Going dark
The next Avengers film, Endgame, picks up just before the snap. Clint is enjoying himself at home, teaching his daughter Lila archery:
[Clint corrects his daughter's foot to the proper position, and adjusts her shooting stance.]
CLINT BARTON: Here. Can you see?
LILA BARTON: Yeah.
CLINT BARTON: You sure?
LILA BARTON: Mhm. [Clint pushes Lila's hair in front of her face while covering her left eye.]
CLINT BARTON: How about now? [Both Lila and Clint giggle, it then shows a target nailed on a tree, and the rest of Barton family having a picnic in the field.] Alright. Ready your fingers.
LAURA BARTON: Hey, you guys want mayo or mustard, or both? [Lila proceeds to look at Clint.]
LILA BARTON: Who wants mayo on a hotdog?
CLINT BARTON: Probably your brothers.
[Clint looks at his wife, Laura]
CLINT BARTON: Uh, two mustard, please! Thanks, mama.
[Laura speaks to Nathaniel, who wants ketchup]
CLINT BARTON: Mind your elbow. [Lila releases the arrow and it hits the target directly in the bullseye.] Hahaha! Good job, Hawkeye. [they high five] Go get your arrow.
LAURA BARTON: Hey guys! Enough practice, soup's on!
CLINT BARTON: Alright, we're coming; we're hungry.
[Clint looks behind him, but there's no one there, but dust being blown away by the wind.] Lila, let's go. [Clint starts to look around] Lila? [Clint starts to move and look around, and pick up the bow she had.] Honey? [Clint looks around to see Laura and the boys, only they are gone now. He looks seriously panicked and confused as he hurriedly drops the arrows and jogs over to where they were.] Hey, babe! Babe? Babe? Boys? Boys? Laura?!
This is the worst nightmare for any parent, to turn around and you’re family is missing – as Clint is unaware of Thanos and the Snap.
Nothing is said about Clint after Tony returns to Earth, three weeks after the Snap, but everyone wants to undo what Thanos did.
NATASHA ROMANOFF: Even if there's a small chance that we can undo this... I mean we owe it to everyone who's not in this room to try.
BRUCE BANNER: If we do this, how do we know it's gonna end any differently than it did before?
CAROL DANVERS: Because before, you didn't have me.
RHODEY: Hey, new girl, everyone here is about that superhero life. And if you don't mind my asking, where the hell have you been all this time?
CAROL DANVERS: There are a lot of other planets in the universe. And unfortunately, they didn't have you guys.
[Thor, who has been eating a snack behind all this time, stands up and walks over to Carol. She looks behind at him. He holds his hand up, and catches Stormbreaker as it flies over to him, missing Carol by inches. But Carol doesn't even flinch, instead smiling at the God of Thunder.]
Thor: I like this one. [smiles]
STEVE ROGERS: Let's go get this son of a bitch.
[they locate Thanos alone on a planet]
THANOS: I used the stones to destroy the stones. It nearly killed me. But the work is done. It always will be. [sits himself a little straighter.] I am... inevitable.
RHODEY: We have to tear this place apart, he-he-he has to be lying.
NEBULA: My father is many things. A liar is not one of them.
THANOS: Ah, thank you, daughter. [Nebula looks down, a little uncomfortable.] Perhaps I treated you too harshly.
[We see Thor's face filled with rage as he raises to summon Stormbreaker, and before anyone can stop him, SLICES Thanos' head off. Thanos' limp body falls to the floor. Nebula wipes off some of the blood spatter.]
ROCKET: What... What did you do?
[Thor looks broken, realizing what he has done.]
THOR: I went for the head.
[Thor slowly walks out of the shed, no real purpose in his steps as the screen blurs to nothingness.]
FIVE.
YEARS.
LATER.
The five years have clearly taken a toll on everyone, but noticeably among the “new team”, Barton is absent.
[The Avengers cut off their calls one by one...]
CAROL DANVERS: [To Rhodey] Good luck. [cuts off call]
[Except for Rhodes. Nat sighs exhausted, and sits down, as she notices Rhodes still online in the call.]
NATASHA ROMANOFF: Where are you?
RHODEY: Mexico. The Federales found a room full of bodies. Looks like a bunch of cartel guys. Never even had the chance to get their guns off.
NATASHA ROMANOFF: It's probably a rival gang.
