miss... I'm on a team with super-humans. And one god, in case you've forgotten. Even you... well, you climb walls really well. The training is the only thing makes me special. And if I'm not special, then none of this is worth it. I gave up a lot for this life. I could have been happy with Mockingbir-- Bobbi. We could have had a good, simple life. But I wanted to play with the big boys. And if I miss, it means I'm just another dude with a bow. It means I've been fooling myself this whole time. And that's why I never miss."

Hawkeye (Clinton Francis "Clint" Barton) is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist Don Heck, the character first appeared as a supervillain in Tales of Suspense #57 (September 1964) and later joined the Avengers as a superhero in The Avengers #16 (May 1965). He has since been a prominent member of several Avengers teams, founding the West Coast Avengers, briefly marrying and subsequently divorcing Bobbi Morse / Mockingbird, adopting the Ronin alias after his death and resurrection before mentoring Kate Bishop as his successor as Hawkeye. He was also ranked at #44 on IGN's Top 100 Comic Book Heroes list.

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Biography

Given the multiverse nature of Marvel Comics, the origins of Hawkeye varies from source to source. The main continuity (known as Earth-616) origin of Hawkeye, is as follows:

Clint Barton was born in Waverly, Iowa. At a young age he lost both of his parents in a car crash. After six years in an orphanage, Clint and his brother Barney Barton ran away to join the Carson Carnival of Traveling Wonders. Clint soon caught the eye of the Swordsman, who took the young boy on as his assistant. Along with the help of Trick Shot, the Swordsman trained Clint to become a master archer. Clint later found the Swordsman embezzling money from the carnival. Before he could turn his mentor over to the authorities, Clint was beaten and left for dead, allowing the Swordsman to escape town. Clint's relationship with his brother Barney and Trick Shot soon deteriorated as well.

Clint adapted his archery skills to become a star carnival attraction, a master archer called "Hawkeye", otherwise known as "The World's Greatest Marksman". He spent some time as a member of Tiboldt's Circus, before joining the Coney Island Circus. He witnessed Iron Man in action and was inspired to become a costumed hero. However, after a misunderstanding on his first outing, Hawkeye was accused of theft and believed to be a criminal. On the run, the naive Hawkeye met Black Widow, a spy for the Soviet Union, with whom he fell in love. Mindlessly following Black Widow, Hawkeye aided her attempts to steal technology developed by Tony Stark (Iron Man). In one of their battles with Iron Man, Black Widow was seriously injured. Hawkeye rescued her and fled the battle to save her life. But before Hawkeye could take her to a hospital, Black Widow disappeared. Hawkeye decided to be a "straight-shooter" from then on.