SPOILER ALERT: Warning, this article contains spoilers from Avengers: Infinity War. Proceed at your own risk.
Anticipation for Avengers: Infinity War has been building for months, as new trailers and cast photos have slowly been rolled out. But throughout all the promotion for the film, there’s been one question on everybody’s lips — where is Hawkeye?
The hero was nowhere to be found on the movie poster, which managed to fit a gargantuan amount of Marvel characters into the artwork. And he didn’t pop up in any of the trailers either.
Was his role in Infinity War being kept a secret? Or is it possible that one of the original Avengers simply doesn’t appear in such a monumental film?
Well unfortunately for Hawkeye fans, it is officially the latter. Clint Barton is not in Avengers: Infinity War.
So Where Is He?
We last saw Hawkeye in Captain America: Civil War, where he was locked up in prison with Wanda, Ant-Man, and The Falcon for siding with Captain America against the Sokovia Accords. Cap broke the team out at the end of the film, and they were all forced to go on the run.
But when Captain America, Black Widow, and Falcon pop up in Infinity War, neither Hawkeye nor Ant-Man is with them. Cap explains that both of those heroes are currently under house arrest and that is the first and last time we hear about them.
House arrest. House arrest?! Hawkeye can help the Avengers destroy murderous aliens but he can’t get out of his own home to help his team bring down Thanos in order to save the entire universe?
The Russo brothers have responded to the internet’s hunt for Hawkeye in the past, asking fans to be patient and promising that the story they are cooking up for him is a bit of a long play. But whatever that story is, it wasn’t told in Infinity War.
On the bright side, this means he didn’t die in the film. (We can’t say the same for a few of our other favorite characters.) So at least this frees Hawkeye and Ant-Man up to return for Avengers 4. But for Infinity War, you’ll just have to watch the other three dozen Marvel characters face off against the Mad Titan.