RHODEY: Except it isn't. (Nat realizes something.) It's definitely Barton. What he's done here, what he's been doing for the last few years... I mean, the scene that he left... (Nat starts to show signs of sadness as she gradually tears up.) I gotta tell you, there's a part of me that doesn't even want to find him.
(In an abrupt moment of silence, she tries to chew her tears and emotional feelings as she eats a sandwich.)
NATASHA ROMANOFF: Will you find out where he's going next?
RHODEY: Nat...
NATASHA ROMANOFF: Please.
RHODEY: [reluctantly] Okay. [then Rhodes cuts off his]
[Nat starts to cry as she tries to hold back her tears miserably.]
This is heart-breaking. Everyone has clearly tried to “make the best” of the situation following the Snap, but from this scene, it’s told us that Clint has gone dark – it’s not hard to grasp, he lost his wife and three children, that’s enough to make anyone lose their mind and forgive the expression: snap.
Natasha is clearly distraught as she’s lost her best friend as she asks Rhodes to find him, meaning she probably hasn’t seen him for at least 3 of the 5 years. [I’m guessing]
And forgive me for saying, Clint Barton is no “young buck”. It sounds like he’s doing this thing solo, and causing a lot of damage, which show’s he’s clearly deadly and not someone to be messed with.
Take that and smoke it to all the haters who’s been on saying he’s the most expendable – Rhodes sounds SCARED of him!!
[Steve sits with Natasha]
STEVE ROGERS: You know, I keep telling everybody they should move on and... grow. Some do. But not us.
NATASHA ROMANOFF: If I move on, who does this?
STEVE ROGERS: Maybe it doesn't need to be done.
NATASHA ROMANOFF: [Deep in her thoughts] I used to have nothing. And then I got this. This job... this family. And I was... I was better because of it. And even though... they're gone... I'm still trying to be better.
STEVE ROGERS: I think we both need to get a life.
NATASHA ROMANOFF: [Smiling] You first.
They way Natasha says job and family, it’s clear all the Avengers mean everything to her. And the brokenness in her voice when she says “I'm still trying to be better.” Is chilling, and if you know what’s coming, horribly foreshadowing. We know she has an awful past, which clearly is STILL haunting her after many years.
[Just throwing this out there as it plays a major part later on, when Scott Lang returns to the team, they go and visit Tony, who’s now married to Pepper and has a young daughter called Morgan]
NATASHA ROMANOFF: Tony... We have to take a stand.
TONY STARK: We did stand. And yet, here we are.
SCOTT LANG: I know you got a lot on the line. You got a wife, a daughter. But I lost someone very important to me. A lot of people did. [His voice gets louder as he tries to sell his desperation to Tony.] And now, now we have a chance to bring her back. To bring everyone back. And you're telling me that won't even...
TONY STARK: That's right, Scott, I won't even. I got a kid.
[Morgan runs to her dad, who picks her up.]
MORGAN STARK: Mommy told me to come and save you.
TONY STARK: Good job. I'm saved. [Turning to face Cap, Nat and Scott.] I wish you'd come here to ask me something else. Anything else. Honestly, I... I missed you guys, it was... Oh, and table's set for six.
STEVE ROGERS: Tony, I get it. And I'm happy for you, I really am. But this is a second chance.
TONY STARK: I got my second chance right here, Cap. I can't roll the dice again. If you don't talk shop, you can stay for lunch.
This is interesting and enlightening. Tony is now a father, and he doesn’t want to risk losing what he has now.
Later on though, he changes his mind as looking at a picture of himself and Peter Parker / Spiderman, and I believe the guilt eats away at him – he has to help, because he has the know how to potentially pull it off.
LATER:
[After seeing a Quinjet flown to the capital, the scene cuts to a nightclub in the city of Tokyo, as the entertainment still intact, loads of dead bodies of yakuza members are seen as a hooded figure throws a shuriken at another yakuza member firing at him. They are shouting something in Japanese, as two more men come out of nowhere and draw out their UZIs.]
[I got the below from the internet, it’s their translation as the exchange was in another language]
THUG #1: It's him! He's after Akihiko!
