Clint Barton is in New York City to spend some much-needed family time with his kids during the holiday season. Meanwhile, the young, talented athlete Kate Bishop attends a charity event with her mother Eleanor and Eleanor's fiance Jacques Duquesne, which is soon upended by criminal activity.
Tropes:
- Ability over Appearance: In-universe. Loki and Hulk are both portrayed by black actors in Rogers: The Musical (though the former's own show establishes that there is at least one multiverssal variant of Loki who is black).
- Animated Credits Opening: After the prologue, the opening credits play over a stylized montage of Kate's childhood, including training and participating in numerous Olympic sports like archery, fencing, and athletics, as well as the trophies and medals that she won for each.
- Armor-Piercing Response: Young Kate shuts her father down with ease after her parents catch her listening in on their argument.Derek: You shouldn't eavesdrop.
Kate: But then how would I know what you're saying when I'm not there?
Derek: [Beat] I don't know how to argue with that. - Artistic License – History: In-universe. Rogers: The Musical for some reason depicts Ant-Man being present for the Battle of New York, even though he never joined the Avengers before Civil War (technically) and wasn't a major part of their efforts until the Time Heist in Endgame. Clint points this inaccuracy out. (Marvel themselves suggested the addition of Ant-Man as an acknowledgement of this being a prevalent thing in adaptations of real life events.)
- Ascended Meme: Clint sees a piece of graffiti in a bathroom that says "Thanos was right".
- Auction of Evil: Underneath the fundraiser is a black market auction of smuggled items, including Ronin's costume and sword that were picked up from the Avengers compound's ruins.
- Bait-and-Switch: During Rogers: The Musical, the narrative temporarily switches to Clint's POV as he watches the actress playing Natasha and there's no sound, implying his Heroic BSoD is so severe he can't even hear it. Then Lila taps him on the shoulder and it's revealed that Clint actually turned off his hearing aid so he didn't have to listen.
- Bathroom Stall Graffiti: At the theatre that Clint takes his kids to, someone has doodled "Thanos was right" on one of the urinals in the men's room.
- Big Damn Heroes: Clint swoops in and saves Kate from the Tracksuit Mafia's ambush just as she is starting to be overwhelmed.
- Bourgeois Bohemian: Kate's family is incredibly wealthy, but she lives in a dilapidated apartment above a local pizza place in the East Village. However, indicating her wealth is the fact that she actually owns the place rather than renting it.
- The Cameo: Broadway vet Adam Pascal appears as one of the "lead New Yorkers" in Rogers: The Musical and is the singing voice of Captain America.
- Celebrity Superhero: Clint's status as this is established in this episode, as he is recognized by a little girl in the audience and then accosted for a selfie in the theater restroom (from a dad excitedly asking for a photo for his kid who loves Clint as their favorite Avenger). Later, while at a Chinese restaurant with his kids, the employees comp for Clint's dinner as a thank-you for saving their city. Clint's uncomfortable with all the attention, as he's spent his career as an undercover spy, trying hard to stay off the radar, and has a lot of enemies.
- Changing Clothes Is a Free Action: Kate puts on the Ronin suit in the middle of the Track Suit Mafiya's attack on the auction without anyone spotting her, and it only takes a few seconds.
- Chaos of the Bells: A quiet "Carol of the Bells" plays as Kate sneaks into the auction.
- Combat Pragmatist: When Clint saves Kate from the Tracksuit Mafia, he uses his scarf as a weapon to snap Ivan in the face, then tie it around a mook before knocking him silly.
- Conspicuous Consumption: The items available for bidding at the black market auction include a Triceratops skull "for home display only".
- Continuity Nod: The tower that Kate damages is called "Stane Tower", possibly sponsored by Obadiah Stane, the Big Bad of Iron Man.
- Contrived Coincidence: It's awfully convenient that a girl who's a massive fan of Hawkeye finds herself at an underground auction selling off his old Ronin costume and sword. And then, because the auction is attacked by gangsters, it gives her a perfect excuse to don the Ronin costume so she can engage in dashing heroics! What's not a coincidence is that Hawkeye then tracks her down, because she was caught on camera in the costume and he doesn't like someone wearing it.
- Cool Sword: Kate notices numerous Japanese-style swords decorating their apartment when meeting her mother after the Bell tower incident, questioning her about them before Jack Armand makes his appearance. Later, Jack is shown bidding high amounts of money for Ronin's retractable sword at the black market action, and even goes out of his way to pilfer the blade when escaping, implying that he's a collector of exotic blades.
- Cue the Falling Object: Kate tries to play it cool when she's surprised by a security guard on top of the school... only for the damaged bell tower behind her to finish crumbling.
- Credits Gag: The episode's end credits state that the song "Save the City" was performed by the cast of Rogers: The Musical.
