Never Meet Your Heroes

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"Never Meet Your Heroes"
Hawkeye episode
Promotional poster for the series
Episode no.Episode 1
Directed byRhys Thomas
Written byJonathan Igla
Produced byJonathan Igla
Cinematography byEric Steelberg
Editing byTerel Gibson
Original release dateNovember 24, 2021 (2021-11-24)
Running time49 minutes
Cast
  • Carlos Navarro as Enrique
  • Ben Sakamoto as Cooper Barton
  • Ava Russo as Lila Barton
  • Cade Woodward as Nathaniel Barton
  • Clara Stack as young Kate Bishop
  • Nichele Lambert as Greer
  • Regina Bryant as Franny
  • Brian Troxell as Gary
  • Jonathan Bergman as Armand Duquesne VII
  • Pat Kiernan as himself
Episode chronology
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"Never Meet Your Heroes" is the first episode of the American television series Hawkeye, based on Marvel Comics featuring the characters Clint Barton / Hawkeye and Kate Bishop. It follows Bishop, who is drawn into a conspiracy that forces Barton out of retirement. The episode is set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), sharing continuity with the films of the franchise. It was written by head writer Jonathan Igla and directed by Rhys Thomas.

Jeremy Renner reprises his role as Clint Barton from the film series, with Hailee Steinfeld joining him as Kate Bishop. Tony Dalton, Fra Fee, Brian d'Arcy James, Aleks Paunovic, Piotr Adamczyk, Linda Cardellini, Simon Callow, and Vera Farmiga also star. Igla joined the series in September 2019, with Thomas joining in July 2020. Filming took place in New York City, with additional filming and soundstage work occurring in Atlanta, Georgia.

"Never Meet Your Heroes" was released on Disney+ on November 24, 2021. Critics praised Steinfeld's performance as Bishop, but felt the episode's pacing was slow due to limited action.

Plot

During the

Eleanor
safe.

In the present day, Bishop has become an experienced

Ronin
.

Suddenly, a group of masked thugs known as the

Tracksuit Mafia
break into the auction and take the attendees hostage in search of a mysterious watch. Jack uses the chaos to steal the sword while Kate dons the Ronin attire and takes down the thugs, freeing the hostages and saving a one-eyed stray dog in the process, taking him home with her.

Meanwhile, Barton is struggling to come to terms with his deeds done as Ronin and the death of Natasha Romanoff.[b] He enjoys a night out with his children and later sees Kate in the Ronin attire on the news. Bishop tracks down Armand to investigate him, only to find him dead in his office. She flees the murder scene but is ambushed by the Tracksuits, and saved by Barton, who confronts her.

Production

Development

By April 2019,

Louis D'Esposito, and Kevin Feige.[5] The first episode, titled "Never Meet Your Heroes",[6] was written by Igla,[7] and was released on November 24, 2021.[8]

Writing

Opening the episode with the

Battle of New York was part of Igla's pitch since his hiring. Igla conceived the idea wanting to set up the notion of being different points of view, reminiscent to the 2012 Hawkeye comic book run of Matt Fraction and David Aja. In this case, the battle is revisited through a younger Kate Bishop's point of view, which Igla felt that allowed the audience to "jump[ing] back and forth a little bit in time" and see things from different perspectives. He also wanted to pair Bishop's first look of Hawkeye with her father's death, since witnessing her parent's death and an alien invasion concurrently would be completely terrifying.[9]

Feeling that how Barton and Bishop would meet for the first time should be with a peculiar coincidence, Igla decided to have Bishop sneak into the black market auction for reasons unrelated to Hawkeye only for her to recover and don the

Tracksuit Mafia were chosen as the main villains after their debut in the Fraction/Aja run, having become classic Hawkeye villains since then.[9] It was executive producer Trinh Tran's idea to for Bishop to put on the Ronin suit, as it was a crucial moment for the writes because it unlocked the moment where the storylines of Barton and Bishop merged.[10]

Igla also decided to include a montage about why Barton needs a hearing aid after his many adventures seen in the films to showcase the lasting impact of his heroic lifestyle has, unlike the other super-powered teammates. He chose the montage moments by suggesting to elect the most "cinematic, expensive-looking explosion and

Luis' van, though the Easter egg was not included.[11]

Casting

The episode stars

better source needed
]

Filming and design

External videos
video icon Marvel Studios' Hawkeye: Episode One Opening Title Sequence presents the episode's main title sequence,
Perception
's channel

Filming began in early December 2020 in

Perception.[20] Unlike the subsequent episodes, "Never Meet Your Heroes" features an opening title sequence which chronicles Bishop's story between her appearances before and after the sequence, with Perception creating the effect of time passing by skipping frames between key moments.[21]

