The Rolex in 'Hawkeye' May Be a Really, Really Big Deal
As we know by now in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, every television series and movie has a potential clue about what’s coming next. Hawkeye is no exception. In episode 4, Clint Barton (Jeremy Renner) finally revealed his connection to Ronin, and both he and Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld) met a recent addition to the MCU who will probably play a major role in the near future. But one small object is what’s causing the most conversation after the episode: a Rolex watch.
Toward the end of the episode, Clint and his wife Laura (Linda Cardellini) have a phone conversation. Presumably to hide the contents of his dangerous mission from his kids, Laura slips into Russian and talks about a mysterious Rolex salvaged from Avengers Tower. Clint says he hasn’t seen it, but promises to find it.
Once Laura tracks the watch down via a transmitter on it, Clint and Kate head to its location and prepare to retrieve it. When Kate asks, Clint says it belongs to someone who’s “been out of the game a long time” and if the watch gets in the wrong hands, it could blow their cover.
Kate grabs the watch, but we don’t get to know who the item belongs to before a fight breaks out. We could find out it’s a past Avenger in the next episode, or it’s perhaps its a longer game teaser for a future MCU project yet to come.
Here’s who we think it could be.
Who Owns the Rolex in Hawkeye Episode 4?
We can’t be 100% sure, but we have a few theories.
Tony Stark/Iron Man
An important watch can’t be just a simple watch in the MCU. It could have some classic Stark technology hidden inside of it. And if you’re a walking Marvel encyclopedia like some fans, you’ll recall there’s a partial Iron Man suit hidden in a watch, as seen in Captain America: Civil War.
Technically, he’s been out of the game a while, considering...he’s dead. Although Stark was notably the loudest of the Avengers, and didn’t exactly his identity (though perhaps this could have some connection to Peter Parker, who did hide his identity; where does Hawkeye take place relative to Spider-Man: Far From Home and Spider-Man: No Way Home?). Still, a secret Iron Man suit would be worth a ton of money, and definitely something the Avengers’ enemies would grab. Anyone who can figure out how Stark’s technology works has a major advantage in the Marvel universe.
Captain America/Steve Rogers
Who could forget Rogers’ exit at the end of Avengers: Endgame? Last we saw the first Avenger, he went back in time to finally reunite with Peggy Carter, and lived to a ripe old age. Technically he’s still alive in the MCU, although he’s no longer an active superhero. As far as the general public knows, Steve Rogers, we think, is dead. Others went to live on the moon. Seriously.
The watch could be his, and a clue to where he is now. Anyone who knows where he actually is could put old man Rogers in danger. Clint protecting his friend’s retirement makes sense based on everything we know.
Laura Barton
One person we don’t know much about is...Clint’s wife. We first met her in Avengers: Age of Ultron and besides what Clint’s revealed, there’s not much else on her background. We’ve only seen her at Clint’s house, with their kids. Sure, someone has to stay home while the other parent is out avenging, but what if she’s not who she seems?
At the start of Hawkeye, Laura isn’t with the family in New York, possibly because she doesn’t like musicals. But another theory is that she can’t leave the house. It could be because it may blow her cover as a former S.H.I.E.L.D agent perhaps, or she’s secretly a character Marvel technically already introduced: Mockingbird.
For anyone who didn’t watch Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Mockingbird is actually Bobbi Morse, who in the main Marvel Comics timeline, spent many years as Clint’s wife (by the time of Matt Fraction's Hawkeye run, on which the series is largely based, the two have divorced). The television show didn’t explore the idea that Morse (played there by Adrianne Palicki) was Clint’s wife because well, Laura already existed in the MCU, but if that show isn’t canon to the cinematic universe, Laura may be Mockingbird.
In 1983's Hawkeye Vol. 1 #2, she meets Hawkeye while on a mission for S.H.I.E.L.D and for a time, she leads the West Coast division of the Avengers. It’s possible she decided sometime before we met her in Age of Ultron to put away the Mockingbird suit and become a stay at home mom. Or, for one reason or another, Fury ordered her to lay low and stay at the Barton farm.
Barton could own a watch revealing her true identity, and Clint hid it at Avengers Tower for safe keeping.
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