Fictional Women Around the World: Kate Bishop

In preparation for the show Hawkeye, we cover the history of comic book character Kate Bishop and the journey that led her to being a superhero, powers or not. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:05):
Hey, this is Annie and Samantha and welcome to stuff
I've never told your production of I Hire Radio. Quick
content warning on this one very brief mentioned of sexual assaults.
We're not really not going to go to it into
it at all, but just to put that out there, um,

(00:27):
so that you are aware. So as this comes out,
it has just been Disney plus day. All this stuff
happened on Disney for us. All these announcens are raid
trailers are coming out. But also the new series Hawkeye
is set to debut tomorrow November one, which again I

(00:48):
have no idea when you're listening to this, but as
of now, that's how it's supposed to be there. And
it stars Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye and Hayley Steinfeld as
his protege, Kate Bishop, who I told we forgot voice
Spider Gwynn and into the Spider verse. So it's more
multiverse confusion that Spider Man is adding into all of
this because Catherine Hahn was in one division, right, but

(01:14):
I feel like with the animated is a little difference,
so they can rip like they can have other actors
portray these and it wouldn't be such a big shock
it's true. But now the Multiverse Spider Man No Way
Home trailer is supposed to come out today, and I
don't know why people are tweeting about it so much
when it's not out yet. But I know that there's
multiverse stuff in there as well, but it doesn't necessarily

(01:37):
have Hollie Steinfeld maybe no, but it's got like Alfred
Molina's dot cock. I think William Dafoe is in there.
I think maybe the other Spider Man's are in there.
They were not necessarily going to see the animated version
in there, are we do? We see Miles. It's trending

(01:58):
on Twitter, but I never click on strending on Twitter,
so I never know why. That's my kind of rule.
It just gives me kind of like, this is what's happening.
I hope it's not terrible. Yes. The show also features
the Native American deaf actress a Laqua Cox as Mya Lopez,

(02:20):
a k a. The Deaf hero Echo, who is getting
her own spin off series, UM and I'm excited to
return in a future episode to talk about her after
that show comes out. I'm not sure when it's coming out.
It is interesting to talk about something before it's come
out because who knows. Hopefully this is good, but it
could be. But in preparation for this show, we're gonna

(02:41):
focus on Kate Bishop, primarily her appearances in the comics
and the recent Avengers video game. If you want to
go in not knowing anything because I know some I
have some friends like that, skip this one and come
back later. You can't skip it, though, Samantha, you have
to have to listen. I guess you just put in

(03:01):
like air canceling. Just look, this is just a solo
Anie episode. So some history, and it's very condensed because yes,
a lot happens in these comics, y'all a lot. Um So.
Catherine Kate Bishop was first introduced in two thousand five

(03:23):
and Young Avengers number one, created by Alan Heinberg and
Jim Chung, and she was pretty well received, especially unfortunately
for women, a female character in these comics. Um and
now she's a fan favorite. She got a solo comic
in she has appeared in several comics, in video games,
and now the news show I'm assuming beyond um She's

(03:47):
really fun to play. In the Avengers video game. You
can do some cool teleporting things with her arrows. That um,
keep keep going? It was I waited. Yes, I know
it's complicated, but essentially no. There's also a new five
part comic series coming out called Hawkeye Kate Bishop written

(04:09):
by Marikae Nishkamp, illustrated by Enid Balaam, with cover illustrated
by Janoy Lindsay. And I hope that I am pronouncing
those correctly. Case the youngest daughter of a rich family
living in Manhattan. They're all rich? Why are they all rich?
There seems to be really extremes here. She's gonna afford
all her gadgets, I guess so. And her mother died

(04:30):
at a young age. Of course, someone has to die.
So Kate grew up often feeling pretty lonely. In part
because of this, she developed really independent, stubborn personality, and
it's absolutely determined to help people. That's good. That's different.
She spends a lot of her free time at soup
kitchens and women's shelters. Good on her, yes the fictional character, Yes,

(04:51):
good on you, fictional Cave Bishop. That's a child. She
witnesses some suspicious interactions of her father with some other people,
and she follows him one night where he meets up
with criminal l Matador. Kate gets captured with the intent
of being ransomed. Unbeknownst to your father, he misses this
whole thing, but she manages to escape, helped along by

(05:13):
the timely arrival of the Avengers. She is especially impressed
with the archer Hawkeye, who has no superpowers, and he
becomes her role model. After experiencing a sexual assault, Kate
grows more isolated and traumatized and decides to learn several
forms of self defense and combat. She becomes proficient and
martial arts, swords and archery. She goes to therapy as well. Yeah.

