The fourth episode of Marvel’s Hawkeye premiered on Disney+ today and things are starting to get really crazy. On top of the fight with the Tracksuits and the murder mystery Clint and Kate are trying to solve, we also have the mystery of this watch recovered from the Avengers compound.
We learned in this most recent episode that the watch belonged to someone Clint “used to work with” who has “been out of the game a long time.” We also learn that this person’s identity is still attached to the watch and if the wrong people got their hands on it, they could be compromised and eventually killed. We don’t get any more information however, which means it’s time to speculate. Who does this watch belong to? I have a few guesses.
Daredevil
This may seem like wishful thinking at first, but it makes a lot of sense. We know the guy really pulling the strings of the Tracksuits is Wilson Fisk. Whose secret identity would Fisk most be after if not Daredevil’s? Sure there are some continuity questions with the Netflix series at play here, but that could all be explained away in the future.
As for his past with Clint, perhaps Matt Murdock provided some legal assistance for the Avengers, as well as some other assistance. The watch could have easily been left behind by mistake at the compound, hence it still being there when it was destroyed. He’s also been “out of the game for a long time,” with the Netflix series wrapping up back in 2018. Don’t forget to account for the five years of the blip.
Mockingbird
This one is a bit more difficult to see because it does appear to be a men’s watch, however, perhaps it held some sentimental value to one Bobbi Morse (or maybe she just likes a bigger watch face). In the comics, Clint was once married to his Avengers teammate, Mockingbird. That would explain why protecting this person’s identity would mean so much to him.
Mockingbird was on my list of “10 Marvel things I’d like to see in Hawkeye,” as I thought it would be very interesting to learn more about Clint’s past. Bringing back an ex-wife we didn’t previously know about would have definitely added a wrinkle to his MCU story. Plus, Mockingbird already appeared in Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and it would have been great to see Adrianne Palicki reprise the role. Perhaps she’ll return soon to retrieve her watch.
Ronin
Bear with me here, but what if it’s Clint’s watch? Clint could be lying to Kate in an attempt to keep her safe. Perhaps the watch was left behind in the Avengers compound wreckage along with all of the Ronin gear, because it also belonged to Ronin. And perhaps the Tracksuits, or more likely whoever is in charge, knows this watch belonged to Ronin.
If that is the case, then the identity he’s trying to protect would be his own. We already see that Maya has been gathering information on Clint’s family. It’s possible she has already learned that he was in fact Ronin and is looking to exact her revenge for killing her father. Obviously, it would be very important for Clint to get that watch back, though he might just be too late.
Barney Barton
Yes, Clint Barton has a brother. In the comics, Barney Barton serves as a villain known as Trick Shot who creates all kinds of problems for Clint. However, he also appears as a friend at times and I would guess that’t more the route they would take for the MCU.
This would be very personal for Clint if the identity he’s trying to protect is that of his own brother. Plus, he could fit all the parameters. Someone Clint used to work with? Check. Out of the game for a long time? Check. It would even make sense for Laura to voice her concerns in this case as the watch would belong to someone she considers family.
William Lopez
What a twist! Yes, while many fans are going to be excited about the possibility of this being the way Daredevil enters the MCU, it is much more Marvel’s M.O. to use something like this as a plot device. So why would the Avengers have had a watch that belonged to Maya’s father who was killed by Ronin?
In the comics, it is not Ronin who killed Maya’s father, but rather the Kingpin himself. That leads to Maya’s transformation into the hero known as Echo. We see in Hawkeye that Ronin definitely killed William and Maya watched it happen. But maybe he was ticked into doing it. Perhaps William Lopez tried to turn on the Kingpin and gave information about his operations to the Avengers. When the Kingpin learned of this, he could have leaked information about William’s base of operations to Ronin, in an effort to have him killed without getting his own hands dirty.
Again, this theory would involve Clint lying to Kate. In this case, it would not truly be a secret identity he is trying to protect, but rather Maya’s life. He could likely piece together that if Maya found her father’s watch in the Avengers compound auction, it would lead her to learning of the true reason for his death. And if that happened, she would likely go after Kingpin, and likely get herself killed. We already saw Clint making an effort to save Maya’s life when he spoke to Kazi, so is would make sense he would do this to protect her as well.
What do you think? Which of these theories makes the most sense? You can see what the real answer is in the final two episodes of Marvel’s Hawkeye on Disney+ when they premiere over the next two weeks.