Every new Avengers: Endgame TV spot or trailer gives us one more sliver of footage from the year’s most anticipated movie and that’s no different with this latest promo, which serves up a fresh look at Ronin – that’s Clint Barton, the hero formally known as Hawkeye, to you and me – in action.
Yes, the Avenger who’s always been mocked for having just one particular skillset will prove that he can do more than fire arrows as he’ll swap his quiver for a katana in Endgame, as well as taking on the alter ego of Ronin. Towards the end of the promo seen above, a brief clip shows Barton slicing his way through some Yakuza goons in Tokyo. It’s the sort of bloody action we’re used to seeing in, say, Daredevil or The Punisher rather than in an Avengers movie, so we’re hoping this’ll be an awesome sequence in its proper context.
But what is its proper context? Well, the first Endgame trailer featured a clip that must follow on directly from this scene, as Ronin is seen standing over a sea of bodies while wiping his sword on his sleeve. It’s then revealed – well, at least the editing makes it look that way – that Black Widow is standing behind him, with tears in her eyes.
It hasn’t been directly confirmed so far, but it’s easy to guess that the reason for both Barton’s dark turn and his coming out of retirement in the first place is because he lost his wife and kids in the Decimation. Seeing as he’s been out of active hero duty since Age of Ultron – baring a brief scuffle with Team Iron Man in Civil War – that’s got to be the only thing that would get him to team up with the other remaining heroes to defeat Thanos.
Regardless of what the reason is for this dark turn, we look forward to seeing what else the mohawk-sporting ex-Hawkeye can do when Avengers: Endgame hits theaters in just a few short days, on April 26th.