Characters / Mockingbird (Marvel Comics)

Title Character

Mockingbird

Mockingbird

She may be a scientist, but she can kick your ass just as good as Cap and Tony can.

Alter Ego: Dr. Barbara Morse

Notable Aliases: Agent 19, Huntress, Bobbi Van Dyne

Team Affiliations: S.H.I.E.L.D., West Coast Avengers, Great Lakes Avengers, Secret Avengers, Force Works

First Appearance: Astonishing Tales (Vol 1) #6 (June, 1971)

"When I was a kid, I did everything I could to get super-powers. I wanted to be a hero. I wanted to be Captain America. Sometimes I fall short."

Mockingbird. Avenger. Secret Agent. Badass. Biochemist. You name any type of female superhero, chances are she has been it once.

Bobbi Morse was once a talented biochemistry major earning her PhD at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Her professor, Dr. Calvin, turned out to be part of a S.H.I.E.L.D. sponsored project called Project Gladiator, one of many failed attempts to recreate the Super Soldier serum that created Captain America. Suspecting the project had been compromised by A.I.M., Dr. Calvin recruited Bobbi into S.H.I.E.L.D. to help find the saboteur. Operating under the codename Agent 19, Bobbi had several adventures in the Savage Land before deciding to go “private sector.”

She first used the codename 'Huntress' in Marvel Super Action #1 (January, 1976), but that was a one-shot. She next appeared as 'Mockingbird' in Marvel Team-Up #95 (July, 1980). She was reportedly given the nickname 'Mockingbird' for her penchant to insult, or 'mock', opponents while fighting.

After becoming a freelance agent, Bobbi met Clint Barton, AKA the then-former Avenger Hawkeye, who was working as a security agent for Cross Tech Enterprises. The company he worked for was secretly corrupt, and with Clint's help Bobbi took down Crossfire, the company's enforcer, and the two decided that, since they had natural chemistry, to skip the dating process and just get married. Bobbi joined Clint as a founding member of the West Coast Avengers, or WCA, and the two enjoyed a happy relationship.

Then, on a mission through time, Bobbi was hit with a love potion by the recently gone insane Phantom Rider, who believed Bobbi was destined to belong to him. After he had already consummated their 'relationship' with her, Bobbi came back to her senses and, traumatized by the ordeal, allowed Phantom Rider to die by falling from a cliff. She kept the truth to herself until Phantom Rider's spirit caught up with her and Clint in the present and the knowledge that Bobbi had killed someone put a great strain on their relationship. Unable to get past his hangups on killing, the two began to divorce...

...Until they worked past their problems and rebuilt their relationship...

...And then she died.

However, as luck would have it, it turned out that Bobbi had been replaced by a Skrull imposter years ago and the Bobbi that died wasn't the real Bobbi, but a sleeper agent who thought she was the real deal. Bobbi spent the time on the Skrull homeworld, being tortured by a Hawkeye-disguised Skrull, until she killed them, infiltrated the Skrulls, and basically kicked a load of alien ass until she was freed and returned to Earth.

With her marriage to Clint over, the two decided to reunite their relationship, only for it to end when Clint and Bobbi realized that her lifestyle and his are too conflicting. During this time, she made her own spy agency, the World Counter-terrorism Agency (WCA), and joined the New Avengers, got some powers, and continued kicking a variety of ass. She later joined the Secret Avengers in its 2013 Marvel NOW! relaunch, though left when it was relaunched again.

She has since returned to S.H.I.E.L.D., gained genuine superhuman strength thanks to a modified version of the Super Soldier Serum, and formed Genius In Action Research Labs (G.I.R.L.) with Nadia Van Dyne.

Following a one-shot commemorating the 50th anniversary of SHIELD in 2015, it was announced she'll be getting her first ongoing series as a headliner, as part of the All-New, All-Different Marvel initiative. Written by Chelsea Cain and art by Kate Niemczyk, the book follows Bobbi as she deals with her newfound status as a super-soldier, and the medical issues that come with such a change. She'll also be a regular character in the new Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. ongoing title.

Bobbi also got a cameo in one of the Micro-Episode prologues for The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, then later a full guest episode as Mockingbird. She returned in the second season as a supporting character during the Skrull Secret Invasion Storyline.

At one point, it was announced Bobbi would headline a live-action TV series — Jeph Loeb described the project as depicting a post-college Bobbi recruited by S.H.I.E.L.D. as she evolves into the character from the comics, ala Smallville— but it never moved past the development stage.

