At the time “The Avengers” released, keeping comic book costumes accurate for their adaptation into live-action wasn’t a priority. Thus, fans saw such sights as the traditionally colorfully-clad X-Men running around in black leather. While the likes of Iron Man and Captain America weren’t too adversely affected by this trend, Hawkeye certainly was. In the pages of Marvel Comics, Clint Barton is known for his vibrant purple and blue suit with an over-the-top purple helmet. In Ryan Meinerding’s artwork, there isn’t even a hint of his classic attire, with neither a helmet nor a dash of color to be seen.
To somewhat honor the source material, Hawkeye’s final “Avengers” suit at least has a dash of dark purple to it, which isn’t much, but it’s better than giving him a generic all-black military look. Thankfully, it seems that Marvel Studios has finally come around on giving Clint a good, comic-inspired costume. On the Disney+ series “Hawkeye,” his protégé, Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld), whips the two of them up some matching purple and black outfits. In fact, their new duds look like they were pulled straight from Matt Fraction and David Aja’s “Hawkeye: My Life as a Weapon” story.
From concept art to his self-titled Disney+ series, Hawkeye has come a long way in the MCU, not only in terms of his arc but his costuming, too. All we can hope for now is that we’ll see some form of his gaudy yet iconic mask down the road.
