Kate Bishop
Kate Bishop is a comic book character that first appeared in Young Avengers #1
A member, unofficial leader, and the financial benefactor of the Young Avengers.
Joining the Young Avengers
The daughter of publishing magnate Derek Bishop, Kate was born into a life of privilege and luxury, though she never fully embraced her father's self-serving attitude, instead taking after her mother and contributing to a variety of social causes. The death of her mother while she was doing charity work overseas and her father's single-minded focus on his business meant that Kate learned to chart her own course early on in life. Sometime after her mother died, Kate was attacked in Central Park during a nighttime walk, and while the precise nature of this attack has never been clearly stated, it is implied that she was sexually assaulted. Turning her sense of grief, shame and helplessness towards positive ends, Kate began a rigourous training regimen, schooling herself in the arts of archery, fencing, sword fighting, self defense, and several other types of combat, all in an attempt to prepare herself against such an attack in the future and prevent it from happening to others.
Kate met the Young Avengers during her older sister's wedding when gunmen took the entire church hostage. Her quick thinking played a large part in the gunmen's defeat when things took a bad turn fo r the Young Avengers. Afterwards, Kate met Cassie Lang and the two became quick friends, travelling to the ruins of Avengers Mansion and joining the team even they were threatened by Kang the Conquerer. Kate's father is very wealthy and she used this money to get new uniforms for the team after their originals were confiscated by Captain America & Iron Man, while Kate was a major driving force in keeping the team active and afloat after being shut down by the older heroes. The team also uses an empty building owned by her father as a base. After Patriot was injured during the battle between the Kree and Skrulls Empires over their teammate Hulkling, Kate stood up to Captain America about their need for training. Impressed and somewhat humbled by Kate's words, Captain America gave her the code name Hawkeye and Clint Barton's bow and arrows.
Civil War and Beyond
Kate and the rest of the Young Avengers were aligned with Captain America's forces, after the Secret Avengers freed them from the custody of SHIELD's Capekiller units. Alongside the rest of the team, the new Hawkeye travelled to LA during the conflict to assist the Runaways, and the two teams would join forces against the threat of the Warden and Marvel Boy. Kate was disappointed by her friend Stature's decision to register with the government after the death of Goliath, but remained supportive of her friend, and the two parted fairly amicably. Also during the conflict, she, Patriot and the new Vision encountered Bucky for the first time, and assisted him in bringing down a cell of HYDRA, an experience she would remember vividly months afterward.
Following the victory of Iron Man's forces in the Civil War, Hawkeye has remained with the rebel superheroes, often teaming up with Patriot while on patrol. Shortly before the funeral of Captain America, Hawkeye and Patriot were confronted by Clint Barton, the original Hawkeye (at the time dressed in Cap's uniform and bearing his shield). Unaware of his true identity, Kate lambasted him for usurping the name and costume of Captain America and acting as a puppet of the United States government. In the process, she explained that she had chosen the name of Hawkeye not to replace the original, but to honor him, and would act accordingly as he might have. Stunned by this revelation, Barton let the two Young Avengers go, even referring to Kate as Hawkeye before abandoning Iron Man to join Luke Cage's New Avengers.
Kate would continue to have many adventures with the team, including helping Patriot locate Bucky once more (as well as take down an AIM base in the process), and help her close friend Stature after she accidentally injured her father in a fight with the Growing Man. As time passed, she and Eli would continue to grow fond of one another, and they eventually went out on a date in Central Park. Unfortunately, the date turned out to be a disaster, as Kate, still uncertain of her feelings, rebuffed Eli's suggestion that they form an official relationship. Meanwhile, the impromptu ambush and sparring session initiated by Ronin (actually Clint Barton in disguise), didn't help matters. Accepting Ronin's offer to meet at the headquarters of the New Avengers, Kate was shocked to discover that he was Barton, back from the dead, and that he had called her there to test her worthiness of bearing the Hawkeye mantle. Losing out both the name and the bow in an archery contest with Barton, Kate eventually took up Speed's offer for a date, and to steal the bow back from the Avengers. While she did manage to retrieve the bow, her theft had not gone unnoticed by Barton, who saw this as a sign that Kate was willing to stand up for what she believed in, and would not back down in the face of a challenge. Officially giving his blessing to her using the Hawkeye name and bow, as well as promising to let her run the Young Avengers as she saw fit, Barton followed it up with a present: an old picture of the Avengers back from the "Kooky Quartet" days. Now validated as Hawkeye, Kate ended up choosing Patriot over Speed, asking her teammate to be patient with her and give her some time.
Secret Invasion and Dark Reign
During the " Chaos Cascade" crisis, Kate Bishop was turned to stone along with Hulkling, Patriot, Wiccan, and Speed, part of the random magical effects generated by the spellwork of the Darkhold. Hawkeye is also present along with the rest of the team during the events of "Dark Reign: Young Avengers" series, which sees the team face a rival team of the same name inspired by action of Norman Osborn's Dark Avengers. The initial meeting between the two teams erupts into violence, and Kate finds herself facing down the heavily-armed Executioner, holding her own against him, and when Melter's team tries out for positions in the real Young Avengers, the two work together to face a horde of robots released by HAMMER. Unfortunately, Kate's problems with the "Young Masters" are only just beginning, as the Executioner uses his newfound revelation of Kate's secret identity to blackmail his way onto the Young Avengers. While she rejects Wiccan's suggestion to have his memory altered, Hawkeye is stil very concerned about the situation, feeling that the presence of the Young Masters will only serve to corrupt them and ruin their good intentions.
Powers and Abilities
As a baseline human, Kate Bishop possesses no superhuman abilities. However, a continuing program of highly intensive training has granted her a high level of skill in archery, swordfighting (both with heavier broadswords and lighter fencing blades) and unarmed combat. Kate also possesses a significant stock of fighting equipment, including Clint Barton's bow, Mockingbird's battle staves, the blade of the original Swordsman, and a wide variety of trick arrows, including ones mounted with EMP or tranquilizer arrowheads.
| Super Name: | Kate Bishop |
| Real Name: | Katherine Elizabeth Bishop |
| Aliases: |
Hawkeye Hawkingbird |
| Publisher: | Marvel Publishing |
| Gender: | Female |
| Character Type: | Human |
| 1st Appearance: | Young Avengers #1 |
| Appears in: | 88 issues |
| Birthday: | |
| Died: |
a list of 27 items by Renascence