Bobbi ultimately did make her live-action debut in 2014, when she joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe during season two of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. — played there by Adrianne Palicki. Originally a recurring role, Palicki was upped to regular status for the back half of that second season. A Spinoff featuring Bobbi and Lance Hunter, her MCU love interest, was announced to be in the works for a 2015-2016 debut. Called Marvel's Most Wanted, Bobbi and Hunter would be forced to leave S.H.I.E.L.D. and team-up with Dominic Fortune after they're framed for some unknown crime that makes them public enemies. A Most Wanted pilot was shot but plans for the full series unfortunately fell through... after Bobbi and Hunter had been written out of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., ending Bobbi's MCU presence prematurely. Making things more complicated is the series finale of Hawkeye, where Laura Barton is revealed to have been the canonical MCU version of Agent 19.

On the video game front, she was winnable as the first limited time Special Operations hero in Marvel: Avengers Alliance, and is now available if you can get enough SHIELD points. She's also featured in Marvel Future Fight, with both her 2000s outfit and her MCU outfit available.

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• Aborted Arc: Multiple ones after the cancellation of Hawkeye & Mockingbird.
  • Nothing has been heard of her mother, brother, or what happened to her father (which her mother was about to tell her before she was shot) since Hawkeye & Mockingbird. The World Counter-terrorism Agency, which Bobbi created and led has vanished; writer Jim McCann had plans for the team, had the book continued. Dominic Fortune, who took the super soldier serum Bobbi created vanished, despite last being seen soon after Bobbi noted that he had blood on his lungs and that she would try to help. The biggest one is probably how Widowmaker hinted that Clint and Bobbi would possibly get back together, but nothing ever came of it.
  • The now cut short Secret Avengers doesn't give an answer to whether Bobbi was originally Barbara, who worked with Forson and the Cult of Entropy, was real or a false personality and memories implanted by Forson. It also doesn't resolve whether the character who gets away at the end is Bobbi, Barbara, or some combination of the two personalities.
  • Everything about her Super-Soldier transformation got quietly dropped after it was phased out for MCU synergy. There was some noise early on about what it could do to her, and Cain's Mockingbird briefly brings up the implication Bobbi is infected with something and she'll continue to gain further powers. These are then never explored after, and shortly after Bobbi is self-identifying as a non-powered hero with no mention of her past superpowers, indicating whatever the serum did, it's effects were temporary and wore off off-screen.
  • In the 2010s, Bobbi had a nasty habit of any book she joined being cancelled before its time. Hawkeye and Mockingbird set the precedence, but Secret Avengers, her solo series, the Silk series, the Agents of SHIELD comic series, Agents of Wakanda, etc. Force Works 2020 was a miniseries from the beginning so it at least averts this, but Amazing Spider-Man had her get Put on a Bus rather suddenly right before the final arc of Dan Slott's run. This chronically cancelled nature has lead to her not being able to resolve almost any subplot that builds around her.
• Action Girl: A quintessential. She may originally not seem like much, but you have to remember, she spent most of her life without powers of any kind.
• Alternate Company Equivalent: To DC's Black Canary. Fans not particularly familiar with her tend to assume she was created as a ripoff of Canary (the same way many assume Clint is of Green Arrow), but as she originally debuted as a completely different character in a Man-Thing /Ka Zar story and was later merged with an unused Spider-Woman villain, its likely that any similarities are unintentional.
  • The similarities to Black Canary become far more blatant on the Live Action TV front; a year before Marvel brought Mockingbird onto Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., DC's Arrow introduced their version of Black Canary, Sara Lance, during the second season, who was made a regular Badass Normal rather than her traditional Badass Abnormal self, had a costume that, thanks to the presence of a mask, made it look slightly more like Mockingbird's get up, and instead of being a bare-knuckle brawler she primarily made use of two batons that could connect into a staff, just like Bobbi. Combined with the similarities already present, it made Bobbi joining Marvel's big TV show all the more ironic as she joined the cast two weeks after DC killed off Canary on their show.
  • To some extent, the Robins, in a strange way. She fights in a fairly similar fighting style to Dick, including the use of small metal poles (in his case, Eskrima sticks, her case, her battle staves) though often owes to Tim Drake's too (the staff thing), has a similar sense of humor and uses similar tactics, and has a small bird motif.
• Ambiguously Bi: While ostensibly into dudes, she is also shown openly admiring other women, particularly Black Widow, and jokes about her Pseudo-Romantic Friendship with The Wasp.
• Arch-Enemy: Phantom Rider became this when he raped her. She killed him, but his ghost literally haunts her and is now obsessed with her, and any time he comes up Bobbi is notably far more intense.
• Ascended Fanboy: Bobbi was apparently a big fan of spy fiction before becoming a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. She later revealed she had grown up idolising superheroes, and so becoming one is this.
• Back from the Dead: Even though she appeared as a spirit a few times, she was revealed to be Alive all along, with the Bobbi that died being a Skrull imposter. Admittedly, the Skrull honestly thought she was the real deal, so it may be that, even in death, she kept the form of Bobbi in the afterlife. Or, it wasn't thought out very well.
• Badass Bookworm: She's got a PHD in Biochemistry. In other words, you should be calling her Dr Bobbi Morse.
• Badass Boast: New Avengers: The Reunion: The Scientist Supreme appears to have killed Clint, and then attempts to offer Bobbi to join A.I.M. Bobbi replies with a headbutt, then this:

  Scientist Supreme: Please, aren't we above Catfighting?
  Bobbi: This isn't a Catfight. This is me, kicking your ass.

  • And even that one pales in comparison to the one she delivers to Forson in Secret Avengers.
    Bobbi: You think you can kill me? You think you can try that and live?
• Badass Normal: She's a world class spy and martial artist and one of the most enduring Avengers. She did most of her thing as a completely normal human being. Until now, of course.
• Battle Couple: With Hawkeye and latter with Spider-Man.
• Berserk Button: Don't try to control her in any way, and definitely don't try to kill her.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Bobbi's very nice and friendly to most people, but she's also shown no hesitation in killing a rapist, beating a man half to death with her bare hands, cutting in his face afterwards before kicking him over a high edge. She managed to hide among the Skrulls, killing anyone who got too close to her, and became a horror story for them. She's not only one of the best spies, she's one of the most brutal. When she's not cracking jokes, playing pranks, or just enjoying some downtime with her friends. Beware the Nice Ones indeed.
• Big Sister Instinct: In the All-New, All-Different Marvel era, Bobbi has developed this concerning Silk, as she is acting as Cindy's handler while she's undercover in Black Cat's gang. Its commented on that Bobbi has a similar experience to Cindy's time in the bunker (her abduction by the Skrulls) giving them some similarities, while Bobbi repeatedly comments on her worry for Silk's safety. She's also developing this towards Nadia Van Dyne.
• Big Sister Mentor: Again, she acted this way to Silk, guiding her in her spy work and mentoring her on how to operate undercover. She later helped her join S.H.I.E.L.D. proper. Likewise, she became this for Nadia Pym and the other girls from G.I.R.L. Labs, particularly Nadia herself and Ying Liu, outright describing herself in this manner to Bucky.
• Birds of a Feather:
  • Though Mark Greunwald described them as Opposites Attract, what many fans cite as their favourite aspect about Bobbi's relationship with Clint, and what Jim McCann cites as what he found appealing, was just how similar they are. Both are blunt, bird-themed heroes with a sense of humour and an abrasive personality who fight alongside and against beings far more powerful than themselves using only their own skills. A common nickname for their ship is in fact 'Birds of a Feather'.
  • Ironically given they break up because they "have nothing in common", both her and Spider-Man, who she dated briefly in the 2010s, have much in common. At-the-time they were doctorate holders in the same fields (Peter later lost his due to the infamous Parker luck), are quippy, upbeat heroes with a acrobatic bend, and both have nerdy interests.
• Brainwashed and Crazy: In Secret Avengers.
• Breakup Breakout: Zig-zagged. When she broke up with Ka-Zar, she became a solo S.H.I.E.L.D. hero, albeit it took some time for her to take off, and that was largely because she hooked up with Hawkeye. When she broke up with Clint, this was Averted because she then died. When she came back and they got back together, they broke up and she remained mostly just another Avenger, though she did get a solo series a bit later. Either way, she has done much better for herself than Ka-Zar has (who remains a pretty obscure character), even if she's not became a true Breakout Character yet.
• Break the Cutie: Bobbi started out as a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent who hung out with Ka-Zar and later worked with and ended up marring Clint Barton. Then she was abducted, drugged and raped by the Phantom Rider, who then proceeded to try and ruin her life. She was one of the first characters to be replaced by the Skrulls and spent time on the run from them on their own planet, avoiding capture by a Skrull who had taken on Clint's appearance. Then when she was eventually returned, it was to a different life than the one she'd left behind because she'd been gone for years. Then the Phantom Rider came back to try and kill her again so they could be together forever.
  • Seemed very broken when rescued from AIM in Secret Avengers, to the point where Taskmaster wonders what they did to her.
• Cain and Abel: Not quite, but after he found out she was alive, her brother Ben was not happy to see Bobbi.
• Continuity Porn: After Bobbi came back, there was quite a bit with her and Clint's past being referenced for any readers who hadn't known about it (due to West Coast Avengers having ended about fourteen or fifteen years earlier) including:
  • Clint's attitude towards Bobbi allowing the Phantom Rider to die after he raped her (and his apology for the way he acted, which the real Bobbi had never heard, due to having been abducted before the Skrull imposter got back together with Clint).