[Both thugs fire their SMGs as both got slain by a shuriken. A yakuza member wielding a katana charges at him in the stairs, but is immediately overthrown and slain by the Ronin. Ronin then fights another sword-wielding thug, which is thrown outside the glass, killing him. The camera passes through two more buildings as the fighting ensues with different screams, shouts, more havoc inside, and gunfire. A man in a dark raincoat jumps through the glass window, with the Ronin doing the same, as both of them lands in a dark alleyway. The man in the raincoat turns to the Ronin, who just landed after him. It was Akihiko, the leader of a yakuza gang, whose head being hunted by the Ronin himself.]
AKIHIKO: Why are you doing this? We never did anything to you!)
RONIN: [As he draws out his katana and reversibly wields it.]: You survived... Half of the planet didn't. They got Thanos... you get me.)
[Both sides engaged in combat as Ronin pierces his stomach, but doing only minor damage to him.]
You're done hurting people.
AKIHIKO: [he gestures to all the scattered bodies of his henchmen and chuckles] WE hurt people? You're crazy!)
[Akihiko charges, which Ronin immediately blocks. Both clang swords for two seconds, seeming that the yakuza leader has the upper hand, but Ronin punches him in the face, and sword-points him to his throat, in which Akihiko is temporarily petrified.]
[He lowers down his sword as if he is about to surrender, but charges again at Ronin. Both swords clashed as Ronin slices his stomach, losing stamina, but gaining more strength from his rage.]
AKIHIKO: [in a Gatotsu-like sword stance] DIE!
[They both draw their katanas and the sword-fight continues. Ronin is clearly a better fighter, but Akihiko is also quite experienced. They clang swords, and for a second, it looks like Akihiko has the upper hand swinging at Ronin's neck. Ronin, however, ducks and slides under the katana, and slices Akihiko in the stomach as he slides past. Akihiko, now fatally injured, drops his katana.]
AKIHIKO: Wait! Help me! I'll give you anything! What do you want?)
RONIN: [Raising his katana] What I want... You can't give me.
[He thrusts the blade downwards into Akihiko's stomach. The body of the Japanese falls to the ground. Ronin grabs the sword, and wipes it on his gauntlet, ridding it of the blood of Akihiko. He notices someone behind him, and grabs his mask, and slides it off his head, revealing himself as Clint Barton, who has gone on a rampage since the decimation. He turns around and looks at Nat, who is standing behind him, holding an umbrella]
CLINT BARTON: You shouldn't be here.
NATASHA ROMANOFF: Neither should you.
CLINT BARTON: I've got a job to do.
NATASHA ROMANOFF: Is that what you're calling this? Killing all these people isn't gonna bring your family back. [Clint starts to look emotional, on the verge of crying.] We found something. A chance, maybe...
CLINT BARTON: [Now openly crying] Don't...
NATASHA ROMANOFF: Don't what?
CLINT BARTON: ...don't give me hope.
NATASHA: [tears up, sad] I'm sorry I couldn't give it to you sooner.
She looks at him, like PLEADING with her eyes as she holds his hand.
So, the first part of this scene, it shows in Clint’s mind, his way of coping is to kill all those that are “bad” who weren’t snapped away.
It’s a terrifying concept, but in this situation, it’s an understandable one?
He, arguably, lost the most out of everyone [that is debateable, I know not everyone will agree with that]
• A wife [his confident, and “home”]
• Three children [for any parent to lose a child it like the worst thing you can go through, all three were taken]
• A sense of self [as SHIELD and Fury are snapped and gone, he’s lost the job he’s had for about 20/25yrs [I’m guessing]
Secondly: he’s ditched his Hawkeye persona – he’s taken on a whole new mantle, even changing up his skill set from “distant” to “up close and personal”. He wants to inflict pain and death to those “unworthy” to have survived the Snap.
As a man who has dedicated his life to protecting people, this is a tragic development, but a plausible one.
I’m not saying it’s right, but given the situation, he could have gone worse. He’s not killing innocents: from the look of things, he’s after gang leaders, maybe Mafia types?
Thirdly: the bit that breaks my heart the most, is how broken he is when he removes his mask – they way he looks at Natasha, then looks away, he’s clearly ashamed of what he’s doing, and is using his pain to try and justify it.
What breaks my heart more is how devastated Natasha looks. This is a man she clearly loves and she’s now seeing her “saviour” and best friend fall into destruction that he once saved her from.
She holds his hand, to show she’s still there for him, to comfort him, he’s not alone.
