Hawkeye Makes Peter Parker’s Endgame Blip Memories Better

Warning: The following article contains spoilers for Hawkeye episode 5!

A scene depicting Yelena Belova “blipping” in and out of existence in Hawkeye episode 5 gave Peter Parker’s own blip memories recalled in Avengers: Endgame a whole new meaning. Marvel Studios is still revealing what happened to different characters during the so-called “blip”, as they continue to showcase the ramifications of Thanos’s snap on the MCU. Hawkeye episode 5 confirms that Yelena was indeed snapped out of existence in 2018, only to return 5 years later like half of the universe’s population, but the creators of the show decided to depict the event in a manner never seen before in the MCU.

Since Thanos’ snap, multiple MCU Phase 4 projects have touched on the aftermath. Avengers: Infinity War showed how half the population disappeared in an instant, and both Spider-Man: Far From Home and Wandavision gave viewers a glimpse of how the blipped individuals eventually rematerialized. Captain Falcon and the Winter Soldier also explored post-blip life on a more grounded, human level, showing some of the negative consequences of billions of people suddenly returning to the planet. However, the MCU has never shown audiences the blip from the point of view of those who were snapped, which Hawkeye episode 5, “Ronin,” finally did.

The scene of Yelena getting snapped served as a fresh take on the blip, and it revealed that for those who were snapped, it did not feel like any time passed at all. Yelena expresses her confusion once she learns that she has been gone for 5 years, stating that she was only gone for what felt like 5 seconds. This new perspective allows viewers to appreciate Peter Parker’s account of what happened after the blip in Endgame even more.

When Peter reunites with Tony during Endgame’s final battle against Thanos, he recalls what happened after he dusted away. He tells Tony that he must have passed out and woke up to Doctor Strange telling him that the Avengers need help. This is very different from what Yelena went through, as she dusted and came back instantly as far as she’s concerned, without passing out. This may be an indication of just how young and inexperienced Peter is/was at this point in the MCU, and that he probably let his emotions get the best of him, which led to him blacking out.

As Marvel Studios continue to explore new angles of Thanos’ snap, they enrich the events of the third and fourth Avengers movies and show how profound their impact on the MCU was. Yelena’s blip was the most recent example of that, as it showed a whole new perspective of the snap. As the MCU moves further away from the events of Infinity War and Endgame, the blip and its effects will likely continue to fade into the background as new high-stakes situations unfold, and Hawkeye may have just given viewers one of the last major mentions of the blip.

Hawkeye episode 5 is now streaming on Disney+.