Music

The episode features the

Broadway musical titled Rogers: The Musical, centered on the Battle of New York from The Avengers (2012) and written by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman.[22] It was released as a single on November 24, 2021.[23]

Marketing

After the episode's release, Marvel announced merchandise inspired by the first two episodes as part of its weekly "Marvel Must Haves" promotion for each episode of the series, including apparel and

Funko Pops, including Barton and Bishop with Lucky.[24]

Reception

Audience viewership

The viewer tracking application Samba TV reported that the series had the lowest premiere of the live action MCU series to date, with an estimated 1.5 million households checking out the episode in the first five days. This trailed the premieres for Loki (2.5M, 5 days), The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (1.8M, 3 days), and WandaVision (1.6M, 3 days).[25] According to Nielsen Media Research who measure the number of minutes watched by United States audiences on television sets, Hawkeye was the second-most watched original series across streaming services for the week of November 22–28 with 853 million minutes watched.[26] The two-episode premiere of Hawkeye was the top streaming series for viewers in the United States for the week ending November 28 according to Whip Media's TV Time.[27]

Critical response

The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reports a 100% approval rating with an average rating of 7.30/10, based on 16 reviews. The site's critical consensus reads, "Never Meet Your Heroes" "sets the table for Hawkeye's first season with an introductory episode that puts Hailee Steinfeld front and center."[28]

Giving the episode 3 out of 5 stars, Keith Phipps from Vulture said the premiere "gets things off to a promising if short-on-fireworks start". Phipps praised the Christmas setting, stating that the episode had an "atmosphere that sets it apart from other MCU stories" as a result. He felt that the episode lacked context for older Kate Bishop and Barton's life due to the amount of set up in the episode and that the supporting characters were not featured as prominently as they could have been, especially considering the caliber of actors such as Farmiga portraying them. Overall, Phipps believed "Never Meet Your Heroes" was a good, but not perfect start to the series.[29]

Jack Shepherd of GamesRadar+ praised both Renner and Steinfeld for their performances, saying Renner's Hawkeye was given "immediately more depth" than his previous MCU appearances, while Steinfeld brought charm to Bishop, despite her arrogance. Shepherd believed that certain parts of the episode had "tonal backlash", specifically when it came to the seriousness of the personal story of Barton and the "holiday campiness" throughout the episode. Shepherd also gave the episode 3 out of 5 stars, stating "when Hawkeye leans into its absurd, funny, Christmassy side, it succeeds".[30]

Kirsten Howard of Den of Geek gave the two-episode premiere a 4.5 out of 5, liking the holiday setting and saying that they felt that "Renner's ability to do a lot of character work with a reaction shot means the audience takes a quick hit for his triumphs and losses in the wake of Thanos' misjudged pursuit". As a result, that was when they felt the series could be special.[31]

Notes

  1. ^ As depicted in the film The Avengers (2012).
  2. ^ a b As depicted in the film Avengers: Endgame (2019).

