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People who are mad at Hawks supposedly “defending” abuser Endeavor or why he keeps backing him up, waiting for him or planning around Endeavor in the fight… but not realizing there’s a difference in supporting in battle vs. supporting his abuse (which he’s not) when that is two separate issues and not stopping to think what this means for Hawks are completely missing the point that these actions from Hawks is not a reflection of Endeavor’s character or the kind of undeniably (shitty, abusive) parent that he is, but instead of Hawks.

We know Endeavor is an abuser, that isn’t excused (Hawks himself had never excused his actions either!!) and yes it’s frustrating we haven’t seen consequences for Endeavors’ actions…YET. But directing those frustrating feelings and blaming Hawks for his “support” and crudely calling him names is SO wrong and misjudged.

What Hawks is saying or doing doesn’t speak for who Endeavor is on the abusive side nor does it excuse his actions. Instead, it’s about Hawks.

Did you all forget Hawks is a victim of abuse too? That his own parents were abusive? That the HPSC continued that child abuse by turning him into a child solider and he went through things no child should have ever been through (horrible things only hinted at in pieces and from Nagant but we haven’t seen the extent of yet)? 

Do you realize how much an abused child is forced to cope or mature unhealthily in stressful, traumatic, life or death situations? Hawks never had a choice, it was dying on the streets or “becoming a hero with HPSC”, which again it’s not like he had much choice in. No matter how much child Keigo thought “he wanted to be a hero”. That “want” itself says volumes about how Hawks was brought up. Hero Endeavor “saved” him by putting his father in jail. The thought of being a Hero means he’s USEFUL.

Hawks has shown a very strong need to be of use, of being useful enough after his parents constantly told him he was useless and that he had wings for nothing. It’s why he’s willing to corrupt himself if it means keeping more people safe, it’s why he’s always willing to fight with everything he has even if it means sacrificing himself FOR EVERYONE ELSE. It’s likely why he constantly apologizes for everything, without hesitation, taking the blame even for things beyond his control or that aren’t his fault. This is something he’s done even as a kid, apologizing to his abusive parents.

I don't see Hawks deciding things for others as hubris / assuming he's always right, but more as a coping mechanism. After all, he is also a child abuse victim and someone who had no healthy ways to process his experiences growing up in the institutionalized setting he did, as part of a government grooming programme.

Hawks was trained to believe that cutting ties with his parents, his past, his identity would make him a better hero - and even if he had no agency in that process - he is restructuring it as something that he himself decided - perhaps to feel some control over the situation.