We’ve known for a long time that Clint Barton would be getting a new superhero alter ego in Avengers: Endgame, swapping the bow and arrows of Hawkeye for the katana and martial arts skills of Ronin. The trailer for the fourth Avengers movie even gave us our first look at Ronin in action, as he sliced up some Yakuza goons in Tokyo, complete with Jeremy Renner’s new do.
This wasn’t the character in full costume, though, as some leaked images of Endgame action figures tell us that Ronin will have a face mask, too. As you can see in the gallery below, Barton will indeed don a dark hood and a balaclava cowl with an eye-slit, and this toy gives us a pretty good look at it.
Fans of the source material will notice that this is a totally different mask from the one Ronin wears in the comics, in which he has no hood and an overall black mask with Black Panther-like white eyes. Perhaps this was changed to make the outfit look more practical and realistic and also to prevent it from looking too similar to the fallen king of Wakanda. Regardless of the reason behind the alteration, we definitely dig the hero’s appearance and can’t wait to see more.
So far, Marvel fans are pretty sure they’ve worked out what causes Clint to come out of retirement and revamp his style. As Captain America’s voiceover in the trailer mentions how folks have lost their families thanks to Thanos right as a clip of Ronin is shown, it certainly seems likely that Clint’s wife and kids were turned to dust as a consequence of the Decimation in Avengers: Infinity War.
That remains unconfirmed, of course, as any and all details on the character’s role in the film remain under lock and key, but after missing him in Infinity War, we’re beyond eager to catch Ronin in action when Avengers: Endgame hits theaters in April and will hopefully get to see more of him in the upcoming trailers and TV spots, which should start to pour out onto the web over the next few months.