(05:37):
While at her sister's huge two hundred person wedding, she
encounters the Young Avengers, who attempt to save her and
the other guests. However, they accidentally set a fire and
get ticket hostage themselves. Kate manages to free the young
Avengers with throwing Star and they flee the scene before
the police arrive. Well, while wasn't any super guardian avengered

(06:00):
are where's the Gardeners here? Later, Man's daughter, Yeah, Cassie

(06:20):
Lane catches up with Kate. I'm guess she's a young
Avenger as well, Yes, and together they check down the
young Avengers, where they are hiding out at the destroyed
Avengers mansion. Didn't the Avengers Center get built back up?
I don't understand. I thought, like, after the clap, where
were they the whole time? Then, well, not the clap,

(06:43):
don't you can't snap it's true or getting off off
topic here, I think that in this how to condense this,
it's different than in the movies. We'll just say okay,
we'll just say okay, so maybe it'll be different. Then
all right. I was just very confused. So k and
Cassie basically say we're on a team. Now, yeah, we're

(07:03):
on the team. Hello. Soon after that, King the Conqueror
attacks the Mansions. Kate grabbed some items around the mansions
to assemble her superhero outfit, including one of Hawkeye's bow. Together,
the Young Avengers saved the world, and Kate and Cassie
are made prominent members. Nice yes um and by the way,
the twins Wanda gay Bird to in one division. They

(07:24):
are members of the Young Avengers and the comics who
knows what they'll do here. It does feel like they're
introducing all the Young Avengers because also, Kid Loki, where's
a Young Avenger? Isaiah Bradley's grandson is Patriot, a young
Avenger who was introduced in Falcon and the Winter Soldiers.
So they're setting off a lot of stuff though so
who knows all right? Though, Captain America slash Steve Rogers
and Iron Man slash Tony Stark don't like what the

(07:48):
young Avengers are up to and order them to break
up and call it off UM. So Kate uses some
of her family's money UH to hit them a new
headquarters along with weapons, uniforms UM, and the whole will
endeavor is led by her and Patriot. However, Kate discovers
that in order to get super soldier abilities, Patriot have
been taking the mutant growth hormone, and this is something

(08:10):
that really tests their friendship. Patriot gets hurt and Kate
calls out Captain America, blaming him for not giving them
the proper training. UM Impressed, the Captain America sins Jessica
Jones to deliver Hawk Eyes original Voe and Arrows, along
with a note asking her to take on the Hawkeye
code name. Apparently, Clint slash Hawkeye has been one of

(08:30):
the few to call him out like Kate had, and
Kate excepts after the events of Civil War in the comics,
which are very different than what happens in the movies.
I will say, so most of this was to be
different in the show, I would guess. I'm sure they'll
have pieces of it, like from just from the trailer alone,
I'm like, Okay, I see this storyline. I see this storyline.
But in the comics, Civil War was very, very different. Uh.

(08:55):
I'm pretty sure Captain America dies. Clint dies and then
is resurrected by Wanda. Um that's the whole thing. But anyway, okay, um.
She Kate accidentally gives Clint a dressing down because he's
wearing Captain America's uniform and carrying his shield, by the way,
at Tony Stark's request, who may or may not have
had him assassinated. And oh also, Steve Rogers wanted Bucky Barnes,

(09:19):
the Winter Soldier to be Captain America. And oh yeah,
Clint had just been resurrected from the dead by Scarlett,
which he rewrote the reality. Like I said, a lot
happens in these comics. And Kate says she took on
the Hawkeye mantel to honor Hawkeye, not disrespect his memory,
which is what she feels Clint Captain America is doing.

(09:41):
Clint decides to go his own way after that um,
but the pair encounter again soon after, Clint as his
alter ego Ronan, and they fight because Clint is testing
if she's worthy for the Hawkeye mantel, and eventually he
officially passes it on to her Guardians of the Galaxy.
Uh No, Ronan the kind of dark Hawkeye that was

(10:02):
in Avengers Infinity War, remember in black Water. Had to
go find him and he was like killing people. Oh
when he got his mind altered. No no, no, no no, no,
when he got oh no no, when he was like
because he's lost his family. Yeah, okay, okay, okay. Why

(10:24):
would they use the same name. Oh well, I mean
that's not even the most confusing same name situation that's
going on in here. I'll tell you all right, So
let's move on. So they all go on to team
up to fight street level crime in New York. They
take on a notorious group of circus performers, rescue a
kiddapped girl, and Kate extracts a captured Clint in Madropor.

