There are valid reasons for why Marvel swapped out Janet Van Dyne and Hank Pym for Natasha Romanova and Clint Barton as founding members of the Avengers in the MCU. Especially for where Marvel’s collective head was back in 2008-2011, when they weren’t even sure there would be an Avengers to form. It required far less CGI (and thus less money), it fit better with the MCU conceit of the Avengers being a SHIELD-sponsored paramilitary unit instead of Team Treehouse living on Tony Stark’s dime, it avoided tipping the team too far into Science Geeks Plus Cap territory, Black Widow and Hawkeye had more currency, etc. These may not be the best reasons, the only reasons, or insurmountable reasons, but they’re valid reasons.
But Marvel is going to have to come up with perfect reasons to justify apparently fridging Janet in 2014 to give Hank a tragic past and Scott Lang an age-appropriate love interest.
They had options here, far more than they did in 2008 when this was all a pipe dream or in 2011 when they punched their golden ticket with The Avengers. The MCU has expanded greatly, both on Earth with Agents of SHIELD and out into space with Guardians of the Galaxy and there is plenty of room to fit Janet in. Janet’s tiny, she fits everywhere.
I think so. I haven’t read the book personally, at least I don’t think, but according to Wikipedia he had a 250-pound draw on his bow. The citation to go with this was typically, for comics, cryptic:
Gruenwald, Mark; Layton, Bob (1983). Till Death Do Us Part. Hawkeye 1 (4).
That ought to give you a start in looking. I’m no expert but as I understand it, 250lb draw on a bow is rifuckingdiculous.
A lot has been made of the fact that Clint, especially in the film, has really terrible form, but I think that’s pretty accurate — he learned from a carnie, for god’s sake. Imagine how good he’d be if he’d had proper training. 😀
Wasn’t it a plot point at one comic where some villain picked it up and was like ow ow ow fuck ow i can’t make this thing move ow
Yeah, it was the last bit in the last issue of the first Hawkeye four-part miniseries, the one where he meets Mockingbird. He’s used the sonic arrowhead to break them out of the villain’s deathtrap, and the villain is all like “never mind without your bow you’re still just a guy coz I am so villainous I shall kill you with your own weap-OW OW OW” – I think that’s also the bit wehre he mentions the poundage of the draw.
So I’m no expert (The draw on my bow is a pathetic 25lbs for the moment) but the experts at a panel I attended had a lot to say on the subject of draw strength. Apparently there were all of these historical references to English archers being able to fire longbows over a mile and the calculated draw strength necessary for that kind of distance was well over 100lbs, so most historians took it with a grain of salt and a health appreciation for the fact that the French had a reputation to uphold and it looked a lot better on them if they got their asses handed to them by guys who were just too damned far away to stick with a spear okay, geez!
It WAS, however, pretty well documented that it was required by law for all Englishmen to spend at least an hour a day practicing with their bow so you’ve got to imagine that there were some pretty epic arms on those dudes.
Well apparently they found a sunken English ship that just so happened to have a bunch of longbows packed into barrels so tightly that they were completely preserved from the salt water. A bunch of experts restrung a few with period accurate materials and tested the draw strength. I think the average was 130 something pounds (it’s been a year since I was at the panel) but the highest draw was over 200lbs and when they shot it, the arrow landed over a mile away. Thus it was proven that the English Longbowmen were badasses with biceps the size of watermelon and the French weren’t exaggerating for effect (This time at least, I can’t vouch for the rest of history.)
Anyway, bottom line is that a 200lb draw is WAY beyond the capabilities of the modern archer but not impossible, and given Clint’s dedication to his art and the fact that he’s been an archer since he was a child (About the age young English boys would start to learn, I imagine) and practiced religiously… He’d have to make his own bows, or have them specially made, but given his history as a fletcher it is hardly out of the realm of possibility that he would have such a high draw.
… And that is my two cents and half-assed history lesson for the day.
like please can we just talk about how sharon’s sidearm of choice is an FNP-45 Tactical
this is a huge fucking gun, okay, it’s built for serious use and re-use and is designed for high-volume usage, it’s not only exceptionally accurate it’s also BUILT FOR USE AS A HOME PROTECTIVE WEAPON, it’s got several features that allow for quick release of the safety (aka “cocked-and-locked” aka she can lock it down WITH A ROUND CHAMBERED for safety AND incredibly quick response times)
it’s not a “lady gun” it’s not a small-caliber weapon that’s easy to conceal it’s A SPORT WEAPON WITH A PINDOT SIGHT it’s meant for people who take pride in being a good shot and intend to defend themselves at all times. it’s HEAVY and HUGE and favored by people with who have substantial history and experience with firearms.
