haforcere:

1. Clint is an unreliable narrator.

I think Clint bullshits himself a lot, and will tell himself one thing, even while acting out another. “What’s it to me?”, or “This is isn’t my problem,” for instance, even while going to huge lengths. I think this is especially true for situations that involve letting his emotional guard down, even to himself.

I think his thoughts have to come through his actions, so a Clint-POV driven narrative is hard, because he’s often telling himself things that are complete and utter crapola.

So, even in other POVs, with Clint it’s actions, not words.

Steve is the pep talk guy. Clint is the foot-in-mouth guy who is, as Fraction says, “Genuinely good. He’s the guy who will help you move your couch in the rain.”

2. Clint is good, and selfless, and brave, but doesn’t know it.

Clint’s the guy who became a good guy, through no supporting circumstance (uncle killed by criminal to put him on the straight and narrow, witnessing death by weapons he’d built, etc), but just because he wanted to be good.

I think Clint acts for others—his motivation is someone needs him, or needs him to do a thing, rather than self interest—and if something needs to be done, Clint will do it, and he won’t think about if or how it’s bad for him, or how he might get hurt.

But he’s still always trying to play catch-up to a bar of heroism that he’s already reached. Also because he’s probably internalized a lot of bad messages he’s heard about himself. I think in a lot of ways Clint is one of the most worthy Avenger, but he probably hears a lot that he’s the least.

3. Hurt is normal.

I don’t think Clint angsts too much. Sometimes, you need that moment of, “Look at these things I have done,” but I think a lot of the time, Clint expects things to come out badly, so he’s not shocked or upset when they do. Like that saying, “pessimists can only be pleasantly surprised,” I think Clint’s the guy who’s (seemingly inappropriately) cheerful when things go kinda wrong, because you guys. I thought it would be so much worse.

This also goes for relationships. I think Clint’s surprised when it doesn’t go bad, when he doesn’t get kicked out of the Avengers for his latest mess-up, when Cap says something to praise him. I think those mean a lot to Clint, because he doesn’t really expect them.

Also, sort of related to 1. I think he’s running constant damage control, engaging in negative self-talk to downplay emotions/attachments in case he loses them, even though he’s already totally attached, which I think results in a kind of unacknowledged loneliness and lone wolf type behaviour.

4. Clint is funny, and weird.

Clint isn’t sad. Sad things happen to Clint. I think he’s a guy who jokes in bad situations, especially if they’re his own. In this way, I think he’s a lot like Tony, but I think the tone and reason behind his humor is different.

I think he’s crankier than Tony’s happy-go-lucky randomness front, but also amusingly awkward. Probably from Clint’s POV, it’s not that amusing. Probably, Clint is like, “God, act normal, Barton. Just act normal. Goddamit,” but externally, I think he’s probably pretty entertaining.

I think he also probably has weird knowledge. Like the kind of thing, where people go, “What?” and all you can say is something like, “HEY. I JUST KNOW STUFF, OK?

You’re oddly socialized, Barton. It’s ok.

5. Clint acts on emotion.

Which is good, because he’s always telling himself bullshit, but bad because it means he’s always acting on un-thought out impulse and is always instantly in over his head, because it’s emotional investment that made him act in the first place.

Also, I think Clint has a lot of emotions and he doesn’t understand most of them. I think that could make him easy to manipulate, if someone knows the strings to pull.