(10:44):
Clint reveals that he'd given her his bow because the
mafia was threatening him. She returns the bow and tells
him he should stop running from his problems. Very good advice.
Kate and Clint spend some time chasing some threast through
the multiverse. Okay. At one point, Superstorm Sandy is a
plot point where Kate is helping people who are strained. Nice.

(11:05):
Kate goes through several heartbreaks. She's a young team. She
tries to tell Clint the significance of their partnership in
her life, but he's asleep. They do this a lot too.
She grows frustrated with the choices he's making and goes
to l A, only to realize her father has cut
her off runt row to make money, She offers her
services as quote half a superhero have a private eye

(11:28):
and starts working some cases. So is she going to
join up with Jessica Jones? Through this, she learns more
about her father's misdeeds and a threat to Clint's life,
so she returns to New York. Yes, um so Clinton
her kind of makeup, and they started going on missions
together again. But after a disagreement around children who had
been experimented on, Kate wanted to save them Clint argued

(11:52):
that they were weapons. Um, their relationship was once again strained,
and Team Hawkeyes they sometimes were called because they were
two hawk Eyes existing once took a break and Kate
went on to operate on her own for a while,
avoiding attachments and sort of isolating herself. Clint tries to
make things up to her by rescuing the kids and
tells Kate that she is his best friend. Um, and

(12:14):
she tells him he is still her hero. Uh. And
then there's more multiverse time travel stuff legal drama. After
Clint is put on trial and acquitted for the Hulks murder,
causing the media to focus on the quote other Hawkeye
Kate wondering if she's destined for violence, She struggles with
guilt for what happened in anger at Clint for keeping
secrets from her. She comes back to LA and starts

(12:36):
off a detective agency Hawkeye Investigations. Oh. Um, so that's
a very condensed as you can probably tell history of
this character so far. One of the big things about
her she doesn't have superpowers. And here's a quote. I
have no powers and not nearly enough training, but I'm
doing this anyway, being as superhero is amazing. Everyone should

(12:58):
try it. She smart, she's strong, she's fast, She's proficient
in a lot of combat styles. UM one of the best,
the world's best known archers. She has a strong sense
of right and wrong, and she usually comes down on
the side of protecting people's rights in this superhero world.
And she can play the cello. It's also a running
jokes that she doesn't really have a code name or
that's kind of confusing once Clinton Barton returns and they're

(13:20):
both using the same code name. She's been called task
Mistress because her reflexes in memory are so good. She's
like the Taskmaster Hawking Bird for her mashup of costumes,
Bishop Nitress, hawk At, Lady Hawkman, Lady Hawkeye Hawkys. There's
a lot, a bunch of them. I do think it's
interesting that there is this plot line of sexual trauma
in this one UM, which she only shares with her

(13:42):
therapist and Jessica Jones. And also there are a string
of one night stands and hookups. Uh, and she finds
Bucky Barnes attractive. I just thought that was interesting. But
she also has some strong friendships with women. I think
one of the reasons that all of Us stood out
is because a lot of what I read growing up
didn't have this kind of stuff, and if it did,

(14:02):
it was told from the male perspective and definitely used
as much more of like a plot point to further
along the male storyline. So just interesting. Yeah, we'll see
how it goes. Is she going to join the Contessa's
Mirror Avengers team? Because I hear Florence Hughes Yelena is
going to show up in this Hawkeye show, which is

(14:22):
interesting due to what she believes about Hockey's Hawkeyes involvement
in Black Widows Death. Um are they studying up young
of Injurs? Um, Cassie Lane has just been recast, presumably
for her bigger role. There's also the West Coast of
injurs which is a thing. And yes, also Disney Plus
saw your role. There is too much, just too many shows.

(14:43):
So yeah, because I was gonna say, the girl who's
I think supposedly been recast for Cassie Lane is the
girl from Supernatural, uh if I remember correctly. And yeah,
I thought the whole push of the in credit scene
was so that they had the whole plotline in credit
scene from from Black Widow was it though they had
a beginning plotline for hot guy. That's what I thought too,

(15:07):
But I mean, I we could be wrong, but if
she's showing up, then that makes me think that it's
at least going to be something to do with that,
because now she is now the black widow. That's what
I heard it s chili Again. It depends on which
way they go, but she's definitely like the mirror black
widow or the quote new black widow. But there are many,

(15:30):
many options and many pass for them. Do you choose
and we will see which one they go with. Yeah,
so hopefully it's good. Maybe we'll have more thoughts and
we'll return to it after we watch it in the meantime. Listeners,
you know, we always love hearing it from you. If
you would like to email as you can or email

(15:52):
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