Six years after her debut in Avengers: Age of Ultron, Hawkeye has finally delved deeper into the backstory of Clint Barton’s wife, Laura.
Up until now, Laura has no other identity beyond Clint’s wife, however, in episode 4 of the series Laura’s interest in a certain Rolex watch, and her multilingual capabilities, hinted at there being a lot more to Laura Barton than meets the eye. Both Laura and Clint’s urgency in retrieving that watch was more than enough for viewers to ponder just who Laura Barton might really be. And that someone is Mockingbird.
Mockingbird, a.k.a. Agent 19, a.k.a. Barbara “Bobbi” Morse is a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent who at one point was married to Hawkeye Clint Barton. (They do eventually get divorced, but hopefully, that plot point never comes to pass here in the MCU.)
Mockingbird is an expert spy, scientist, marksman, pilot, and skilled in hand-to-hand combat to name a few of her skillsets. She’s everything you’d expect one of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s top agents to be. Clint and Bobbi fall in love on the job, a job that eventually tears them apart, and I expect that their history is much the same here in the MCU, except this time Laura gets out before their marriage is doomed. Mockingbird has a rich history in the comics with the Avengers and beyond, with her being one of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s very best. She also has a very charismatic way of taunting her adversaries, which is something I’d love to see Linda Cardellini take on.
Episode 6 fully confirmed that the secret-wielding Rolex watch is indeed Laura Barton’s, the S.H.I.E.L.D. logo with 19 written below it on the backside cementing Laura’s past as S.H.I.E.L.D.’s Agent 19. Laura’s position as Agent 19 has again brought up the discussion of whether or not Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is MCU canon, however, the authors of the recently released The Story of Marvel Studios: The Making of the Marvel Cinematic Universe have confirmed that AoS is considered outside of canon in regards to the MCU.
So, is Laura Barton actually Mockingbird? We’re still not quite sure, but signs point to yes. She certainly has a history with S.H.I.E.L.D., and secrets to keep. If one thing is certain, it doesn’t appear that the Bartons’ final appearances have come to pass with the finale of Hawkeye. There’s still more to uncover about Clint, Laura, and both of their histories as agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
All six episodes of Hawkeye are available to stream exclusively on Disney+. Catch up on all of our series coverage, including episodic recaps and more.