- Dead Star Walking: Brian d'Arcy James, one of the actors who earned pre-release attention, plays Kate Bishop's father, and doesn't even last until the opening credits.
- Department of Redundancy Department: Kate's mom's new boyfriend refers to meeting Kate as "an unexpected surprise", which she points out that surprises are by definition unexepected.
- Disappeared Dad: Kate's father died during the events of the Chitauri invasion when their home was partially blown up.
- Disaster Dominoes: Kate successfully rings the bell!... Which cracks the bell.... And then the whole tower collapses.
- Distant Prologue: The episode starts in 2012 during Kate's childhood when she was caught in the Battle of New York. Her father was killed in the battle and, just before Kate herself would have been killed, Hawkeye unknowingly saved her life. She witnessed some of his archery and combat feats firsthand in awe, which motivated her to take up archery more seriously and also take martial arts training to protect her and her mother.
- Disowned Adaptation: In-Universe. Clint is unimpressed with Rogers: The Musical and leaves the show before it's over.
- Dynamic Entry: After putting on the Ronin costume, Kate enters the scene giving a flying kick to an armed thug.
- Evil-Detecting Dog: Lucky runs up and bites one of the members of the Tracksuit Mafia on the leg.
- Foreshadowing: When disciplining Kate for the damage she caused to the bell tower, Eleanor says that Kate thinks she's invincible but isn't, and this attitude will end up getting her hurt. During her fight with the Tracksuit Mafia, Kate finds this out the hard way: she's a champion martial artist, but is still just one young woman going up against a group of men who are each roughly twice her size and are definitely not there for safe, fair competition. She takes quite a few hard hits and is literally thrown around on several occasions, with only Hawkeye's intervention saving her from being totally overwhelmed.
- Grievous Bottley Harm: Given that Kate fights the Tracksuit Mafia in a wine cellar, she uses a few bottles to strike them, albeit all of them intact (she even tosses one aside after it's broken by a shot). She even knocks down an opponent by stepping on a bottle (to flip it to their face), the way Steve Rogers used to step on his vibranium shield to retrieve it.
- Groin Attack: Kate gives two. One to Kazi and one to Ivan. Unlike most examples,
- Kate gives one to Kazi who tanks the blow because her knee strike wasn't strong enough and he's a bigger and heavier person than her.
- Kate gives another to Ivan, performing a stronger strike than a knee strike to his groin to successfully wind him, after an elbow strike to his solar plexus fails to reel him because his size, weight and bulk allow him to take it, learning her lesson with her fight with Kazi.
- Heroes Love Dogs: On her way out of the auction, Kate stops to rescue a street dog first from the Tracksuits, then from getting run over after he runs out into traffic.
- Heroic BSoD: Clint suffers this at the Rogers musical after seeing the actress portraying Black Widow on stage, no doubt recalling her sacrifice to obtain the Soul Stone. Then a little girl in a bright red wig recognizes him and waves with a great big grin. It gets to the point where he has to leave the play halfway through... not that he was missing much.
- Iconic Outfit: Kate grabbing the Ronin suit launches a lot of trouble because he has a lot of enemies.
- Improbable Aiming Skills: She's no Hawkeye, not yet, but Kate at one point stomps the upraised end of a wine bottle to send it flying into a Tracksuit's head.
- Improbable Weapon User: Hawkeye takes down the tracksuits by slapping them with his belt.
- Improvised Weapon: Kate gets in a fight in a wine cellar. Of course she's going to use wine bottles as weapons.
- In the Back: The angle of the wound and the way the blood pooled around his body afterwards implies that Armand was killed by being stabbed/slashed by a large bladed object from behind.
- Lady in Red: Eleanor wears a fancy red dress for the fundraiser. Kate is asked to wear one to the fundraiser, but she defies her mother's wishes, opting to wear a black suit and tie instead.
- Loose Lips: Armand III lets slip to Kate at the party that Eleanor and Jacques are engaged.
- MacGuffin: The Tracksuit Mafia invades the black market auction in pursuit of "the watch". We later see that one of their members, Kazi, found it, but its significance is left a mystery.
- The Malaproper: Kate's mom's new boyfriend states that "the beans are out of the bag", combining "cat out of the bag" and "spill the beans", upon her learning that they're engaged.
- Maneki Neko: There is a maneki neko in the restaurant where Clint and his kids eat dinner.
- Mangled Catch Phrase: In-universe, "Save the City" has the repeated line "Avengers Unite!" rather than Avengers Assemble. The full song does indeed use the right phrase: Cap sings the correct phrase, the chorus sings the wrong/alternate one.
