A Hawkeye fact that not everyone knows about is that the character is deaf in the comics and this is something that many would love to see translated to the big screen. In fact, one disability activist named Nyle DiMarco is pushing for this to happen and I wholeheartedly agree with him. Not only would it make the character more complex but it would even further humanize the assassin who fights supervillains with a bow and arrow who can stand next to Gods and men in flying armor to do so.
The conversation started when Mic published an article that was about the lack of diversity in the Marvel Cinematic Universe but overlooked disability in this inclusion. DiMarco pointed it out by tweeting that “Disability is also a part of diversity, @mic. HawkEye is actually Deaf, and MARVEL Cinematic Universe made the character hearing.”
I am completely supportive of this venture and am happy that DiMarco was asked to expand on this with a longer comment where he stated that:
“So many times people forget the disability conversation in diversity. They think diversity has to do with race [and] gender, but there’s so much more to it. We are part of diversity as people with disabilities, and the danger is that we get excluded.
“There are a couple of issues where specifically Hawkeye is deaf. And so they brought in an actor who can hear instead. I think it would have made [better movies]… if they brought a deaf person in to play a deaf Hawkeye.
“I mean, no offense, but Hawkeye in the Avengers is boring. A lot of people don’t even like him… Let’s have a deaf actor in there instead, why not?”
While I can’t imagine that they’d recast the actor at this point, I do feel that even making him deaf in the films is something that could help here. Hawkeye wasn’t initially deaf but became so in 1983 in ‘Hawkeye’ #4 where he used a sonic arrowhead to stop a villain that also left him deaf and use hearing aids. He was later restored after the Heroes Reborn story arc and had his hearing again only to lose it in Fraction’s epic run on the character.
Not knowing if we’ll see Hawkeye alive after ‘Avengers 4‘ or if he’d even possibly get his own film like ‘Black Widow’, this might be too little, too late though I’d still enjoy seeing it happen.
Do you feel that Hawkeye should end up deaf in the Marvel Cinematic Universe? Should they have gone this route from the start of the character? Share your thoughts below, True Believers!
Source: Screen Rant