References

  1. ^ Otterson, Joe (April 10, 2019). "Hawkeye Series Starring Jeremy Renner in the Works at Disney+ (Exclusive)". Variety. Archived from the original on April 10, 2019. Retrieved April 10, 2019.
  2. ^ Kit, Borys (September 6, 2019). "Marvel's 'Hawkeye' Series Finds Its Writer With 'Mad Men' Scribe (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on September 6, 2019. Retrieved September 6, 2019.
  3. ^ Kit, Borys (July 17, 2020). "Marvel's 'Hawkeye' Disney+ Series Lands 'Troop Zero,' 'Comrade Detective' Directors (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on July 17, 2020. Retrieved July 18, 2020.
  4. ^ Jackson, Angelique (November 18, 2021). "Hailee Steinfeld on Joining the MCU in 'Hawkeye': 'Kate Bishop Is a Character I Would've Loved to Have Had Growing Up'". Variety. Archived from the original on November 19, 2021. Retrieved November 19, 2021.
  5. ^ "Hawkeye Fact Sheet" (PDF). Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution. Archived (PDF) from the original on November 25, 2021. Retrieved November 25, 2021.
  6. Marvel.com. Archived
    from the original on December 13, 2021. Retrieved January 19, 2022.
  7. ^ "Hawkeye (2021)". Writers Guild of America West. Archived from the original on November 2, 2021. Retrieved November 2, 2021.
  8. ^ Ausiello, Michael (October 14, 2021). "Hawkeye: New Trailer for Disney+ Series Teases Linda Cardellini's Return". TVLine. Archived from the original on October 14, 2021. Retrieved October 14, 2021.
  9. ^ a b c Lane, Carly (November 24, 2021). "'Hawkeye' Head Writer Jonathan Igla Breaks Down the First Two Episodes, From Kate and Clint's Initial Meeting to That Episode 2 Closer". Collider. Archived from the original on November 24, 2021. Retrieved November 24, 2021.
  10. ^ Bean, Tanner [@tan_bean] (November 29, 2021). "Kate putting on the #Ronin suit was Marvel EP Trinh Tran's idea. It was a crucial moment for the writers, as it unlocked how Kate and Clint's storylines merged. #hawkeye #katebishop" (Tweet). Archived from the original on June 9, 2022. Retrieved December 1, 2021 – via Twitter.
  11. ^ Bean, Tanner [@tan_bean] (November 29, 2021). "For the black-market auction, I rewatched the final battle of #Endgame to find other artifacts that could've also been found in the rubble of the #Avengers Compound. My idea: the "La Cucaracha"-playing steering wheel horn from Luis' van. (Hey, they can't all be winners.) #hawkeye" (Tweet). Archived from the original on June 9, 2022. Retrieved December 1, 2021 – via Twitter.
  12. ^ Igla, Jonathan (November 24, 2021). "Never Meet Your Heroes". Hawkeye. Season 1. Episode 1. Disney+. End credits begin at 44:53.
  13. ^ Lonigro, Alessio (November 24, 2021). "Hawkeye: Gli easter eggs e i riferimenti presenti nei primi due episodi della serie Marvel!" [Hawkeye: Easter eggs and references from the first two episodes of the Marvel series!]. Comics Universe (in Italian). Archived from the original on May 11, 2022. Retrieved May 11, 2022.
  14. ComingSoon.net. Archived
    from the original on December 1, 2020. Retrieved December 2, 2020.
  15. ^ Carolina (December 3, 2020). "Friday, Dec. 4 Filming Locations". On Location Vacations. Archived from the original on December 4, 2020. Retrieved December 4, 2020.
  16. ^ Polo, Susana (December 9, 2020). "Hawkeye set photos reveal costumes, but more importantly, a dog sidekick". Polygon. Archived from the original on December 9, 2020. Retrieved December 9, 2020.
  17. Wonderwall.com. December 10, 2020. Archived
    from the original on January 20, 2021. Retrieved January 19, 2021.
  18. ^ Ho, Rodney (September 30, 2020). "Upcoming Georgia productions: Jeremy Renner's Marvel series 'Hawkeye,' Gerard Butler's police drama 'Copshop'". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Archived from the original on October 1, 2020. Retrieved October 1, 2020.
  19. ^ "#1261 08/26" (PDF). Production Weekly. No. 1261 (published August 26, 2021). September 6, 2021. p. 18. Archived (PDF) from the original on September 29, 2021. Retrieved October 1, 2021.
  20. ^ Failes, Ian (January 21, 2022). "How the main titles of 'Hawkeye' helped tell the story of Kate and Clint". Befores & Afters. Archived from the original on January 21, 2022. Retrieved April 17, 2022.
  21. Perception. Archived
    from the original on June 20, 2022. Retrieved September 14, 2022.
  22. from the original on November 10, 2021. Retrieved November 10, 2021.
  23. from the original on November 24, 2021. Retrieved November 24, 2021.
  24. from the original on December 6, 2021. Retrieved December 7, 2021.
  25. ^ D'Alessandro, Anthony (November 29, 2021). "'Hawkeye' Viewership 40% Behind 'Loki' Premiere In Samba-Measured Disney+ Homes". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on November 29, 2021. Retrieved January 21, 2022.
  26. ^ Hipes, Patrick (December 27, 2021). "'True Story', 'Hawkeye', 'Red Notice' Topped U.S. Streaming Rankings During Thanksgiving Week". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on December 27, 2021. Retrieved January 22, 2022.
  27. Media Play News. Archived
    from the original on April 21, 2022. Retrieved October 4, 2022.
  28. ^ "Never Meet Your Heroes". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved February 28, 2022.
  29. ^ Phipps, Keith (November 24, 2021). "Hawkeye Series-Premiere Recap: The Most Wonderful Time of the Year?". Vulture. Archived from the original on November 25, 2021. Retrieved January 21, 2022.
  30. ^ Shepherd, Jack (November 24, 2021). "Hawkeye Episode 1 Review: "Doesn't Quite Hit a Bullseye"". GamesRadar+. Archived from the original on November 24, 2021. Retrieved January 21, 2022.
  31. ^ Howard, Kirsten (November 24, 2021). "Hawkeye Episode 1 and 2 Review: Welcome to the Party, Pal". Den of Geek. Archived from the original on November 24, 2021. Retrieved January 24, 2022.

External links