for all that the black widow was hawkeye's motivation to join the avengers, he doesn't mention her month during his first months with the team. he's too busy fighting with cap, or flirting with wanda (odd, considering his claims that natasha's the only woman he's ever loved). avengers #29 begins to change that, however, as it reintroduces natasha to the title and kicks off the arc that leads to her eventual defection.Â
coming off last issue's mission, hank is injured and jan gets to cry over him. this seems to remind hawkeye that, yes, he does have someone he loves! and thought she's barely been mentioned for thirteen issues, she is once again on his mind. can we read into the last 13 issues and say he was just playing a brave front? maybe, but that's not really on the page.Â
it's important to remember hawkeye's standing with the team, at this point. he's been there more consistently than hank and janet, but he isn't nearly as well-liked or well-trusted as they are. cap vouches for him, and seems to be concerned about him, but even he can be annoyed by hawkeye most of the time. it's an interesting reversal of their dynamic, that here cap's questioning hawkeye's decisions or plans, when usually it's the other way around. but, true to form, hawkeye doesn't listen.Â
it does make one wonder what his plan actually was. did he think to go retrieve natasha and bring her back to the town house? we've already seen that he didn't have any life outside of the avengers; did he see her fitting into that life? she's obviously not unqualified for it, but i think ultimately hawkeye wasn't really thinking here--like he says, once he heard natasha was back, nothing else mattered.Â
alas, nothing is so simple. because natasha is, in fact, brainwashed by her russian superiors (cap's guess was right on the nose!) and she's not really interested in running away to the avengers town house. she's brought along a few lackeys from the avengers' list of foes--swordsman and power man. and what hawkeye may have perceived as a joyous reunion ends up becoming a battle.
it's interesting to note that the temptation of joining black widow as a villain never really occurs to hawkeye, here. obviously that's the point he started from, but his months with the avengers have seemingly stuck, and he's firmly a hero now. so even when natasha asks him to join her, he doesn't. it might have been a different story if she'd been acting of her own will, but it seems being an avenger has also done a lot to strengthen hawkeye's convictions.Â
like all hawkeye and black widow stories, this one ends tragically. even with back up from the other avengers, hawkeye doesn't succeed. natasha and her cronies get away, and hawkeye is left heartbroken, once again. at least cap's around to comfort him... or just make him feel worse by being nice.Â
from avengers, volume 1 #29 (stan lee & don heck)













