Eleanor Bishop. What is going on with her? Since the prologue of Hawkeye, set during the Battle of New York, she’s been acting strange. In years since her husband Derek’s alleged death, she’s become wealthy and powerful. To her daughter, Kate, she’s somewhat of a dictator who wants her to work at Bishop Security. Yes, she was supportive of her achievements, but she didn’t want her idolising Clint Barton, which brings us to this post.
Early in episode four, entitled, “Partners, Am I Right?” Eleanor makes a quip to Clint about the death of his best friend, Natasha Romanov. Now, by the time this happens, the world would’ve learned of Black Widow’s death. We saw it in Spider-Man: Far From Home, where about eight months have passed since the Blip.
However, the way Eleanor makes the quip makes it sound like she’s glad the former assassin is gone. Clint, meanwhile, is trying to keep it together, though, we know he’s not okay. Since the series started, he is being constantly reminded of what he lost on Vormir. First, he sees the dancer during Rogers: The Musical dressed like Natasha. Second, the little girl was sitting a few seats down is cosplaying as Black Widow. Later, Lila mentions his discomfort after she leaves the theatre when he doesn’t return from his bathroom break.
Clint’s PSTD
Clint will never be able to escape his past. However, he can’t run from it either. Let’s not forget his experiences have shaped him. If anything, it has pulled him closer to his kids. Seeing Natasha die on Vormir is pushing him over the cliff. Seeing Kate almost die during their fight with Yelena and Maya would’ve forced those memories back up.
During episode four, we learn after Clint and Kate’s holiday party that he relives Nat’s demise in his mind. He is also taking into account how his family got taken from him. Ultimately, this is why he became Ronin in the first place.
Having to relive these moments in his life is a form of torture. However, other things trigger it. Moreover, Yelena hunting him and having his youngest son named after Natasha. In our last post on Hawkeye, we briefly touched on Eleanor taking a jab at Clint. Just bringing up what happened on Vormir is going to upset him internally. Even in episode one, when he’s sitting through Rogers: The Musical with his kids, you can see him struggling. Furthermore, this is why he turned his hearing aid down. If you think about it, the whole production was a great disservice to him as he was there during the Battle of New York.
Honouring Natasha
What Eleanor won’t know is that Clint is honouring his late friend. For example, he used Nat’s “catch and release” tactic, which Laura refers to as one of Natasha’s moves. For those who don’t know what we’re talking about, here’s the scene from Avengers, courtesy of TopMovieClips:
Clint also mentioned Natasha when Kazi and Maya questioned who “killed” Ronin. However, he referred to her as Black Widow rather than by her name. Also, he referred to his youngest son, Nate, by his full first name which is Nathaniel when he [Clint] loses his hearing aid.
While Clint still holds a torch – in a non-romantic way – for his late best friend, he knew enough about her past to recognise Yelena’s moves as being something a Black Widow would do. The second he was zapped by the Widow’s bite, he knew he was being hunted by a Widow. However, what comes next is anyone’s guess. Given the promo for next week’s episode, Belova won’t rest until she’s achieved her mission to kill Clint.
Though, we need to ask a question. Will Clint reason with Yelena and explain what truly happened?
Eleanor And Her Phone Call
To end this post, we wanted to question who Eleanor was calling after Clint and Kate had left. We addressed this in the aforementioned post that we linked earlier, but we thought we’d go over it again. So, who did she call?
If we had to guess, it would be either Valentina or Yelena. Now, we don’t know when the Black Widow post-credit scene happens. All we do know is that it is some time after Endgame since Belova is standing at her sister’s makeshift grave. The scene at Nat’s tombstone could take place at some point during the earlier episodes of Hawkeye.
Also, Yelena’s recruitment by Val was originally meant to be the first. However, given COVID-19 got in the way of Black Widow‘s release, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier was released first. Therefore, John Walker became her first recruit. However, if Black Widow is watched in the MCU chronological watch order, Yelena is the first recruit.
But, what need would Eleanor have for a Black Widow and a Contessa? She’s a very connected lady who also has money. However, something tells us Val doesn’t need the money. Though, it might be possible that Yelena is both for both Eleanor and Valentina.
