A major addition to the MCU is close to coming together—but it’ll be for the small screen first. Per Variety, Oscar-nominated actress Hailee Steinfeld has been offered a lead role in Marvel Studios’ upcoming Disney+ series Hawkeye, in which she would play the protege of Jeremy Renner’s titular character, a woman named Kate Bishop. In the comics, Bishop takes up the Hawkeye mantle after Clint Barton and becomes part of a group known as the Young Avengers.
Hawkeye will co-star Renner and will revolve around the relationship between Clint and Kate, with the assumption being that by the end of the show, Kate will be the new Hawkeye and thus could cross over into the feature films. Indeed, in contrast to the Marvel Netflix shows like Daredevil or Marvel ABC shows like Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., the Marvel Disney+ shows are being produced by Kevin Feige’s Marvel Studios and are being plotted out as an integral piece of the cohesive MCU puzzle. Crossing the characters over into the movies (and vice versa) is part of the plan from the beginning.
Steinfeld is actually set to make a buzzy streaming debut later this year as Emily Dickinson in the Apple+ series Dickinson, which puts a bit of a modern/hip spin on the life of the famous 19th century poet. On the big screen she most recently starred in Bumblebee, which was meant to revitalize the Transformers franchise but underperformed at the box office. Nevertheless, Steinfeld remains a gifted performer and earned critical raves for her starring role in the 2016 coming-of-age dramedy The Edge of Seventeen, and one imagines she’d make a sharp-witted addition to the MCU.
Variety says only that Steinfeld has been offered the role in Hawkeye, not that she’s accepted, so it’s possible this casting doesn’t pan out. But clearly Marvel is aiming just as high in casting these Disney+ shows as it is in casting new heroes for the Marvel movies. Hawkeye most recently set Mad Men alum Jonathan Igla as the writer and executive producer of the Disney+ series, but the show isn’t set to debut on the streaming service until 2021.
Marvel is looking at Disney+ as a new, essential arm for presenting longform Marvel Cinematic Universe stories. Tom Hiddleston is reprising his role as Loki in the six-episode Loki, which picks up with the character after he disappeared in Avengers: Endgame, and the Elizabeth Olsen/Paul Bettany-fronted WandaVision is being touted as an essential story prequel to the feature film Doctor Strange 2, in which Olsen will co-star. So it’s reasonable to assume that if Steinfeld signs on to Hawkeye, her character will make serious crossovers into the film universe.
Again, this isn’t confirmed just yet, but stay tuned. Endgame may be been a genuine conclusion to the MCU that came before, but Feige and Co. are clearly very busy setting the table for a new era going forward.
For a full list of all the shows and movies coming to Disney+, click here.