  • Bobbi's past as a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, her background as a biologist, including the Super-Soldier Serum project she was involved in being referenced (and being revealed to have been used on Dominic Fortune).
  • Then in New Avengers, Bobbi's life was saved using a combination of the Super-Soldier Serum and Infinity Formula; Bobbi's early storylines featured the Super-Soldier Serum prominently, she worked on a project to create some, and was closely connected to Nick Fury in multiple storylines.
• Combat Pragmatist: She's not afraid to fight dirty, has often used other pole-like objects as batons when her actual batons aren't within reach, and as of the 2000s, she's made it clear she's not afraid to just use a gun if a situation calls for more than a baton-beating.
• Composite Character: Bobbi's Mockingbird identity is actually the result of merging two characters together. Bobbi existed prior as a minor SHIELD operative who was going by the name 'Huntress', but since the name was taken by DC during a time when Bobbi wasn't being used, Mark Gruenwald decided to give her a new identity, and having came up with a design for a female Spider-Woman supervillain, decided to instead use the identity for Bobbi. The new identity stuck, and now most are unaware of the Huntress adventures.
• Cool Big Sis: Takes on this role to Ying Liu in The Unstoppable Wasp and to Cindy Moon/Silk in the latter's self-titled series.
• Cool Shades: After Secret Invasion (2008), became her default look. As well as usual uses for spy lenses, they double as corrective lenses for her farsightedness.
• Cynicism Catalyst: At first, it was being raped by Lincoln Slade, which drove her to allow him to die. Then, her ordeal thanks to the Skrulls, which has put her into such a downward spiral that Clint is unable to be with her without being dragged down too. Bobbi's still heroic, but she no longer believes in Thou Shall Not Kill, and has borderline Fantastic Racism against the Skrulls.
  • Bobbi herself became this for Clint. After their marriage broke down and she 'died' protecting him, he became far less noble then previous, and as pointed out by others, was what caused the WCA to eventually break apart. She also seems to be one for her brother Ben: Bobbi had previously lead her family to believe she was dead to protect them, which apparently hurt him a lot. When he found out, he didn't take it well.
• Deadpan Snarker: She was given the nickname Mockingbird because, in battle, she was constantly cracking jokes and mocking her opponents, and outside of battle she always has a quip ready. Tuned down in Hawkeye and Mockingbird due to her more authoritative position requiring her to be more serious (and combined with old enemy Crossfire and the Slade family returning into her life, also added to that), but she wasn't afraid to make a snarky comment when needed.
  • Her snark and original sense of humor have come back in full force in Secret Avengers.
    Mockingbird: This is your plan? You kill Osborn and then dress up like a hobo?
    Hawkeye: There's really... a lot more to it than that.
• Depending on the Artist: Her All-New, All-Different Marvel-era costume has this issue, largely in regards to if her little cape detail is just a small fold of fabric to conceal her tech-wings or if it's an actual short cape. Likewise, her mask varies between being a smaller version of her old West Coast Avengers costume mask, a pair of stylised goggles, or even just a Domino Mask that does nothing.
• Depending on the Writer: Was a victim of this in the WCA days after the Phantom Rider incident; the main WCA book wrote Bobbi and Clint as barely on speaking terms and treating one-another as if they were already divorced, while Solo Avengers running concurrently would depict them as being in the process of rebuilding their relationship.
• Deadly Dodging: As a talented acrobat whose main weapon of choice is a pair of metal rods she can turn into a bo staff, she's became something of a master of leaping out of the way of gunfire. It's been said her costume is bulletproof, but she still prefers to not get hit, especially [[Stripperific given her suit didn't cover much for some time]].
• Disappeared Dad: It's mentioned in Hawkeye and Mockingbird #2 that her dad left them, but her mom claimed that this is something she told Bobbi to cover up the truth. Before she can elaborate, Crossfire shoots her and she's hospitalized for the rest of the series. The book got cancelled at #6, and no other writer has expanded on Bobbi's family since, so we won't know anything else about it until someone does.
• Double Standard: Rape, Sci-Fi: One of the most noteworthy aversions in comics; getting raped by Phantom Rider via a Love Potion was not just glossed over as a kooky comic plot, it lead to genuine trauma.
• Double Entendre: She was fond of making jokes to this extent in the WCA days, with her and Clint both regularly making jokes about their weapons as metaphors for their sexuality, or teasing a villain for their "performance issues".
