The holiday season of 2021 is looking pretty promising, after all, it's not 2020 anymore. More than that though, we are barreling full speed ahead towards December 17th's Spider-Man: No Way Home but before that, we get some cranberry sauce in the form of Hawkeye. Additionally, we also get an early stocking stuffer in a new Avenger, Kate Bishop. First appearing in issue #1 of Young Avengers published in 2005, Kate has already had a meaningful stent in the comics. While not as tenured as some of the older characters that have been around since the '60's,she may just be the perfect fit for what a lot of MCU scholars believe Disney is up too next.

Comic Book 101: The Black Knight, my previous entry in this series mentioned that Disney's MCM (multiverse now, not universe, remember) was making no secret about assembling The Thunderbolts team (yes there will be a 101 on them when the time is right), but they are also not being shy about the creation of a second team also being assembled in plain sight, The Young Avengers. This is how and where Kate will eventually make her mark in the MCM and it gets started with the new Hawkeye series Thanksgiving eve.

The daughter of a rich Manhattan publishing guru, she is a heroine at heart and hasn't stepped away from danger ever since she started her short crimefighting career. She was kidnapped and rescued by The Avengers, where she showed much admiration towards Clint Barton, aka, Hawkeye. She thought it was cool that he had no super powers to speak of, but relied on pure skill. She found herself in trouble again at her sister's wedding. This time the Young Avengers show up to save the da... I mean start a fire.

That's right, they flubbed up, but have no fear for Kate...is here? She saved the day and righted the screw up using one of the Young Avengers weapons to her advantage. After this she and her friend Cassie Lang (sound familiar?) invite themselves to join the team. Iron Man and Captain America disband the young group and refuse to train them further. She uses her connections to set up shop in one of her fathers old warehouses, and continues the teams training there. It's worth noting that during this particular story arc, Clint Barton is dead, having died in Avengers #502.

Kate's introduction at this time in the MCM is actually pretty good timing. While she has had a couple very important storylines such as Civil War, she really hit her stride when she was called into action against Kang the Conqueror. Are we noticing a theme? Dane Whitman, Kate Bishop, the events of Loki and Spider-Man: No Way Home?

Disney and Marvel are full speed ahead towards Kang and they don't care who knows it. They are refurbishing older characters like Sam Wilson's Captain America and assembling the new characters like Dane Whitman and Kate Bishop getting them ready for an Avengers level threat of time traveling proportions. She helped defeat Kang using a variety of weapons from past Avengers such as Mockingbird, Swordsman, and you guessed it...Hawkeye. She also is involved in the Secret Invasion storyline, which should ring a bell as that series will be coming soon on Disney +.

As we get ready for the show's premier and the subsequent episode on November 24th (that's right, we are getting two episodes if you haven't heard. Thanks Book of Bobba Fett) it's exciting to see how they will use her short history to adapt it to the current events of the MCM based on their needs. We also have Vincent D'Onofrio out there fanning the flames of the fans passions teasing that he may be reprising Kingpin, his amazing role from the Netflix Defendersverse. The next phases of this wide multiverse are wasting no time in ramping up, and we get our next course right before we enjoy the turkey. What are you most looking forward to about Hawkeye? Drop a comment below. Until next time, class dismissed.