Ultimates #5 continues to build out the team, bringing in the new Ultimate version of a classic Avenger, Hawkeye. And just like in the core Marvel Universe, the new Ultimate Hawkeye kicks off their career as an outlaw with a quiver full of trick arrows.
But unlike most of the heroes created through Tony Stark’s tech, Tony wants his bow and arrows back – and he’s dispatching Captain America to reclaim them. This sets up the new Ultimate Hawkeye to channel the classic Clint Barton energy from their old school set of trick arrows right down to the chip they have on their shoulder against Cap.
Still, there’s a deeper layer to the new Ultimate Hawkeye that continues The Ultimates’ current trend of putting tragic and socially timely twists on the new heroes the title introduces.
Spoilers ahead for Ultimates #5
Ultimates #5 by writer Deniz Camp, artist Juan Frigeri, colorist Federico Blee, and letterer Travis Lanham kicks off as several recent issues have with Tony Stark looking in on one of the orbs he sent out back at the start of the new Ultimate Universe, which were meant to empower people who would have been heroes had the villainous Maker not interfered with the timeline, such as Spider-Man.
But in this case, Tony discovers that the “self-printing” quiver of trick arrows and accompanying high-tech bow and archery gear was abandoned by its intended recipient (presumably Clint Barton), and discovered by an unknown person who uses the weapons to destroy environmentally-damaging Roxxon sites – while also preventing further environmental contamination.
Tony tasks Captain America with retrieving the weapons and disarming the outlaw, but Steve has reservations, pointing out to Tony that the archer is doing exactly what Tony sent out the weapons and powers to do, which is disrupting the machinations of the Maker such as Roxxon’s environmental devastation. But Tony responds that his weapons have already gotten enough people hurt, and that he can’t be responsible for what a random person does with them.
Cap identifies the outlaw archer as Charli Ramsey, an Indigenous member of the Oglala band of the Lakota Nation, tracking them to a Roxxon site they’re about to destroy. Addressing Cap as “Cowboy,” as in “cowboys and Indians,” Charli engages him with a whole arsenal of trick arrows that are created on demand by the Stark-tech quiver they wear on their back. They fire everything they have at Cap, from taser arrows, to knockout gas arrows, to acid arrows, and many more, nearly fighting Cap to a standstill.
All the while, Charli explains to Captain America, who went into the ice when the United States (which have been disbanded and divided into new territories in the new Ultimate Universe) still existed, and the symbols Steve wears mean something very different to Indigenous people who experienced genocide and racism at the hands of colonizing white people throughout America’s history.
Steve doesn’t argue, instead citing some of the history of the new Ultimate Universe he’s learned since being unfrozen by Tony as part of the formation of the Ultimates. But he does take the opportunity to subtly test Charli’s combat abilities and learn more about who they are through the fight.
Charli says they saw Tony Stark’s holographic message to the intended recipient, likening it to a spirit vision, and says they have claimed the name Charli Hawks-Eyes in the tradition of his ancestors (which Charli later confesses is kind of a partial joke on Steve, playing on stereotypes about Native American culture). They explain that they’re destroying Roxxon sites because they pollute his native land, and other methods of countering them, such as protest and political action, have only led to crackdowns and arrests, and even violence against the protestors.
And though Charli lives up to their chosen name, missing only one shot against Steve, that one whiff gives Cap the opening he needs to subdue them, just as a horde of Roxxon mercenaries arrive. This gives Steve an opportunity to offer to fight side by side with Charli against the mercenaries, which Charli accepts.
Steve and Charli stand back-to-back, fighting down a force of “thousands” of Roxxon mercs. That seems a bit exaggerated, but there is a staggering number of enemies which Cap and Charli manage to plow through, working together with the power of the Stark-tech quiver’s arsenal of trick arrows.
As the battle reaches a lull, Steve tells Charli they need to escape – together. When Charli questions if Steve is going to take back the quiver, he says he never intended to, and that the entire fight was essentially an audition for the Ultimates. Nicknaming Charli “Hawkeye,” says he intends to tell Stark he “didn’t miss” when he got the bow and quiver into Charli’s hands.
And with that, the Ultimates grow by one – just in time for the new Ultimate Hulk, one of the Maker’s secret cadre of villains, to declare his plans to kill all the Ultimates in one fell swoop.
That battle is fated to take place in November 6’s Ultimates #6, and we’re frankly more than a little worried that not everyone will make it out alive.
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