Major Spoilers for “So This Is Christmas,” the 6th and final episode of “Hawkeye” season 1.
The season finale of Marvel’s “Hawkeye” answered a whole lot of questions, including a pretty big one about that mysterious watch Clint and Laura Barton were worried about.
Comics readers immediately picked up on the significance, but if you’re here, chances are it didn’t make any sense to you, so read on for the explanation.
You can refresh your memory here, but briefly, in Episode 4 we learned that while Clint was worried about recovering his Ronin costume, Laura was concerned about something else that might have been looted from the Avengers compound. And later in the episode, that something turns out to be a watch that, Clint said, belonged to someone he “used to work with” who’s “been out of the game a long time,” and could be harmed if it fell into the wrong hands.
You can see where this is going. The prevailing fan theory was that the watch belonged to Laura, and that she was the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s version of the superhero Mockingbird (we’ll explain why in a moment). And as it turns out, the fans were right this time — kind of.
At the end of “So This Is Christmas,” Clint does indeed bring the watch home to Laura, and jokes that she needs to “take better care” of her stuff. She laughs, thanks him, and flips the watch over to reveal the S.H.I.E.L.D. logo, along with the number 19 engraved on the back.
So what does that mean?
In the comics, Mockingbird is the superhero name used by Dr. Barbara “Bobbi” Morse, a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent-turned Avenger who first appeared in “Astonishing Tales #6” in 1971, written by Gerry Conway and pencilled by Barry Smith. While she’s had plenty of adventures, for the purposes of this article, all you need to know are two things: While working for S.H.I.E.L.D., her official designation was “Agent 19”; and as an Avenger, Bobbi had an off again, on again relationship with Clint Barton.
And yes, they were even married for a time. Though, unlike the happy domestic bliss the Bartons have created for themselves in the MCU, in the comics Clint and Bobbi eventually split up over a disagreement about Bobbi’s willingness to use deadly force (comics Hawkeye is generally not cool at all with killing).
But while Laura has been confirmed as the MCU’s Agent 19, we’re not certain she’s the MCU’s version of Mockingbird. Because Bobbi Morse, played by Adrianne Palicki, appeared as a major character in the second and third seasons of “Agents of SHIELD.” There, she was the ex-wife of a guy named Lance Hunter (Nick Blood), rather than Hawkeye.
It’s true that Morse was never explicitly called Mockingbird during her “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” appearances. But at Comic-Con 2014, during the Marvel television presentation she was explicitly referred to by that name when it was announced the character was joining the show. We have no idea if that even counts, however.
So, is Laura really Mockingbird? For now, the answer is technically no, pending further clarification from Marvel. All we know for certain is that Laura was, at one time, a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent code-named Agent 19, who is now married to Clint Barton. Similar, but not the same as the Agent 19 who married Clint in the comics. We have no idea if she was actually a superhero, working with people a la the Avengers, like her husband.
We suppose it depends on how much of “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” Marvel still considers canon.