The former member of the Avengers and an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D, we have seen Hawkeye in various Avengers series. This time MCU has prioritized him as he returned to the screen with his own mini-series, Hawkeye.
We have seen Hawkeye wearing a hearing aid a few times in MCU movies, and it is shown, but how he lost his hearing has been a matter of mystery. Well, in the mini-series of Hawkeye, the plot somewhat highlights this matter. Lets us discuss Hawkeye’s hearing in this article too.
Why does Hawkeye have a hearing aid?
We have seen Hawkeye with a hearing aid in the mini-series Hawkeye. It is not a thing of wonder why he wears that. It is definitely because he has a weak wearing capacity. He is completely deaf in one eye and needs a hearing aid in another ear.
Well, the actor, expert in bow and arrow shooting with magnificent vision, unfortunately, lacks hearing capacity. What may be the cause of his hearing loss? How did he get his hearing aid? We will reveal gradually, let’s foremost know if he had a hearing disability from the very beginning.
Was Hawkeye born with a hearing disability?
Initially, in the comics, he was seen with a perfect hearing capacity. He didn’t need any hearing aid to hear people speak. In this way, we can say that he was not born with hearing capacity. He actually lost it in the different consequences at his later age, as explained differently by the comics and movies.
In some of the comics, we come to know that he lost his hearing when he was abused by his father during his childhood. This volume of comics reveals the loss of his hearing at an early age; however other books explain the loss of his hearing after becoming a superhero.
Similarly, different plot explains different stories in the MCU movies and series. Okay, let’s discuss how he lost his hearing in MCU movies, series, and comics in the following topics.
How does Hawkeye lose his hearing in MCU?
Initially, Hawkeye was not shown as deaf in the MCU movies. When he first entered Thor, he had perfect hearing. Similarly, he had a good hearing when he second appeared in one of the MCU movies, The Avengers 2012.
As we see in the events from infinity saga, we could witness his hearing loss journey. In Avengers: Age of Ultron, we could notice the energy blast shot at him. Similarly, in Avengers: Endgame, the explosion seemed to have massively destroyed Hawkeye’s hearing.
This series of explosions seem to have been the reason for the loss of Hawkeye’s hearing. In the Hawkeye mini-series, we come to know However the plot is different in comics. Let us know how.
How does Hawkeye lose his hearing in comics?
Now lets us know how Hawkeye lost his hearing from the comic point of view, which differs from the MCU. Comics show the different stories of his hearing impairment in different runs.
In the 1983 Hawkeye Mini series, villains teamed up as Death Throws to kill the Avengers. The leader of the team was Crossfire. As per their plan, they targeted Hawkeye so that they could capture other Avengers at his funeral.
Crossfire had built the supersonic machine. The sound produced by the machine was powerful enough to brainwash people nearby and make them fight and kill each other.
Thus, Hawkeye and Mockingbird were captured by the villain teams and put under the influence of the supersonic machine. Hearing the brainwashing sound, both the heroes get manipulated and start fighting with each other to the death.
Crossfire stopped and replayed the sound again just to make them realize what they were doing to each other and to torture them even more. Just in between, when he stopped the sound, Hawkeye managed to slip a sonic arrowhead into his mouth.
Thus, he was able to nullify the manipulative effect of the machine. Unfortunately, this event caused a blast in his eardrums when the device was inside his mouth, resulting in losing 80% of his hearing capacity. Thus he had to face severe hearing loss in this unfortunate attack of Death Throws.
The comics also showed Mockingbird later gave him the hearing aid and also helped him to adjust to his life as a deaf.
In Hawkeye (2012-2015) by Matt Fraction and David Aja Omnibus, the scenario of the cause of Hawkeye’s deafness is different.
In this comic run, Clown/Kazi stabbed him in both of his ears with his own arrow. This made him lose most of his hearing causing damage to his middle and inner ears.
Thus he was majorly deaf throughout the comic run. He took the support of lips reading to understand the people around him. He also learned American Sign Language in order to receive the message and used his own speech to convey his message to others.
Later, Tony Stark created hearing aids for him and gifted him. This made him easier in hearing and communicating.
Similarly, there are other versions of comics too, where writers presented their own version of the story to show how Hawkeye became deaf.
In 2014 comics, it presented that Clint had a very harsh childhood. He had an unloving and abusive father who would attack his children and wife when he was drunk. Clint had to suffer from the abuse of his father as a child. This eventually left him partially deaf. Later, he was provided with a hearing aid by his brother.
In another comic, Hawkeye Vol 4, it was shown that he was attacked by a man who had clown face paint at his apartment. During this attack, his ear got damaged, and he lost his hearing capacity.
Does Hawkeye actor Jeremy Renner have a hearing problem in real?
The role of Clint Barton, aka Hawkeye, has been portrayed by Jeremy Renner for decades. He is a member of the Avengers in the Marvel Cinematic Universe films. Renner was seen in a cameo appearance as Hawkeye first time in Thor in 2011.
Further, he appeared in other MCU movies, including The Avengers (2012), Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), Captain America: Civil War (2016), Avengers: Endgame (2019), and Black Widow (2021).
In 2021 he was back in his own movie, Hawkeye, which focused on the life of Clint Barton after his retirement from the Avengers. He was also joined by fellow Hawkeye Kate Bishop, played by Hailee Steinfeld.
Now talking about Jeremy Renner’s hearing issue. Well, the 50 years old actor does not have any hearing problems. He has fine hearing and hence does not wear a hearing aid in real life.
Did Hawkeye’s hearing disability become a hindrance in his superhero journey?
If a physical disability is a factor that could hinder a person from being a superhero, then Clint is not the only one with a disability. We have witnessed how Thor lost his eye during Thor: Ragnarok, Doctor Strange has irreversible nerve damage in his hands, and similarly, Matt Mudrock, aka Daredevil, is completely blind.
Despite these disabilities, our heroes have always been determined enough to protect the world from several threats and villains. The same goes for our hero Hawkeye. His determination is above his disabilities. As an individual, he didn’t leave any stone unturned to serve as an Avenger.
Of course, it might have been difficult to battle with such hearing hardship, in case he had to be always aware of the danger coming towards him. Still, he was serving as a real hero with a great vision and with the power of his bow and arrow.
However, Hawkeye took retirement after the movie Avengers: Age of Ultron. He would no longer have a connection to the Avengers’ team. We still saw him in his own mini-series named after his own name, Hawkeye. In the series, he was not quite esteemed by the public as other marvel superheroes. He is
Where can we stream the Hawkeye mini-series?
The MCU mini-series Hawkeye can be streamed in Disney+, which is the official streaming home of Disney, Marvel, Pixar, Star Wars, and many more.
This mini-series consists of six episodes. The first two episodes were released on November 24, 2021, and all six episodes were released until December 21, 2021. Each episode is set to be up to 50 minutes long.
In this series, we can see Hawkeye with Kate Bishop, a 22-year-old archer with dreams of becoming a Super Hero. They are forcefully tangled up with each other in a murder mystery, an underground mob, and a much greater mystery.
Wrap up
Hawkeye lost his eye due to fighting as an Avenger in the MCU movies. Thus it won’t be wrong if we say he sacrificed his hearing in order to save the world against the various threats and attacks of villains.