literally by her choice of sidearm (because there’s no way a gun like that is SHIELD-issue), Sharon presents herself as a pro-active person, front-facing and aggressive, willing and able to defend herself, educated and CAPABLE AND KNOWLEDGABLE.
give me all of the boss agent Sharon you have thanks
and when i first saw it i was like “aww Nat jumping into steve’s lap that’s so cute she’s like AHH STEVE SAVE ME” and then i was thinking ‘well she probably realized he’s way stronger than she is and could help shield her if they crashed’
but then i kept watching it and i noticed how she immediately pulls him forward
and first i thought it was the momentum of her jump but you can clearly see in the gif how she gets settled (quickly) THEN pulls him close to her
and then i realized
that is a bullet hole.
Nat somehow knew EXACTLY where Steve was gonna get shot at, jumped up into his seat, and saved him
Natasha Fucking Romanoff
!!!!!!!!!!!!
she didn’t just jump in the front just to save steve, tws shot at her first
she also pushed sam away from the bullet bc she knew he’s next
all of this in the span of 3 seconds how fast do u think her brain works i mean DAMN
hello, fanfiction writers! i’m making this post because i’ve seen some deaf clint barton stories going around, and there are a lot of misconceptions about hearing loss and hearing aids and all that jazz, so since i’m hard of hearing, i thought i’d bring up a few common misconceptions.
clint just reads everyone’s lips and understands exactly what people are saying. this is basically impossible. only 30% of spoken english can be lipread. for me, if i can hear your vowels and read your lips at the same time, i can typically get what you’re saying, but that’s not a guarantee. clint also wouldn’t be able to pick up lipreading overnight. that’s an acquired skill.
hearing aids! there are many different types of hearing aids, so make sure you do your research on those. there are BTE (behind the ear) hearing aids, which are the most common. then there are the RITE (receiver in the ear), CIC (completely in canal), ITC (in the canal), ITE (in the ear) hearing aids. even if you’re going to have tony stark whip up some cool state of the art hearing aids for clint, it’s helpful for you to know which style tony would be modeling these after. keep in mind that some hearing aids don’t have an off switch—the only ways to turn those hearing aids off are to take the batteries out, which you need to do every night while the hearing aids themselves chill in a dehumidifier overnight.
american sign language is just like spoken english. not true. american sign language is a complex language with its own grammar and syntax. make sure you research american sign language. watch videos, read books, learn as much as you can. you don’t have to learn the language, but familiarize yourself with it. you also can’t learn ASL overnight, so clint can’t just read a book on it and then be an expert the next day.
hearing aids fix everything and make his hearing normal. hearing aids do NOT fix everything. they HELP, they do not FIX. so even if clint wears hearing aids, his hearing will not be 100% perfect. he’ll still miss pieces of the conversation. he’ll still have to ask people to repeat themselves. not all the time, but it’ll still happen. he won’t magically become hearing because he’s wearing hearing aids. remember: they’re called hearing AIDS not hearing FIXES.
two days later, clint is back to shooting arrows perfectly. this isn’t true. when the inner ear suffers severe trauma, it freaks out. as a result of the traumatic way clint loses his hearing, he would have acute unilateral vestibulopathy. symptoms of this include: severe dizziness, nausea, blurry vision, everything moving around so his eyes would be darting about trying to make his vision be still, and possibly neck pain. his balance would be thrown way off whack, and he wouldn’t be able to walk very well after two days, let alone try to shoot a bow and arrow. typically, these symptoms last anywhere from a few weeks to a month, depending on the type of injury. but make sure you research this yourself, so you know more specific details! my really awesome friend gave me the information on this, so shoutout to her!
ok! i think i covered the most common misconceptions. if you have any further questions, and you feel comfortable asking me, go ahead! i am more than happy to answer any questions to the best of my abilities. i think it’s awesome that marvel is now incorporating a superhero that isn’t fully abled. it’s about time the rest of us got some representation. go forth, and write well!
This was really instructive and helpful. Thank you very much for enlightening us! 🙂
How hard he hits him though. He nearly knocks him off the chair he hits him so hard and Bucky’s head bounces on rebound. And Bucky isn’t even being defiant here, just stuck. He’s caught in his own thinking and isn’t really resisting, just not reacting. He’s still Winter Soldier here, but Winter Soldier trying to figure out what just happened with his day and we know he could stop Pierce mid swing if he really wanted. But he doesn’t, just sort of pulls himself back upright still clinging to the fact that SOMEHOW the Soldier knew him and can’t figure out why. The little bit of Bucky that’s left frantically trying to organize fragments of memory.
Pierce died too quick.
Here’s where it gets worse, though: a brief couple minutes later, Pierce tries to give him a speech. It’s a speech full of praise and glory.
