A new iteration of Marvel’s famous Hawkeye character appears in the franchise’s latest volume of “The Ultimates” set in Earth-6160.
“The Ultimates” presents an alternate version of the Avengers. A character called Iron Lad, “creates ready-to-go superpowers in a portable form called ‘origin boxes’ and sends them into the past,” according to Inverse.
However, a box meant for the original Hawkeye, Clint Barton, reaches him and is thrown in the trash instead, in a rejection of the task. Instead, a stranger named Charli Ramsey takes the gear and begins using the superpowers. After some investigation by other lead heroes Captain America and Iron Lad, Ramsey is discovered. In the show, Ramsey is a member of the Oglala band of the Lakota nation and identifies as Two-Spirit, using they/them pronouns.
Inverse reports that writer Deniz Camp revealed Ramsey’s character arc was inspired by the water protectors of Standing Rock when they protested the route of an oil pipeline in the area of indigenous land.
After news of this change, Camp took to X to clarify Ramsey’s identity. “So, yes, Charli’s pronouns are they/them. I didn’t want to make a big deal of it, because it’s not in the book itself, and because I don’t think Charli would make a big deal out of it in that context. But we’ll make this explicit when it’s natural to the narrative.”
The new show, which was originally announced in late 2021 is expected to be released on streaming platform Disney+ on March 20. Another new Marvel series “Agatha All Along,” which premiered this fall, features a famous Marvel queer superhero, Wiccan.
The move to add LGBTQ+ characters to family-friendly media has been one of the slowest frontiers in queer acceptance in the U.S. and across American media platforms, conglomerates, and franchises. Pink News calls Marvel’s recent efforts an “unusually good streak for queer representation” as the company has historically refrained from inclusivity when it comes to LGBTQ+ heroes.
