Hawkeye: What’s hidden in plain sight in episode 1
By Mike McNulty
“Rogers: The Musical”
Part of what made Marvel Comics so revolutionary at the time was that it was very much set in the real world. This should mean that superheroes have an impact in shaping our world, especially when it comes to politics and culture. The Marvel Cinematic Universe carries this idea towards their logical conclusion, with the Avengers exploits becoming history defining events. Hawkeye takes this even further in that after Avengers: Endgame, the life of Steve Rogers, like the life of Alexander Hamilton, has become a hit Broadway musical.
The song and dance number from Rogers: The Musical works on numerous levels. That Cap’s catchphrase, “I can do this all day,” into a kitschy signature song perfectly captures the feel-good nature of Broadway. You can see Clint’s embarrassment and confusion as he watches a surreal reenactment of what he himself lived through, along with signs of PTSD on seeing the actress playing Natasha. Even the inclusion of Ant-Man (which, as Clint reminds his kids, wasn’t actually at the Battle of New York) is a sly wink towards Hank Pym being a founding member of the Avengers in the comics.
It also works as a gentle parody of a real-life musical based off of a Marvel Comics property, Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark. Created by Julie Taymor (who also did the theatrical version of The Lion King) with songs by Bono and the Edge from U2, this Spider-Man musical became one of the most expensive and troubled productions in the history of Broadway. Six people were injured during rehearsals. The production ran into several delays and ran up a debt of $25 million. One of its leads suffered a concussion during the preview performance. Several parts were cut, and Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, who did previous work on the Spider-Man comics, was hired to completely rewrite the script. Even after all the revisions, including a new song, it still only had mixed reviews. And despite setting a box-office record for most ticket sales in a single week, Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark wound up being massive flop.
What makes the Rogers: The Musical scene even more hysterical is that a Captain America musical almost happened in the mid-1980s. Not only was the song book written, but the parts were all cast as well, with full-page ads in The New York Times requesting further casting calls for performers between the ages of 10 and 14. The only reason it never got off the ground was due to lack of funding.