• Dude Magnet: Ka-Zar, Hawkeye, Lance Hunter, and Spider-Man count among her exes, plus she's been the subject of unwanted affections from many more.
• Early-Installment Weirdness: Bobbi was originally draw with brown hair in her first two appearances, and did not display very much of her hand to hand combat skills. The latter was lampshaded in a later issue, where she muses that she hasn't had much of a chance to show off her training.
• Eating the Eye Candy: Does this with both Ka-Zar and Clint.
• Emergency Transformation: After being shot, Bobbi is given a combination of super soldier serum and infinity formula to save her life. This turns her into a cross between Captain America and Nick Fury.
• Evil Knockoff: Had one in the form of Alkhema, created by Ultron from Bobbi's brain patterns.
• Evil Counterpart: Dr Monica Rappaccini, Scientist Supreme of AIM, is like Bobbi, a former bio-chemist turned agent of a clandestine spy organisation, who has specialised in improving human physiology, and are adept fighters outside of their scientific skill. In Monica's case, though, she continued to pursue science while Bobbi focused on combat training, so Monica lacks Bobbi's raw strength and athletics, but compensates by being a Mad Scientist. They first met in New Avengers: The Reunion but fought again in The Unstoppable Wasp, where it was made clear they retain some lasting personal animosity.
• Evil Mentor: The aforementioned Monica Rappaccini tried to be this, but Bobbi broke her nose in response. Later, Andrew Forson tried the same, but he'd also tried shooting her and had subjected her to brainwashing, so instead she beats the crap out of him then stabs him in the face with the knife he just stabbed her with.
• Femme Fatale Spy: Bobbi's early appearances included her seducing and becoming engaged to a man who S.H.I.E.L.D. suspected of being involved with AIM (he was). In Hawkeye, she says that one of the reasons she joined S.H.I.E.L.D. was because she liked the idea of being Mata Hari.
• Fun T-Shirt: One cover had her wearing an "Ask About My Feminist Agenda" shirt, which caused so much impact the paperback of that run is "My Feminist Agenda", the shirt was worn by Spider-Man when he had crash on Bobbi's couch◊, Bobbi's actress wore it, and Bobbi can appear in it on Marvel Puzzle Quest.
• Genius Bruiser: A super soldier who is also a skilled spy and recreated the original super soldier serum. She's brought to tears when Nadia Van Dyne mentions all of this.
• Guys Smash, Girls Shoot: Inverted. Bobbi is much more likely to hit someone with her battle staves while Clint prefers to shoot arrows.
  • In Secret Avengers Barbara even drops a gun in order to beat Forson half to death with her bare hands.
• Goggles Do Nothing: Averted; her Cool Shades are actually prescription sunglasses, since she has very poor eyesight (though, it's not uncommon for some writers to forget this). This crosses into Goggles Do Something Unusual as they're shown with some neat smart glasses features.
• Handicapped Badass: She's near-sighted, and needs contacts to see properly. When she came back, she switched to some Cool Shades with built in night vision. Oftentimes, she's depicted with Nerdy Glasses when out-of-costume, particularly in her early days with Ka-Zar and sometimes during the 2000s. This seemed to be phased out after the Super-Soldier serum incident.
• I Have Many Names: As well as Bobbi Morse/Mockingbird, she's also been known as Roberta Morse, Huntress and Agent 19. And this doesn't even include the various ways her married name was presented.
• Improbable Aiming Skills: Not only with her bo staff and battle staves, but with a gun as well. She's good enough to shoot someone in the head and purposefully avoid kidding them.
• Informed Flaw: Bobbi tells Aunt May when her and Peter break up off-screen that they have "nothing in common". This is...an odd claim to make, when Bobbi and Peter are both superheroes, are both scientists and science nerds, have a similar sense of humour, and similar luck in the universe. Of course, Dan Slott wasn't writing Bobbi much like herself during this time anyway, so it was sorta true at-the-time.
• It's All About Me: In Chelsea Cain's ongoing, she sometimes wrote her this way for the sake of comedy. In the original West Coast Avengers storyline, Mockingbird killed the villain Phantom Rider, which was played completely seriously (with both Hawkeye and herself understandably very upset about it) and became heartbreaking when it eventually destroyed their relationship. In the Chelsea Cain stories, it's interpreted in another way.
  Mockingbird: He's always judging me. Says I load the dishwasher wrong. That I hog the blankets. That my costume shows too much thigh.
  Hawkeye: You murdered a man in cold blood, Bobbi.
  Mockingbird: See? There. That's what I'm talking about.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Due to her brash attitude and, as of late, high levels of PTSD, she can come off as a bit of a jerk. This is mostly a defense mechanism to hold others out, and personally she's one of the most loyal and moral of the Avengers. Doesn't care about the whole killing thing, though.
