after thanos took half the universe, including hawkeye’s entire family, clint barton decided that the best course of action was to brutally unleash his pent-up anguish and frustration on criminals. Barton assumed the new identity of Ronin, who wielded a sword instead of a bow.
hawkeye has recently confirmed the inclusion of maya lopez, aka echo, who in the comics was the original ronin. It’s entirely possible that the MCU could directly adapt this story, explaining that Echo arrives in New York to confront Barton about using his alias to kill criminals. In a new set photo of Hawkeye, Clint still has a constant reminder of his time as Ronin through his arm tattoo last seen in Avengers: Endgame.
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Jeremy Renner has posted a set photo of Hawkeye, presumably from a makeup station, showing him with the same tattoo that Clint Barton adorned in Avengers: Endgame.
Below is a comparison of the same tattoo last seen in Avengers: Endgame, showing some clear differences between the body art designs:
The most obvious change is that there is a much wider variety of colors used in the hawk eye tattoo, whereas the final game uses mostly black ink with some green. In general, the hawk eye tattoo also appears much more detailed, at least in terms of finer details and shading applied to the shogun helmet and the skull wearing it.
finally, while it could be due to how jeremy renner leans on his tattooed shoulder at the end of the game, it also appears that the hawk eye tattoo moved slightly down his arm.
what does this mean
no, this certainly doesn’t mean that this hawk eye tattoo is something that clint barton has changed in-universe, just that it seems that marvel studios have decided to redesign it for several plausible reasons. Chances are, in Avengers: Endgame, Hawkeye’s tattoo was never a focus in any scene or had to be as detailed as the one fans will see in Hawkeye, which will likely include close-up shots. Makeup artists may also have been allowed to add more color to the tattoo to make it more visually interesting to fans, now that it’s likely to get more attention.
another explanation behind the design change is that this specific tattoo jeremy renner has is for a flashback sequence in hawkeye when he first got it. the colors could have faded over time during the five year time skip before black widow recruited him for the time heist. however, if that were the case, then the black ink should also fade quite a bit by the end of the game, not just the colors.
so it’s not sure if this tattoo is for the present or the past, but it would certainly be interesting what inspired clint barton to get a tattoo like this and start becoming a much more violent ronin man.