- A Minor Kidroduction: The episode opens with a flashback to Kate Bishop as a child during the events of The Avengers. Her parents' penthouse is trashed during the Battle of New York, and Hawkeye unknowingly saves Kate from a group of Chitauri. Unfortunately, her father dies, though Hawkeye's use of archery inspires her to take up the bow and arrow and take part in a number of athletic sports, racking up a large number of trophies and medals as a result.
- Mistaken for Servant: Happens to Kate multiple times during the fundraiser, on account of her black suit and tie attire. She later exploits this by pretending to be a waitress in order to tail Armand III and find out what he's up to.
- Mr. Fanservice: Steve and Thor's status as this is lampshaded in Rogers: The Musical with the lyric "And Lord knows they're easy on the eyes." You can hear someone in the audience agree with the statement.
- Mythology Gag:
- The Hawkeye in Rogers: The Musical wears the same purple costume that Clint does in the comics (in contrast to the MCU one wearing black with only hints of purple).
- Rogers: The Musical also shows Ant-Man as one of the original Avengers. Ant-Man (Hank Pym, not Scott Lang) was one of the original Avengers in the comics, though not in the MCU.
- One of Kate's friends who accompanies her to the belltower dare is named Greer, though it's unknown if she's actually Greer Grant Nelson.
- There have been attempts to adapt Marvel into Broadway musicals, but it's come to actually happen only once so far.
- The bell her friends dared Kate to ring is hanging in Stane Tower.
- Newscaster Cameo: When the Bartons turn on the TV in the evening, New York-based anchor Pat Kiernan delivers the breaking news of the Ronin's possible return.
- No OSHA Compliance: Kate accidentally destroys Stane Tower by shooting an arrow to ring the bell by using its attached bell cord, causing the aged and fragile bell to slam into its support pillars. As a result, the top of the tower is sent collapsing dangerously down and over school grounds. The tower is festooned with Christmas lights, showing the fragile structure was in use.
- Not What It Looks Like: Subverted. Kate comes across Armand III's dead body in his home, even touching the body to get a good look at his face just to verify who the corpse is, just as his housecleaning maid arrives, but Kate is able to keep a cool head and swiftly exit the building when she's distracted seeing the body before she's noticed by her.
- Nouveau Riche: Dialogue from Kate's mother Eleanor implies she has a Rags to Riches backstory, warning Kate that money doesn't make a person invincible. She's also shown in tension with Armand Duquesne III, her fiancé's Old Money uncle.
- Oh, Crap!:
- The collapse of the school's bell tower appropriately freaks Kate out.
- Then, while investing Armand Duquesne III, she finds him dead on the floor of his home, stabbed in the back.
- Old Money:
- Kate's father Derek was born into a life of wealth and privilege, which caused friction in his marriage with Eleanor. She did not grow up rich, and accuses him of always waiting for a solution to fall out of the sky instead of making hard choices. Eleanor worries that Kate has inherited the same tunnel vision problem and cancels her credit cards after Kate damages a clock tower on her college campus.
- Eleanor is now engaged to Jack Duquesne, from the very wealthy Duquesne family. At a high society gala, Kate meets two of his other relatives, Armand III and VII.
- The Oner: Both the flashback to young Kate wandering around the house as the Chitauri begin their invasion, and the Tracksuit Mafia ambushing Kate in the street are prominent examples of a long single shot.
- Outside-Context Problem: Kate is just curious what her new soon-to-be-stepfather is getting up to and the old guy who was having a mysterious argument with her mother. She's completely blindsided by the arrival of The Mafiya robbing the Auction of Evil. Her encounter with them is what jumpstarts most of the season's plot.
- Parent with New Paramour: Kate's mom has started dating someone new. Kate's surprised by this development, and doesn't like it very much. She especially dislikes learning that they're already engaged.
- Parents as People: Clint's daughter recognizes that he's having trouble with PTSD, but just takes her brother's hand and lets him get on with his problems as he ducks out to the bathroom before eventually coming to check up on him when he doesn't come back into the theater right away.
- Perspective Flip: The opening scene takes us to the Battle of New York from the Bishops' perspective. We see how little Kate Bishop is saved by Hawkeye (practically on accident/as an afterthought) before he makes a getaway due to the risk of being overwhelmed by the Chitauri. Whereas the original film shows Clint's basically running for his life, Kate sees a cool-headed Avenger in action and making a getaway all in the nick of time.
- Promoted to Parent: It's downplayed, but Clint's daughter is somewhere between this and Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling, taking up the slack while Clint struggles with PTSD. He's not a Manchild, not at all, but it's tough for him sometimes.
- Race Lift: An In-Universe example: in Rogers: The Musical, Ant-Man is played by a Filipino actor, while Hulk and Loki are played by black actors.
- Reality Is Unrealistic: Contrary to what one might expect when Kate uses wine bottles as weapons, they don't break, as they are in fact designed to be surprisingly hard to shatter for ease of transport.
