Introduced as a villain in 1964's Tales of Suspense #54 by writer Stan Lee and artist Don Heck, the purple-suited archer known as Hawkeye has been a long-time member of the superhero team The Avengers for decades and has certainly left his mark on the team both in the comics and on the big screen.
From turning Black Widow to the side of the Avengers in the pages of The Avengers #111 in 1973, to sacrificing his life to stopping a fake Kree invasion conjured up by the Scarlett Witch in 2004's Avengers Disassembled, to being revived by the Scarlett Witch at the end of the storyline House of M one year later so that he can do it all again, to getting his Disney+ series bearing his name in 2021, Hawkeye has been through a lot.
Naturally, a character with such a long and varied history has seen his fair share of changes over the years. One of the most notable is that the character has shifted around to different superhero teams over the years for one reason or another. What most non-comic book readers probably don't know, however, is that this sort of change has happened so often with Hawkeye that it has become a running joke with comic fans that the character is literally on every single Marvel superhero team.
Indeed, the character of Hawkeye has been on so many superhero teams over the decades that it is very easy to believe that he has been on every single superhero team, and that is just in the comics. With the debut of the character's self-titled Disney+ series in November 2021 centering on his relationship with the character Kate Bishop, who later on in the comics takes on the mantle of Hawkeye herself, it is certainly plausible that Disney is setting the archer up to be on just as many teams. However, whether this will happen is an entirely different matter altogether, as there are many notable differences between comic books and the big screen.
How Many Superhero Teams Has Hawkeye Been On?
When asked the question "Exactly how many teams is Hawkeye even on?" most comic book fans will jokingly say that he is literally on every single team in the Marvel universe. This is, strictly speaking, untrue. None of the characters to carry the mantle of Hawkeye have ever been mutants, so while he may be allied with them, Hawkeye has never been part of the X-men or any of their affiliated teams.
He has, however, been part of many, many other superhero teams where being a mutant or having any superpowers of any kind is not a requirement to join. Some examples of this include the original Avengers team, the New Avengers, the Secret Avengers, the West Coast Avengers (a team that he founded), the Great Lakes Avengers, the Avengers Academy, the spy agency S.H.I.E.L.D. (in the movies and the Ultimate universe, Clint Barton was a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent before he became an Avenger), the Defenders, and the World Counter-Terrorism Agency. He was even a member of the Thunderbolts, a team of supervillains pretending to be superheroes for their own personal gain.
With so many team affiliations under the character's belt, it's easy to see why long-time comic book fans would joke that he is on literally every single team.
Will Hawkeye Be On Every Team in the MCU?
Realistically speaking, one cannot talk about the character Hawkeye being on every single team in the Marvel Cinematic Universe without taking into account the actor who plays him, Jeremy Renner. While the 2021 Hawkeye series saw the introduction of Hailee Steinfeld's portrayal of Kate Bishop, who also becomes Hawkeye, Renner is the one who portrays Clint Barton, the original Hawkeye and the one who in the comics is supposedly on every team. As disappointing as it may be for some comic book fans, while the character can be recast by a different actor, even if he would like to, Renner cannot keep playing Hawkeye forever.
There is another side to this coin, however. Disney and the Marvel Cinematic Universe have done an amazing job in the past playing with people's expectations and keeping both long-time comic book fans and casual fans on their toes. In particular, they have consistently looked at the comic book source material as a source of inspiration rather than something to adapt directly. After all, in the comics, the original Avengers team consisted of Iron Man, Thor, The Incredible Hulk, Ant-Man, and The Wasp. Yet, the Marvel Cinematic Universe version of the original Avengers is vastly different. So while Jeremy Renner's Hawkeye may not be able to be on every single superhero team in person, maybe he can be in spirit.
Perhaps he could join the upcoming New Avengers team while Kate Bishop goes off and joins the Young Avengers. If the Marvel Cinematic Universe introduces the Thunderbolts, they can have another, more villainous character take on the Hawkeye mantle (such as Bullseye, who did so in the comics). So could Hawkeye be on every single Marvel Cinematic Universe team? Possibly, but not in the way most people would expect.