Back at Headquarters, Clint volunteers to travel back in time – selfless yet still quite self-destructive, but no one else wants to, so he steps up.
BRUCE BANNER: [Turning to Clint] Alright, Clint. We're going in 3... 2... 1!
[A helmet similar to Ant-Man's but white and more visible face pops on Clint's head, and he goes quantum. Clint flies through the quantum realm and into an opening. He grows back to normal size, but he's at a different place, and seemingly, time.]
[Clint look around his family home, which unlike at the start of the movie, looks a lot more alive. The helmet pops off of Clint's head, and he looks around bewildered. He sees a baseball glove on the ground, presumably belonging to one of his sons, and picks it up. We hear a noise from inside the house, someone who Clint hasn't seen for five years.]
LILA BARTON: [offscreen] Cooper? Where are my headphones?
CLINT BARTON: [murmuring] Lila? [The device on his hand starts beeping, signalling the end of this visit] Lila! [He dives for the door, but only manages to open it before he shrinks back to go back to the future.]
[We hear footsteps coming towards where Clint has just disappeared, and we see Lila coming down the stairs in Avril Lavigne-like clothing, looking around, puzzled]
LILA BARTON: Yeah, Dad? [She looks around] Dad?
[Lila goes back upstairs, deciding that it was just nothing]
[Cut to the Avengers Compound, we see Clint rematerialise on the glass platform, breathing heavily and sitting on the platform.]
NATASHA ROMANOFF: [holds his face, worried] Hey, hey. Look at me. You okay?
CLINT BARTON: [Holding up the baseball glove and throw it to Stark] Yeah, it worked. It worked.
While they all rush to him, Natasha moves the quickest to ensure he’s alright – ever the best friends :-)
And how much agony can one endure - he was SO CLOSE to seeing his daughter, but wasn't quick enough - it gave renewed hope though.
Okay remember I said earlier that Barton lost everything? – Yeah, I’ve just been recapping and realised that his pain is rivalled by Thor:
• Both parents dead
• Brother is dead
• Friends are dead and gone [from Asgard]
• Planet is gone
Barton became a vigilante to quell his pain, Thor became a drunkard.
Everyone copes with trauma differently.
They make a list of the stones, and where they are.
THOR: Where to start? Umm... The Aether, first, is not a stone, someone called it a stone before. It's more of a... an angry sludge thing, so... someones gonna need to amend that. Here's an interesting story though, many years ago... My grandfather had to hide the stones from the Dark Elves... [He wiggles his fingers to imitate a spooky ghost] Wooooh, scary beings. So Jane, [An image of Jane Foster pops up on the screen] Oh, there she is. That's Jane... She's... an old flame of mine... She... she stuck her hand inside a rock this one time... and then the Aether stuck itself inside her... And, she became very, very sick. So I had to take her to Asgard, which is where I'm from. And we had to try and fix her. We were dating at the time, you see. I got to introduce her to my Mother... who's dead, [Thor starts to look broken, and seems on the verge of tears] and oh you know, Jane and I aren't even dating anymore, these things happen though you know, nothing last forever, [Tony starts to push him back to his chair] I'm not done yet, the only thing permanent in life is impermanence.
TONY STARK: Awesome. Eggs? Breakfast?
THOR: I'd like a Bloody Mary, thank you.
ROCKET: Quill said he stole the Power Stone from Morag.
SCOTT LANG: Is that a person?
ROCKET: Morag's a planet. Quill was a person.
NEBULA: Thanos found the Soul Stone on Vormir.
NATASHA ROMANOFF: [In a business-like tone] What is Vormir?
NEBULA: A dominion of death, at the very center of Celestial existence. It's where... Thanos murdered my sister.
[Nat looks up, and an awkward silence falls upon the room. She writes what Nebula has just said, and Scott makes to break the awkward moment.]
SCOTT LANG: Not it.
[We see Tony and Nat lying on a table surrounded by papers, and Bruce lying down on the floor. The Time Stone pops up on the display.]
NATASHA ROMANOFF: That Time Stone guy...
BRUCE BANNER: Doctor Strange.
NATASHA ROMANOFF: Yeah, what kind of doctor was he?
TONY STARK: Ear-nose-throat meets rabbit from a hat.
BRUCE BANNER: Nice place in the village, though.
TONY STARK: Yeah. Sullivan Street.
BRUCE BANNER: Hmm... Bleecker.
