The first two episodes of Marvel Studios’ Hawkeye are here! It catches back up with Jeremy Renner’s Avenger following the events of Endgame, but who is the main villain for him to battle? The first two episodes are out now and play their cards close to their chest. As such, we dig into all the clues and Easter eggs to unpack who the Hawkeye TV show’s main bad guy will be.
Who is the Hawkeye TV show’s main villain?
While we don’t know for certain who the Hawkeye main villain will be, there are some candidates following the first two episodes.
“Swordsman” Jack Duquesne
First is Jack Duquesne, played by Better Call Saul’s Tony Dalton. He’s portrayed as a secretive stepfather to Kate Bishop. Equally, he seems to be proficient in sword combat, and is supposedly linked to the murder of his uncle, Armand Duquesne III. In the comics, Jack Duquesne takes on the mantle of Swordsman. He was initially Hawkeye’s mentor, before turning to a life of crime and becoming a foil to the Avengers. We don’t yet know if the Hawkeye show will follow this path, but he certainly appears to be a threatening presence.
Yelena Belova
Secondly, you can expect Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova to be a main villain. As teased in the Black Widow post-credits scene, she believes that Clint Barton killed her former teammate, Natasha Romanoff. As such, she’s on a quest for vengeance, believing that killing Clint will bring balance after her sister-figure’s death.
Kingpin
Lastly, a more speculative main villain is the return of the Kingpin. He was previously played by Vincent D’Onofrio in the Daredevil Netflix show, and hasn’t appeared since. However, the introduction of Echo in Hawkeye episode 2 could be a teaser. In the comics, Echo is Kingpin’s step-daughter, which paves the way for an appearance. Equally, D’Onofrio tweeted this prior to the show’s release, certainly teasing Marvel fans:
This is going to be fun. I love these @Marvel series. https://t.co/6jN9FCwIkp
— Vincent D'Onofrio (@vincentdonofrio) November 17, 2021
We’ll have to wait and see, but there’s certainly room for plenty of villains in Hawkeye. Check out our post-credits and ending explained for both episode 1 and episode 2.
