How To Listen To Hawkeye’s Captain America Musical Song In Full

Warning: Mild SPOILERS for Hawkeye episode 1.

Here’s how to listen to the Broadway-style “Save The City” song from Hawkeye‘s Rogers: The Musical. The first episode of Hawkeye’s MCU Disney+ show sees Jeremy Renner’s ace archer return to screens almost two years after the events of Avengers: Endgame to find that the exploits of the Avengers have been immortalized in a cheesy musical. The show depicts the events of The Avengers‘ Battle of New York and Loki’s Chitauri invasion and includes one toe-tapping showstopper that prompts Clint Barton to turn off his hearing aid.

While it’s obviously presented as a comedic moment, particularly because Renner’s Hawkeye has seemingly grown more into his grumpy elder Avenger spirit since last he appeared in the MCU, the musical does have some interesting elements to it. Ant-Man’s inclusion not only contradicts Endgame‘s image of him as the least famous Avenger, but also suggests the accounts of the battle were wrong, but then one lyric mentions the Avengers going for shawarma after the fight. Getting something so specific correct but accidentally claiming a whole person was wrongly involved is a weird disparity. And then there’s the commentary on how New York has turned their cynicism to the Avengers – which the song even mentions – into rampant hero worship worthy of this kind of cultural propaganda. The MCU’s Civil War is over, it seems.

That said, the song is a great homage to and parody of Broadway musicals: the high energy song could have been taken from any popular early run musical based on a show – the likes of Matilda, Back To The Future, or Beetlejuice – while the obvious spending shortcuts, like Hulk’s terrible costume are a clever little dig at the industry. All affectionately, of course. And so funny is the song that Hawkeye fans will no doubt want to hear the whole thing: luckily Hawkeye‘s Rogers: The Musical song “Save The City” is available to listen to in full on YouTube. And the extended version has some extra treats that aren’t shown in Hawkeye episode 1.

Click here to watch “Save The City” from Hawkeye’s Captain America musical on YouTube.

The best part of the full version of Hawkeye‘s “Save The City” is that it more clearly shows the hilarious shade thrown at Clint as the song does an Avengers role-call. While the other heroes are celebrated for their powers or beauty (in Thor and Cap’s case), Renner’s Hawkeye is called “cool” as the song says he “seems a really nice guy“. It’s a beautifully subtle, death-by-a-thousand-cuts moment of faint praise. It also fits in with Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld) saying Hawkeye’s biggest problem is not that he’s a bad Avenger, but that he brands himself badly.

The song also takes in a joke about New York’s citizens turning on the Avengers for wrecking the city, and it should come as no surprise that it was put together by Broadway veterans Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman who collaborated on creating the Broadway version of Hairspray. Shaiman also worked on the music for movies including Beaches, When Harry Met Sally, Mary Poppins Returns, and South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut. The deft touches to the Rogers: The Musical song “Save The City” on Hawkeye episode one could only have come from such experienced musical talent.

Hawkeye airs every Wednesday on Disney+.

About The Author

Simon Gallagher
(399 Articles Published)

Simon is a veteran editor who has been writing online since 2010 – long before anyone wanted to read his work. He loves Clueless. Like, a lot.

More From Simon Gallagher