Hawkeye: What’s hidden in plain sight in episode 2

How Clint really lost his hearing

The first episode revealed that Clint, like his comic book counterpart, is now partially deaf. “Hide and Seek” reveals how this happened. As Kate asks him how he lost his hearing in his left ear, we see a quick succession of flashbacks to all those times Hawkeye knocked around during his Avengers career. The images in question are:

• Loki firing a blast of energy from his scepter in Avengers.
• Clint getting hit by a stray blast from a Hydra soldier in Avengers: Age of Ultron.
• Clint crashing through a window after swinging down from the top of a building with his grappling arrow in Avengers.
• Thanos’ ship, the Sanctuary II, destroying the Avengers compound, followed by a shot of Clint, trapped in the wreckage, regaining his bearings, both from Avengers: Endgame.

Following this, Clint answers Kate by saying, “Too hard to tell.” It’s a throwaway gag line, but, at the same time, he’s telling her the truth. Just like rock stars, construction workers, and soldiers, it’s usually not just one instance that makes a person lose their hearing, but years of being subjected to loud, high decibel noises. It also serves to remind the audience that, despite his skills, Hawkeye is still very much a regular human being.

In contrast, the comics give a much more specific origin for Clint’s hearing loss. During the Hawkeye four-part limited series, Clint and fellow West Coast Avenger, Bobbi Morse/Mockingbird, were abducted by a supervillain named Crossfire. Using a brainwashing machine he dubbed “the Undertaker Machine,” he forced the two of them to fight one another. However, unbeknownst to Crossfire, Clint activated and held the tip of one of his sonic arrows to counteract the effects and harmlessly disable Mockingbird. Although his plan worked, it also cost him 80 percent of his hearing. Mockingbird was the one who got him his hearing aid, and the two of them became a couple afterwards.

Also, Hawkeye didn’t stay deaf permanently. After he seemingly died and was returned along with other Avengers during Heroes Reborn, Franklin Richards, the telepathic son of Reed Richards and Susan Richards of the Fantastic Four, restored his hearing. However, Clint would lose his hearing yet again when fighting a villain known as The Clown during Matt Fraction and David Aja’s run on Hawkeye. This time around, it was Tony Stark who gave Clint some new hearing aids.