Why Val Needs Hawkeye Dead In Her Thunderbolts Plan

Warning: SPOILERS for Hawkeye Episode 4 – “Partners, Am I Right?”

Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) arrived in Hawkeye to kill Clint Barton (Jeremy Renner) and there are compelling reasons why Contessa Valentina de Fontaine’s (Julia Louis-Dreyfuss) plan needs Hawkeye dead. Yelena ambushed Clint in Hawkeye episode 4 and Barton only survived because their melee was interrupted by Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld) and Maya “Echo” Lopez (Alaqua Cox). But Yelena is just a weapon Val pointed at Hawkeye and the Contessa’s overall plan is still shrouded in mystery.

After only a few brief but impactful appearances in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and Black Widow, audiences still know very little about Valentina de Fontaine. The Contessa represents a powerful secret organization and she’s clearly recruiting some sort of team. Based on who Val is bringing aboard and why, it’s easy to speculate that her burgeoning super group could be comprised of replacements for the Avengers. John Walker (Wyatt Russell) signed on as the U.S. Agent after his controversial stint as Captain America while Yelena Belova is a former Black Widow, like her late ‘sister,’ Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson). Val blaming Clint Barton for Natasha’s death in Avengers: Endgame and sending Yelena to kill Hawkeye is an unusual move, especially since he’s a world-famous member of the Avengers.

Obviously, Clint Barton poses some sort of threat to Valentina and her secret organization’s overall plan and thus, Hawkeye has to be eliminated. If Val really is assembling her own team, whether they’re called the Dark Avengers or the Thunderbolts as Marvel Comics readers speculate, then getting rid of the remaining original Avengers makes sense. After Endgame, only two of the founding six Avengers are left on Earth: Hawkeye and Smart Hulk (Mark Ruffalo). Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings showed that Hulk is once again Bruce Banner, and if Contessa de Fontaine plans to take him out of the equation, she will have to contend with the gamma-powered behemoth Banner turns into. But removing Hawkeye from the playing field is ‘easier,’ and Val obviously thinks a Black Widow assassin like Yelena is enough for the job. Once Hawkeye and Hulk are out of the picture, Contessa de Fontaine can theoretically debut a brand new team made up of her own ‘Avengers’ to replace Earth’s Mightiest Heroes.

Another reason why Val might want Clint Barton dead is his activities as Ronin, which are central to Hawkeye‘s overall story. It’s safe to speculate that de Fontaine is funded by a powerful criminal syndicate and the Ronin became the international underworld’s enemy when Barton went on a bloody massacre against criminal enterprises all over the world. Ronin wiped out powerful entities like the Mafia, Mexican drug lords, and the Japanese Yakuza, but in the post-Avengers: Endgame world, all of those organizations are likely back. They may even have influence or membership in the organization Valentina works for. Further, Val probably knows Clint Barton is Ronin so his death means revenge for the five years of massacres suffered by the criminal underworld.

What future role, if any, Jeremy Renner’s Hawkeye will have in the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Phase 4 and beyond is unknown, so it’s possible that Clint Barton may die at the end of Hawkeye. Otherwise, Yelena will fail in her mission, but if the former Black Widow succeeds, it would bring Valentina’s plot one step closer to fruition. Contessa de Fontaine can even recruit Kate Bishop if she needs an archer to replace Hawkeye in the Thunderbolts/Dark Avengers team she is putting together. Of course, Clint could still foil Val’s plan by surviving, which would give Hawkeye a happy ending.

Hawkeyestreams Wednesdays on Disney+.

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