i've been dead. it's overrated.

some meta posts: timeline of clint barton’s deafness and mentions (1984-98); what’s the difference between 616 and mcu hawkeye?; maximoffs’ romani heritage

some comic recs/guides including chronology of clint appearances

well naturally pretty much all of his friends get a nickname

but also, yes

idk where my tablet is so please accept this humble mouse-made token

well in an effort to choose things different to what i usually yammer about, i would say his piloting skills (he was essentially the designated pilot in the wca), but it seems like everyone is an expert quinjet pilot now, or his skills and expertise with cap's shield, which again,

but hey look how he works the outfit

they really should do a switcheroo for an issue in 616. i once wrote clint as a substitute cap trying to pass himself off as steve!cap bc steve couldn't make a parade appearance (and then villainous shenanigans ensue) but then my laptop basically exploded #rip

i also see my brain overwrote "qualities" with "skills." my bad. uhhhh his dedication to trying to cheer cap in insane ways?

(1) putting on a disguise which included a wig, fake goatee, and deep v-neck (ok this one is not unfamiliar to clint) to inspire steve into taking up a new identity (blame clint for nomad)

(2) jumping on cap's bed to annoy him out of depression

(3) putting on a disguise which included a wig, fake beard, and presumably other old age touches to force him to go to a surprise birthday party

(4) backflipping onto ice to help steve take out goons only to force steve to go christmas shopping with him, where he once again annoyed him

i mean in the 616 comics he expressly wasn't a shield agent for decades bc spycraft wasn't his thing and he immediately went straight from circus act to trying to be a superhero, the ultimate comics version of clint was a new character for this darker edgier universe and was a shield agent and assassin, and the mcu based their clint on the ultimate comics version bc i assume using the much more recent comic line felt like their in to crafting a cinematic universe from scratch without a storied cast of concurrent movies and character; shield (and nick fury recruiting everyone) acted as a built-in framework to rope characters together

...but now they do have a bunch of concurrent movies/shows with a large cast of characters and use storylines from 616, and have even tried calling themselves 616 (it's not gonna happen, stop it!!!), so now i feel they've ended up in a corner where they want more 616 storylines to work that don't necessarily bc they used the wrong base elements (i.e. ultimate character doesn't have same origins or context as the 616 character did for the 616 storyline, can't have same story beat to establish storyline).

anyways. i personally think it was a mistake to have mcu clint be the shield agent version bc they ended up not going the true ultimate route (not that they should've...) and weren't even going the 2000s gritty route to start with (the movie was never going to be dark and edgy). i think it was an even bigger mistake, bc it was more calculated, to make 616 clint associated with shield after the avengers movie purely for synergy, bc it conflicted with his established character.

however, i should add that the cartoon avengers: earth's mightiest heroes ("emh") premiered in 2010, a year before mcu clint did in thor (2011), and he was introduced as a shield agent in that. he kind of got kicked out (and then quit) shield early on into emh, but i bring this up bc his emh character was nevertheless very 616-based (he still has explicit circus origins), and is excellent in the show.

but is it really that bad that clint is a shield agent? well idk which clint we're talking about here. if this question stems from liking mcu clint's whole shield background, well, mcu clint is already a shield agent, and resultingly, fanworks predominantly portray clint as one. many try blending the shield agent and circus backgrounds to almost meet in the middle (sort of emh style) when making mcu-based or inspired works, so one who likes the concept of espionage or being sent on missions and the ensuing drama and conflict of a character like clint being constrained to such parameters would have their pick of the litter to enjoy.

is it so bad for 616 clint to be a shield agent? i would say yes. that was natasha's thing, and bobbi's thing, and clint would be in the periphery like "well i don't like how this shield business is going..." and he had no patience for spywork (although he has a penchant for wearing disguises. he contains multitude and fake mustaches are fun.) and decidedly became a superhero bc he was mad that iron man was the center of attention for 1 minute when that was HIS job!!!

i tell you what, i really wouldn't mind if they gave clint the haircut ryan gosling has been rocking since the fall guy and put an end to the neater crew cut. walk with me on this hijacked hair journey.

as i've personally maintained, shaggier hairstyles fall more in line with clint's character/personality and i miss when they (rightly) decided he would be the guy with the shaggier hair when marvel really started individuating the hairstyles of all their blondes in the 2000s (vs everyone having the same of whichever combed swoop was in style in the decade beforehand)

things kicked off with the grown out middle part:

which began growing out to your early 2000s shag:

which grew out further to the minutes-before-death-do:

and then funnily enough when he came back to life his hair was practically shaved? and then the process repeated itself in semi-reverse during the ronin era:

and then we'd go to a back and forth between the redford and a less stylized "just grown out" version:

and then once clint got the tactical costume, his head was shaved and his locks were no more, and the crewcut then persisted ever since.

so, i feel the ryan gosling messy front tapered sides look could be a happy medium for transitioning from the current crewcut to a future shag. or would this be the shag?