New Hawkeye Easter Egg Once Again Hints At West Coast Avengers Connection

Hawkeye‘s latest episode (no. 4) has dropped yet another Easter egg reference to Marvel’s West Coast Avengers – a team that both Clint Barton and Kate Bishop have been a part of in the comics. The Easter egg reference in question is to none other than Moira Brandon, a name that few (if any) Marvel fans will recognize, even though she’s technically an Avenger. For real. Moira Brandon was in just one story in West Coast Avengers, but she managed to save Hawkeye’s life at a key moment and solidified her name in Marvel history. 

The Marvel Cinematic Universe previously invoked Moira Brandon’s name during Hawkeye episode 2. In the MCU, Moira is Kate Bishop’s aunt who is supposedly in Florida for the Christmas season; in the second episode Kate (Hailee Steinfeld) and Clint (Jeremy Renner) sneak into Moira’s apartment to use it as a “secret base of operations” for their investigation into the auction heist and Track Suit Mafia. One shot of the tenant list by the doorbells to the apartment revealed “Moira Brandon’s” name. In Hawkeye episode 4, we get a deeper look into Moira’s world. 

Episode 4 sees Clint and Kate stage their own two-person holiday party inside Moira’s apartment. Eventually, the party switches to work as Kate tries to work with Clint on a new path of investigation into their case; while doing so, Kate uses the back of an old poster for the Moira Brandon film “A Chance of Love” as her visual canvas. 

Hawkeye has kept up with making us take notice of Moira Brandon’s name and legacy, even though just establishing her apartment as a central locale would’ve been enough. However, is this a subtle motif to set up Clint, Kate, or both archers eventually taking up residence on the west coast with some new Avengers? Or just a fun set of Easter eggs for fans (like us) to dig up? 

The future of the MCU franchise is wildly (wonderfully?) unknown right now. The introduction of Kate Bishop is just one example of young, next-generation Avengers characters that we’ve gotten in Phase 4; there could easily be enough of the soon to establish some kind of hybrid of the Young Avengers/Champions/West Coast Avengers concepts in a new movie or series. If that happens, then Kate Bishop having a famous (and increasingly wealthy?) aunt on the West Coast could be key for her new team. After all, Moira’s entire role in the comics was selling her mansion to Hawkeye to become the new West Coast Avengers base.  Why deny history? 

Hawkeye is now streaming on Disney+.