• Kick Chick: When she's not beating someone with her sticks, she's kicking them. In the 2000s, her redesigned outfit came with boots that had reinforced shin-guards, ostensibly to let her kick with more force without risk breaking her shins.
• Law of Inverse Fertility: She and Clint really wanted the baby, but she had a miscarriage before they got around to telling anyone about the pregnancy.
• Lighter and Softer: The Unstoppable Wasp, as an all-ages book, is considerably lighter in tone than many of Bobbi's other adventures. Bobbi is much more upbeat then she's been in a long time, even when dealing with serious stuff.
• Lust Object: As a very attractive woman, Bobbi is often lusted after by others. Darkly, this is largely what lead to Phantom Rider raping her, as he'd fallen in love with her. In a less-dark way, it's been made clear US Agent is very attracted to her, as much as she is very not interested.
• Made of Iron: After Nick Fury gave her a treatment of the Super-Soldier Serum, she became this. Bobbi's now capable of taking excessive punishment without faltering.
• Making Love in All the Wrong Places: Bobbi and Clint apparently used to have sex all over the West Coast compound. At the very least, we regularly saw them making out and being all over one-another even when in other people's company, much to their teammates annoyance.
• Male Gaze: Frequently the subject of it, though given Bobbi's personality she'd probably be pretty happy about this.
• Martial Arts Staff: Bobbi's primary weapons are two staffs that connect together to form one of these. She's actually more-or-less the default best staff fighter in the Marvel Universe, at the very least she's specialised in this so much that Clint in his Weapon Master Ronin days couldn't best her when he used one.
• Meaningful Name: Originally joked about, with Clint saying Bobbi's name was Mockingbird because she made fun of people, but played straight in Secret Avengers when she acquires camotech which allows her to pretend to be anyone.
• The Missus and the Ex:
  • Her and Black Widow filled these roles respectively. Fortunately for Clint's sake, the two immediately hit it off, and have consistently been shown as being very friendly with one another. In fact when we were shown their mutual, private thoughts on the other, all that amounted to was them both thinking "She's Pretty!"
  • Jessica Drew and Bobbi respectively did this too when Bobbi and Clint broke up and Jess got together with him very quickly. They were not as cordial, with Bobbi giving Jess the stink-eye when she next saw her and later snapping at the two for flirting during a mission briefing. They did get better when someone other than Bendis was writing them, though.
• Most Common Super Power: Her skintight outfits display her large buxom.
• Ms. Fanservice: Large bust, wide hips, long legs, plus skin-tight Spy Catsuit or Leotard of Power with Thong of Shielding, equals Mockingbird. Lampshaded in Force Works 2020, when after noting that the Deathlok army wants to use them as spare parts, John Walker cracks that she does have "nice parts". Notably this has been a consistent thing since the beginning; her very first story had her running around a jungle in a tiny dress, and when she had a flashback to how Man-Thing was created, she was shown being taken hostage by AIM...who for some reason tore off her shirt so she was standing in just her bra and jeans.
• Muscles Are Meaningless: She's now a lot stronger than previously, yet she's not exactly muscle bound.
• Not as You Know Them: Bobbi suffered this when she became a supporting character in Dan Slott's Spider-Man. Her sense of humour disappeared and she became much more abrasive but without the wit, was overall less flirty and playful and also suddenly began using a pair of tech wings to fly/glide, downplaying her acrobatics.
• The Not-Love Interest: In The Unstoppable Wasp, she's more-or-less the closest thing Janet has to a love interest, something they lampshade a few times. Similarly, she calls in Bucky Barnes, and though they go on some adventures together, share banter, and tease one-another, it's never indicated to be anything more than two friends, probably because Bucky has Single-Target Sexuality towards Black Widow.
• Odd Friendship: It was short-lived thanks to brainwashing and all, but her and Taskmaster became friendly in Secret Avengers.
• One of the Boys: For a while, she was one of the only two female members of the West Coast Avengers. Later, when she became a member of the New Avengers, due to the other girls having a very close relationship prior to her joining, she instead usually hangs around either Ronin/Hawkeye, Spider-Man, and Wolverine.
