This Hawkeye Theory Suggests Kate’s Mom Is More Important Than She Seems

Hawkeye’s first two episodes introduced a variety of villains and antagonists for Clint Barton and Kate Bishop to face down. There’s the Tracksuit Mafia, a gang of vaguely incompetent idiots who are trying to chase down Ronin. There’s the nameless Russian gang chasing the Avengers watch. There’s Echo and Kazi, who fans only got to see glimpses of so far, and Yelena, who hasn’t turned up yet. And there’s Jacques Duquesne, a secretly accomplished swordsman, who Kate doesn’t trust. But is Kate missing the bigger picture? Could her own mother, Eleanor, be a Hawkeye villain?

Warning: Spoilers for Hawkeye Episodes 1 and 2 follow. The assumption from the beginning is that Kate Bishop’s life was relatively normal until the Battle of New York in 2012, when her father passed away. Although the series doesn’t devote a lot of time to it, fans are given a sense that the family had been just Kate and her mom since then, with Kate getting into trouble and Eleanor opening her checkbook to get her out of it. When Kate comes home from college for the holidays and discovers Jacques has moved in with her mom, her first response is to be suspicious of him. Moreover, her hackles are raised by his uncle, Armand Duquesne III, and his disapproving opinion of her mother.

Kate’s position as the heroine of the story means fans assume her point of view is the correct one. But other than attending a secret auction and buying Ronin’s sword out from under his nephew as a power move, nothing proves Armand III is more than a jerk. Moreover, looking closer at Eleanor’s behavior suggests perhaps Armand wariness of Jacques’ fiancée was warranted.

For example, at the start of the series, Kate overheard her parents arguing about money. Eleanor is concerned they cannot continue to afford their current lifestyle; Kate’s father assumes money will turn up, or as Eleanor puts it, fall out of the sky. Clearly, money does turn up — not only is there an elaborate funeral for Kate’s father, but also, fast-forward to present day, and it’s clear they’ve fixed up the penthouse, and Eleanor continues to have the funds to pay Kate’s way out of trouble. Where did that money come from? One may assume it indeed fell out of the sky — when falling stones from the Battle of New York offed Kate’s father, likely triggering his life insurance and giving Eleanor control of Bishop Security.

Convenient, if true.

Aside from that speculation, there’s the argument between Eleanor and Armand that Kate overheard later in Episode 1. An innocent person who is not used to facing down rich old men with massive amounts of money would likely be shaken, upset, and distressed at Armand’s harsh words. But Eleanor was not only cool as a cucumber, but also, she seemed irritated at Kate for being alarmed by what she heard. And then Armand turned up murdered, which means Eleanor’s fiancé, Jacques, will inherit his entire fortune. That’s two men conveniently removed for Eleanor’s financial benefit — three, if Jacques gets blamed for the crime after they are married. He’ll head to jail, and she’ll be left with a massive fortune.

Perhaps Kate should be asking more questions closer to home as Hawkeye continues with new episodes every Wednesday on Disney+.