- Refuge in Audacity: Kate manages to escape Gary by acting like a disgruntled employee quitting on the spot and storming out. Gary is so baffled, he gives Kate enough of a head start to lose him.Kate: You know, that's the problem, Gary... you don't even know my name. You know what, this isn't working out, I quit.
- Retractable Weapon: The sword Clint used as Ronin is revealed to be a telescopic blade retracting entirely in the hilt during the auction. Jacques takes it for himself in the chaos of the Tracksuit Mafia's attack.
- Shell-Shocked Veteran: Barton is showing signs of this. Fading out during the performance, staring at the performer playing Romanov, then fleeing to the bathroom when a little girl cosplaying as her grins and waves at him.
- Sigil Spam: Armand Duquesne has monogrammed butterscotch.
- Skilled, but Naive: Kate has a lot of training in martial arts and archery, and a little Refuge in Audacity takes her a long way, but she hasn't any experience in real-world fights and not even training in how to conduct a the sort of criminal investigation she's starting in on.
- Sleek High Rise Apartment: The Bishops live in a massive and luxurious two-story penthouse in Midtown Manhattan, within spitting distance of the Avengers Tower.
- Soft Glass: Notably averted on two occasions:
- During the battle in the wine cellar, Kate uses wine bottles to smack several mooks upside the head without them shattering. In real life, wine bottles are actually designed to be resistant to hits, in order to prevent any shattering during transport.
- During the fight at the end of the episode, after Kate locks herself inside a parked car, one of the Tracksuit Mafia goons tries to punch his way through the window. He succeeds, but it takes him several swings.
- Spoiled Sweet: Young Kate had a great relationship with both of her wealthy parents and was clearly accustomed to getting away with at least little things.
- Stalker Shot: While Kate is retreating from the charity, we see Kazi still watching her as she goes, giving Five-Second Foreshadowing to when they ambush her later.
- Steel Eardrums: Averted. After years of action and being around explosions and other loud noises, Clint's hearing is going and he's now using a hearing aid. It wasn't any one incident, but Clint is just a normal human, so damage accumulated over time; he can't regenerate like Captain America/Thor/Hulk, nor is he sealed inside a protected armor suit like Iron Man.
- Stylistic Suck: The stage effects for Rogers: The Musical aren't great. The Hulk is an actor in green face paint wearing a hoodie, and Thor's "armor" is actually just a vest with armor-like designs on the front (making him look more like his Formerly Fit self in Endgame). Meanwhile, the Chitauri are represented by flat cut-outs being swung across the back of the stage. Furthermore, the storyline and aesthetics clearly suffer from In-Universe Artistic License – History (with Rogers' costume looking more like his Winter Soldier suit, and, most notably, Ant-Man being an Ascended Extra).
- Suckiness Is Painful: Hawkeye's kids all have pained expressions on their faces during the extremely cheesy and corny musical. Clint deliberately switched off his hearing aid to avoid having to listen to it.
- Thousand-Yard Stare: Clint gets one when Natasha's actress comes on stage and the musical fades to silence as he stares.
- Trademark Favorite Food: The only food Kate has in her apartment is pizza, and it quickly becomes just about the only thing the goodest boy will eat.
- Trauma Button: Clint is really not comfortable when a fictional version of Black Widow shows up on stage during the Avengers musical as it clearly reminds him of Natasha sacrificing herself to save his life, which he was Forced to Watch. His daughter later comments on this, saying how while the world may miss their beloved hero, Natasha was Clint's best friend and now she's gone. Her death was far more personal to him than it was for the rest of them and it still hurts.
- Uniformity Exception: Ivan, the Mook Lieutenant of the Tracksuits, is prominently given a black tracksuit instead of the standard red most of the group is outfitted in.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: Armand III is introduced, given a brief bit of characterization, and mysteriously killed at the climax of the episode.
- Well-Trained, but Inexperienced: Kate has extensive experience fighting in gyms and tournaments, but none against opponents who are willing to kill her. She does very well in the chaos of the auction, but once she's caught in the open, the Tracksuit Mafia boys wipe the floor with her and she only gets away because Hawkeye rescues her.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Eleanor calls out Kate for accidentally destroying the Stane Tower (which held sentimental value and was considered "irreplaceable") as part of a stupid bet (which she has to pay for and somehow replace now). She points out that, due to being rich and young her whole life, Kate thinks she's invincible while she's actually not. She warns her daughter that the world will eventually hurt her.
- Wouldn't Hurt a Child: When Clint unmasks Kate just before he's about to punch her, he notices how young she is and just growls an annoyed, "Come on!" while letting go of her.
- You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: Clint's reaction when he discovers someone who's basically Just a Kid has gotten her hands on the Ronin suit.