• One-Man Army: On Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. but also in the comics, where she spent an issue ripping apart metal robots like they were made of paper, as well as an issue where Dominic Fortune mainly watches while she takes out an entire group of people. Taskmaster's response when he regains consciousness in Secret Avengers is to point out that no walls can hold him — and that Mockingbird will tear through the entire place.
• Opposites Attract:
  • Mark Gruenwald, who wrote and drew the first Hawkeye solo, found that the idea of a scientist/spy with a Ph. D. falling for a carnival archer who barely finished high school had a bizarre appeal.
  • Before that, she was set up as the primary Love Interest for Ka-Zar, a jungle man in a loincloth.
• Pay Evil unto Evil: Bobbi is ultimately a pretty light-hearted person, but do not make the mistake of crossing the Moral Event Horizon in front of her, and especially not against her. She killed the man who raped her (or rather, let him fall to his death), seemingly killed Andrew Forson when he tried to kill her (he got better off-camera), allowed a human trafficker who experimented on kids to be killed by one of his own experiments, then assassinated one of their "customers", and then there was how she spent her years "deceased" actually hunting and killing the Skrulls who abducted her. Bobbi's a plucky, up-beat heroine, but she does not believe in the heroic mantra of Thou Shalt Not Kill, especially not towards people she thinks have it coming.
• Pin-Pulling Teeth: Mockingbird does this during a snowmobile chase in the first issue of the Widowmaker mini-series.
• Pintsize Powerhouse: Supposedly not as she's billed at 5'9", but artists tend to draw Bobbi as a pretty tiny woman next to others, yet she has never had a problem lacking the strength to flip a man three times her size. She actually downs US Agent, who not only towers over her and is four times her width, but also has Super-Strength and combat training from Taskmaster, which he'd previously demonstrated let him demolish Hawkeye in a fight. This became even moreso when she became a Super-Soldier for a bit.
• Precision-Guided Boomerang: Her battle staves can be tossed with the same bouncing accuracy as Captain America's shield, or more closely, Nightwing's escrima sticks. In fact, she predates Nightwing in this, as she was doing this when she first appeared as Mockingbird. This is apparently linked to the metal bracelets she used to wear, as there was some kind of magnetic feature attached to them both.
• Pseudo-Romantic Friendship: Bobbi is very close friends with Janet Van Dyne, The Wasp, which started back in the WCA days but got further emphasised when Janet's stepdaughter got an ongoing and Janet sought Bobbi out to be the girl's teacher, and teacher to the group of girl geniuses Nadia had assembled (G.I.R.L. Labs, as they were known). Together, Bobbi and Janet joked about how they were now co-parenting a group of kids together, made cracks about how Janet "proposed", and Janet would gift Bobbi anti-Skrull merchandise (never mind it was shown Bobbi had given Janet her "Ask Me About My Feminist Agenda" t-shirt to sleep in).
• Romantic Runner-Up: After spending some time as Ka-Zar's love interest, she lost out to Shanna the She-Devil. Sorta happened again with Spider-Man, breaking up with him very shortly before he got back together with his long-time Official Couple, Mary Jane Watson.
• Sickeningly Sweethearts: When they were together, Clint and Bobbi were very openly affectionate, to the point it was a running gag they'd be making out and all over one-another in the presence of a very annoyed teammate, usually when they were supposed to be doing something.
• Single Woman Seeks Good Man:
  • Much of the motivation behind her falling for Clint is his positive traits. Despite his rash behaviour, she responds mostly to the fact he's a caring, heart-driven hero who will purposely injure himself rather than risk her. In fact, part of the reason they broke up the second time was that Bobbi was scared that her influence was ruining this part of him.
  • For a time, she dated Peter Parker/Spider-Man, the most adorably dorky Nice Guy of the Marvel Universe. They broke up because she and Peter realize that outside of being heroes, they don't have much in common to work as a couple.
• The Snark Knight: At times when Bobbi is written as exceptionally serious and straight-faced, you can still expect her to make some quips and barbs.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute:
  • In Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Lance Hunter was reinvented as a Deadpan Snarker Badass Normal Anti-Hero who was married to and divorced from Bobbi, and the resulting banter between the two was more-or-less exactly like how she interacted with Clint. Unsurprisingly, Lance was conceived because the showrunners couldn't get Hawkeye on the show.
  • This got lampshaded when MCU synergy prompted Lance and Bobbi to get together in the comics. Lance becomes very aware he's more-or-less Bobbi's Replacement Goldfish for Clint, and it's more-or-less outlined they're pretty much the exact same person, except one's a spy from Britain and the other's an American carnie-turned-superhero.