And why would you bother? Because it works better, if all your violence comes with another option. It works better, conditioning, if you have a carrot and a stick. It works better if you are the font of all things good and make the frame so that the recipient thinks they deserve all things bad.
Now given where they’re keeping him, and everything else, let’s adjust this in perspective: “good” becomes not actually good. It becomes an absence of pain, of punishment. It becomes a positive word. It becomes the presence of another human being in a life of constant isolation and imprisonment.
You’ve heard this story before: He’s imprisoned and tortured and experimented on, until he hardly remembers his own name. And in the depths of his despair this blond man comes to him like an angel, like a halo, and says: Come with me. Come follow me. Come fight with me.
But this isn’t his true angel, because this time disobedience comes with fire and pain and freezing cold; and he never looks like the man the Winter Soldier keeps expecting to see. But Alexander Pierce is the closest thing that he remembers, so he’s the one the soldier obeys.
You could draw Kate and Clint trying to sign at each other and then settling for just flipping each other off.
And this sort of behavior, this right here, is why I fucking love this bar.
I’m imagining Clint asking for coffee by holding up a mug hopefully, and Kate communicating ‘Fuck your coffee’ by pointing at the coffee jug with her middle finger.
On a related note, home sign is really interesting and I think it’s neat that people from culturally similar backgrounds cobble together the same basic gestures and mimes to be able to have basic communication.
On a different but also related note, Australian sign language has a sign for ‘fuck youse, fuck all of youse’ (though I don’t know if it’s officially part of Aus sign language or if maybe it’s a home sign that’s recognised by Australians? Which I guess takes us back to HOME SIGN, INTERESTING RIGHT?).
I’m pretty sure everyone knows how to sign “Damn it Clint!”
They just all do it a little differently. (Cap just looks disappointed, but he actually learns ASL so he can communicate WHY he is disappointed.)
For those who need to see the Auslan for ‘Fuck you, fuck the lot of youse’, enjoy:
Agent Coulson’s suits are more than just clothing.
Aww, I miss his patterned shirts, though.
But I definitely appreciate the tailored look!
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: There were two previous attempts, and each one was missing something. But fans have adore your version of Bruce Banner. So what’s your feeling about what Hulk would need to have another stand-alone movie?
MARK RUFFALO: I understand the hesitation. It’s a particularly hard character to make a movie about because he doesn’t want to be there, generally. It’s hard to make a movie about a guy who doesn’t want to be there. And he doesn’t want to do the very thing that you want him to do.
Right. Which is Hulk-out …
So it gets a little frustrating as an audience, and there’s only so much of that. I think they set it up nicely now that Banner’s turning 46 years old, and there comes a point where it’s like “how much more running can I do for myself?”
How does getting older change Banner?
Whatever you hate about yourself or you don’t like, when you get to be 46 years old, you start to say “okay, no.” Obviously, you can never really get away from yourself, so you start to live with some of the things you think are so bad. And maybe they’re not that bad. Maybe those things are what you need to do whatever you were never able to accomplish.
So a solo Hulk film would be not about trying to rid himself of the Hulk, but coming to terms with it as a strength instead of a dangerous flaw?
I think that’s the ticket forward for Banner, to start to figure out where we go with him, to keep that story interesting. I think there’s a whole relationship with Banner and Hulk that needs to be discovered. There’s a very cool thing happening: Hulk is as afraid of Banner as Banner is afraid of Hulk.
That’s what we’ll see in Avengers: Age of Ultron and possibly going forward?
It’s in the comics. But because you haven’t really been able to get inside of Hulk’s head, because the [cinematic] technology wasn’t available to make it nuanced enough to do that, and now it is. So now I think there’s a way to do it. Both of these guys are obviously the same guy, and they have got to come to peace somehow with each other. And I think that this confrontation is building along the lines of this film.
I like that. I like that the thing that scares the fearsome Hulk is Banner — a puny human.
He’s terrified of him
Well, that’s when he goes away, isn’t it?
What makes Hulk afraid? It’s himself. It’s a version of himself that’s weak. It’s a version of himself that’s vulnerable. It’s a child inside of him. It’s very interesting, and I’m stumbling on this. And I don’t know if this is where the next version will go. But if it is in the cards that we’re doing the next version of this, I see some fertile ground there.
Sounds like you’ve been giving it a lot of consideration.
I’ve been mulling this over now for a few years. And I haven’t pushed for it because I honestly didn’t know what hadn’t been done. And this time, there’s an interesting confrontation on the horizon between these two.
They’re fighting over the same body. Who lives and who disappears.
It’s existence. They’re fighting over existence, you know?
knitting in the dark 