NATASHA ROMANOFF: Wait, he lived in New York?
TONY STARK: No. He lived in Toronto. Were you even paying attention?
NATASHA ROMANOFF: Guys, if you pick the right year, there are three stones in New York.
BRUCE BANNER: [Sitting up in surprise] Shut the front door.
[Shot cuts to the holograms displaying the different location, the Soul and Power Stones in space in 2014. the Reality Stone in Asgard, 2013; and the Space, Mind, and Time Stones in New York City, 2012]
STEVE ROGERS: All right. We have a plan. Six Stones, three teams. One shot.
[He and the other Avengers walk up and look at the screens determinedly.]
[The shot cuts to the Avengers walking in a file to the Quantum Time machine, wearing the Quantum Suits, albeit with some minor differences for different people. Rhodey has a bulkier repaint of the War machine armour. ]
STEVE ROGERS: Five years ago, we lost. All of us. We lost friends... We lost family... We lost a part of ourselves. Today, we have a chance to take it all back. You know your teams, you know your missions. Get the stones, get them back. One round trip each. No mistakes. No do-overs. Most of us are going somewhere we know. But it doesn't mean we should know what to expect. Be careful. Look out for each other. This is the fight of our lives. And we're gonna win. [Tony gives Steve a look] Whatever it takes. Good luck.
ROCKET: [refers to Steve's speaking] He's pretty good at that.
SCOTT LANG: Right? [Looks very excited]
TONY STARK: All right. You heard the man. Stroke those keys, jolly green.
BRUCE BANNER: Tractors engaged.
ROCKET: [Addressing the shrunk Benatar in Clint's hand] You promise to bring that back in one piece, right?
CLINT BARTON: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. I'll do my best.
ROCKET: As promises go, that was pretty lame.
NATASHA ROMANOFF: [Smiling excitedly] See you in a minute.
[They all shrink and enter the Quantum Realm, and they all split at different intervals, going to a different place at a different time in history.]
Thus starts what we know is going to be freaking awful – either Clint or Natasha is coming back, but they don’t know that yet.
On Asgard, Thor realises that today is the day Frigga [his mother] will die, and starts to panic.
THOR: I can't do this. I can't do this. I shouldn't be here. I shouldn't have come. This was a bad idea
ROCKET: Come here. [Standing in front of him]
THOR: No, no, no. I think I'm having...I'm having a panic attack. I shouldn't be here...this is...this is a bad-
ROCKET: Come here. Right here.
[Rocket slaps Thor in the face.]
ROCKET: You think you're the only one who lost people? What do you think we're doing here? I lost the only family I ever had. Quill, Groot, Drax, the chick with the antenna, all gone. Now, I get you miss your Mom. But she's gone. Really gone. And there are plenty of people who are only kinda gone. But you can help them. So is it too much to ask that you brush the crumbs outta your beard, make schmoopy talk to Pretty Pants, and when she's not looking, suck out the Infinity Stone and help me get my family back?
Wow! If Rocket wasn’t it top 5 for favourite / most heartbreaking character, how could he not be. He too has lost it all, and is determined for the mission to succeed – his way of getting through to Thor is a bit more abrupt that others, though it works.
Wouldn’t work in real time, getting slapped by a raccoon would be completely cuckoo.
But as he says, they don’t have time to waste – the mission is the focus.
Wow, going back over everything, everyone has more than their fair share of pain and loss.
Barton,
Thor,
Rocket,
Nebula,
Okoye,
Steve,
Tony
The list goes on and on -- if Drax were here, he'd be up there too! So would Wanda.
Sometime I forget how dark these films are.
Back to the matter at hand.
Clint and Natasha drop Rhodey and Nebula on Morag.
RHODEY: You guys watch each other's six.
[Clint and Nat look back and just smile.]
CLINT BARTON: Yeah.
[They walk back into the ship, and the hatch closes. The ship takes off and speeds out of the atmosphere of Morag.]
On the ship:
[In the Benatar, Clint and Nat are sitting at the front of the ship. The ship takes a jump through space and speeds up tremendously. Nat and Clint look at each other.]
CLINT BARTON: It's a long way from Budapest.
[Natasha just laughs.]
Sure a heart-warming moment before the devastation we know is coming.
Such a mad and sweet blissful moment, where there are genuine smiles laughs.