The following article contains mild spoilers for Hawkeye episodes.Marvel Studios’Hawkeyehas completed its six-episode run and left behind a legacy, a new character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and a whole lot of Christmas cheer. Hailee Steinfeld’s Kate Bishop is a fantastic addition to the MCU and it will be fun to watch her potentially fight alongside the Avengers in the future. But, what stood out the most was the MCU’s best new pairing, and it isn’t what fans expected.
The Disney Plus seriesHawkeyewas meant to pair Bishop withJeremy Renner’s Clint Barton, the two ace archers uniting to fight crime in their city. While the two are great together, and share an interesting camaraderie, they don’t end up being the real highlight of the series. Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova steals the show, and her chemistry with Steinfeld’s Bishop is tremendous.
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From the moment thatPugh’s Yelena is introduced onHawkeye, fans know that she will share a unique bond with Bishop. Towards the end of the fourth episode, Yelena arrives to achieve her one true purpose - kill Barton. The scene includes some of the MCU’s best-directed action, as Yelena and Barton fight each other. But even though it is the two of them involved in the confrontation, Yelena’s first interaction with Bishop is quite memorable.
With absolutely no dialogues in the scene, Pugh works brilliantly to express Yelena’s emotions through her expressions. When unmasked, Yelena faces Bishop, who points her bow and arrow in her direction. A simple gesture, the head shake, is enough to get her point across, and Bishop doesn’t shoot. That moment is enough for fans to realize that the two characters are meant for greatness together.
The next time that the two meet is whenYelena shows up at Bishop’s apartment, which is burnt down during Bishop’s confrontation with the Tracksuit Mafia, for an impromptu dinner meeting. Their chemistry in the scene is phenomenal, and their banter and playful rivalry was a lot of fun to watch. Yelena reveals that she had to wait quite a while for Bishop to arrive, so she decided to cook a bowl of instant macaroni and cheese. As she douses her dinner with hot sauce and talks about visiting tourist spots in New York, the duo seals their fate as the MCU’s best new pairing.
Not only does the scene reveal to Bishop that Yelena is in fact Natasha Romanoff’s sister, it works wonderfully towards their character development. Bishop has only idolized Barton up until that moment, and Yelena works as the perfect reality check. It becomes necessary for Bishop to realize the sacrifices that the heroes have to make as part of their journey, and what better way to do so than to learn that her role model could have been responsible for the death of his best friend.
It becomes obvious during that scene that while the two can share jokes and stress-inducing wordplay,Yelena and Bishop’s relationshipin the future holds a lot more significance. That scene alone promises a lot of great moments between the two moving forward. It gives fans hope of seeing more of Romanoff’s sister and Barton’s protege in future MCU projects and possibly even working together.
TheHawkeyefinaleonly adds more charm to the chemistry that the two characters share. The minute they both step into the elevator together, fans know that a great scene will follow, and they are absolutely right. The next few minutes of the episode result in some great banter between the two, and it almost seems like a sibling duo fighting over the last slice of pizza.
The way that Yelena slaps Bishop’s hand every time she tries to push the elevator’s buttons is something thatanyone with a sibling can relate to. When Bishop turns around and accidentally slaps Yelena, it is bound to get a laugh from the viewers. Their fight scene that follows is filmed really well, and even though the two are wrestling, their methods are almost childish, which only makes fans appreciate their pairing even more.
Even when Bishop manages to stop Yelena, she compliments her foe for having “good form.” It’s almost like she cannot be rude towards Bishop because their bond has already been established. “Stop making me like you,” says Bishop, which is a clear indication that the two will never truly be enemies.
After seeingRomanoff and Yelena together inBlack Widow, fans were saddened to see Pugh’s character dealing with her loss. The chemistry that the sisters shared in the film was crackling, and any moment that they are together is an enjoyable one for fans. From the moment they meet, and fight, to the helicopter scene and constant banter throughout the film, their relationship was an endearing one.
Yelena constantly makes fun of her sister for not being “one of the big” Avengers, and jokes about her hair-flipping stance, which is the character’s signature move. Her character was established as a loveable one inBlack Widow, and immediately joined the list of fan favorites. But, at the point of her introduction, fans were alreadyaware of Romanoff’s fateand were prepared for Yelena’s impending loss. It seems like they got very little time together, a fact that Yelena notes in theHawkeyefinale as well.
However, watching Yelena’s interactions withBishop onHawkeyealmost make it seem like the latter could fill the void in Yelena’s life. Perhaps Bishop could step into the sister role that Yelena lost with Romanoff. They already fight like siblings, and seem to understand each other’s jokes, so it wouldn’t be surprising to see them become the next sibling duo in the MCU, and fans wouldn’t even complain about it.
Hawkeyeis streaming on Disney Plus.
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