The well-established Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) has given us some pretty iconic ships: Pepperony (Pepper Potts and Tony Stark), Steggy (Steve Rogers and Peggy Carter) and Starmora (Star-Lord and Gamora), to name a few. It seems like almost every superhero and non-superhero alike has been paired up with someone, including one of the Avenger’s most overlooked members, Clint Barton, AKA Hawkeye.
As fans discovered in 2015’s Avengers: Age of Ultron, Clint is quite the family man with a wife and three kids. Backtrack just a little bit, though, to 2012’s The Avengers when Clint didn’t have a family — when he had his best friend, fellow Avenger Natasha Romanoff (AKA Black Widow), fighting tooth and nail to free him of Loki’s mind-control.
Now, I get it, you can watch The Avengers and think there’s nothing going on with Natasha and Clint apart from them being close friends. But, if you watch it again, and you really take a look at the characters, you might realize there’s something deeper that could be going on — and here’s why that should’ve been so:
- Their History Creates the Perfect Backstory
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For starters, The Avengers seemingly set the two up perfectly; you can cut the tension between them with a knife during the scene where Clint and Natasha are talking after Clint has broken out of Loki’s mind-control.
We also learn about how they met in The Avengers. At some point in the past, Clint was sent on a mission to kill Natasha because she was working as an assassin under the KGB, Russia’s secret police force. However, Clint spared Natasha and instead recruited her to S.H.I.E.L.D. Why? Clint saw a lot of potential in Natasha and figured she could be using that potential for the greater good. And that I firmly believe.
No, I don’t think Clint fell in love with Natasha from the moment he saw her; these are two very strategic people who likely put their love lives on the furthest back burner. Also, it’d be unfair to say that he did considering, well, he has a family.
Did you think I’d be able to write this without addressing the elephant in the room? Clint has a wife and three kids, so in no way am I condoning adultery. I’m only trying to point out what could have been, and what could have been felt so right.
- They Could Have Been Best Friends to Lovers
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Clintasha is your classic best-friends-to-lovers trope, but with so much complexity in between. As shown throughout the MCU, Natasha continually struggles with her past, a past that Clint knows a lot about, considering he’s the one who pulled her out of it. And Clint himself is fairly troubled as well; though it hasn’t been explored in the MCU, he comes from a family of carnies after losing his parents in a car accident. He also has a strained relationship with his brother. Hey, nobody’s perfect.
It comes down to the fact that during Avengers: Endgame, Natasha is willing to risk her life for the man who saved hers. If that’s not love, I don’t know what is.
- They’re Already Together in the Comics, So Why Not in the Movies?
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We also can’t forget the fact that Clint and Natasha are romantically involved in the comics. Their relationship starts out kind of toxic, as the two form a sort of villainous, thieving duo that’s soon broken up. However, later iterations of the characters have them working together more often than not, though they’re usually troubled by their complicated history. They both go through several different lovers, but always come back to each other because they share a rocky past that no one else can quite understand — they’re broken in their own way.
So, in short, Clintasha isn’t a crack ship by any means. There’s a lot of basis for it, and for all intents and purposes, the MCU had it right there for the taking. I think my mom said it best after she saw Avengers: Endgame — she thought Natasha and Clint were going to kiss right before Natasha sacrifices herself for the Soul Stone. It was an intense forehead touch, after all.
In the end, I’ll never fully understand why Marvel Studios didn’t bother to explore the ship, but there’s no denying that it could have been a great one.