  • Black Widow has always had a connection with Clint, but in the MCU, much of their banter comes off more like Bobbi and Clint rather than how Clint and Natasha typically interact, particularly as Natasha is younger and more of a playful Deadpan Snarker in the movies, much like Bobbi. Natasha even started using batons in Avengers: Age of Ultron onward, which resulted in her taking on Bobbi's fighting style.
• Spin to Deflect Stuff: Does this often with her staves, most notably in The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes.
• Spy Catsuit: Wore one as Huntress, and though her 80s Mockingbird costume wasn't an example, her 2000s outfit evokes this trope. Her 2010s outfit seems to blend between this and a more "hero" esque outfit.
• Stripperific: Her WCA outfit, which was more-or-less a bathing suit with flared sleeves. Somewhat justified by the setting being the West Coast, Bobbi had commented that she wore it mostly because of how hot the weather was (though this was seemingly not much issue for Clint himself, of course).
• Take Up My Sword: Did this for S.H.I.E.L.D. after they collapsed. Twice in fact. First time, she formed the World Counter-terrorism Agency, using S.H.I.E.L.D. assets to continue their missions with a few agents she befriended while with the Skrulls, but with greatly reduced resources. The second time, she just grabbed Silk, Husk, and Spider-Man, and also ran some missions for Nick Fury Jr.
• Telescoping Staff: Technically two; her batons connect together thenextend out into a staff. Taking this further than most examples, she can extend this up to at least 20 feet, given she uses it as a vaulting pole.
• Thou Shalt Not Kill: Averted, Bobbi believes there are crimes that justify murder (such as rape). Phantom Rider died because Bobbi believed he deserved it for raping her, and she tried to kill Forson for the Mind Rape he'd subjected her to.
• Thong of Shielding: Naturally as a leotard-wearing heroine, this is often how Bobbi's costume ended up looking back in the WCA days.
• Tomboyish Name: "Bobbi" isn't the most feminine of names. Though, Bobbi's not the most feminine of women. It does occasionally get miss-written as 'Bobby', especially by those unfamiliar with the character, which is decidedly more masculine.
• Took a Level in Badass: More like several levels. She started out as a scientist who was more-or-less a Damsel in Distress in her first handful of appearances, but began taking combat lessons with SHIELD. Then she elevated to being a costumed hero, became a Badass Normal, and later on a Super-Soldier. Even before that last one, though, she was The Dreaded among the Skrulls because she ruthlessly slaughtered them while stranded on one of their planets after they abducted her.
• Trauma Conga Line: Almost killed by S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, raped by the Phantom Rider, abducted by Skrulls, shot and almost killed, and most recently, left behind enemy lines without her friends knowing, where she's undergoing Mind Rape. It turned her into an Iron Woobie.
• True Love Is Boring: There's a reason her and Hawkeye tend to have problems. Ironically, her and Clint disagreed, since when they were together, they were Sickeningly Sweethearts.
• Underestimating Badassery: Just like Hawkeye, Mockingbird doesn't exactly get much credit. She's still one of the toughest and most versatile of the Avengers though, at least on level with Cap and Fury, prior to gaining the same abilities of the two.
• Unreliable Narrator: Essentially how her brief ongoing explained inconsistencies and retcons in characterisation; per Word of God, the story is more-or-less presented how Bobbi herself would tell it, with the idea being that past stories are how Clint would tell it.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: With Hawkeye. No matter how much they bicker and argue, they're still very close even when not currently romantically linked.
• Who Wants to Live Forever?: Before administering the combination of infinity formula and super soldier serum, Fury points out that it means that Bobbi will watch everyone she knows and cares about die. Bobbi herself doesn't seem to have too much of a problem with it, but this is because its a new development.
  • Her ongoing muses on this, though in a different way: Being made immortal comes with a lot of questions about the medical implications of such, so Bobbi has to go have regular check-ups with SHIELD doctors, something she does not enjoy. As she puts it, "If you could live forever but had to have a colonoscopy every week for the rest of your life, would you do it?"
• You Fight Like a Cow: She's weaponised this a few times to get the best of an opponent she should have no business fighting. Red Guardian got defeated largely by Bobbi mocking his "performance".

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