Clinton Barton - Phase 1
This page is about the Phase 1 incarnation of the character. For other uses, see Clinton Barton (disambiguation).
| Clinton Barton - replaced in Phase 2 | |
|---|---|
| File:Clint01.jpg Portrayed by Steven R. McQueen | |
| Codename: | Hawkeye |
| Affiliations: | X-Men (Trainee) |
| Birthdate: | December 6, 1996 |
| Journal: | x_hawkeye |
| Player: | (Former) Cai |
After being bounced through several foster homes and landing with a pair of just-right dads, Clint found himself facing some unsavory characters at school and decided, with his caseworker and his foster fathers, that attending Xavier's would be for the best. He was killed while trying to rescue Jean Grey in January 2015.
Contents
Details
Character Journal: x_hawkeye
Real Name: Clinton Barton
Codename: Hawkeye (eventually), Cupid (trainee name)
Aliases: Clint, Barton
First Appearance: September 19, 2012
Date of Birth: December 6, 1996
Place of Birth: Poughkeepsie, NY
Citizenship: United States
Relatives: Parents were Harold and Edith Barton, both now deceased. Also has an older brother, Bernard, that he hasn’t seen or heard from since Bernie aged out of the foster system and left NYC. Adoptive parents are Steven and Andre Kimura, currently living in NYC.
Education: Senior in High School
Relationship Status: Dated Gabriel Cohuelo
Occupation: Student, part-time worker at Deli-CAT-essen
Team Affiliation: X-Men (Trainee)
Biography
Childhood
Clint was born the second son of a normal middle class family, his parents both hardworking and loving. Unfortunately, his mother passed away shortly after giving birth to him due to complications with the pregnancy. His brother, Bernard, was ten years old at the time and, with the help of his grandparents, Clint and Bernie managed to stay with their father while he worked two jobs to ensure they were adequately supported. However, when Clint was four, his father was in a car accident and passed away.
Shortly before his father’s death, Clint was diagnosed with color blindness, though it didn’t run in his family on either his mother’s or father’s sides. Concerned that it could indicate something more serious, his father had him tested for a variety of things, which was the point at which they discovered he had the x-gene. Clint was too small to understand what was going on at the time and then his father was gone. His grandparents assumed custody of both the Barton boys, but his grandfather passed away when Clint was six and his grandmother followed a year later, when Clint was seven. With no other family to take them in, he and Bernie were passed into the foster system and separated. Clint stayed with the first family for three years, until he was ten, occasionally getting letters from his brother, but those letters tapered off and finally stopped altogether after Bernard aged out of the system. However, when the people Clint was staying with had a baby of their own, they asked that he be placed elsewhere, as they couldn’t financially support him and their little girl.
Clint was then placed with a family in Manhattan. They were fostering a girl as well and, almost a year later, a boy was brought into the home – Matt Murdock. Clint and Matt roomed together for a few months, but after an incident involving a baseball bat and a court hearing for Matt, Clint was removed from the family. His caseworker assured him that the girl was alright and that Matt was “getting help.” It took Clint several years to understand what that meant, but he eventually put all the pieces together. Though he and Matt shared the same caseworker, Clint never really got all the details – he never really asked for them. At age 11, he was moved into his third home, where he remained for the next five years.
Middle school was uneventful for Clint, though it did allow him to figure out which subjects he particularly enjoyed and he excelled in Math and Science. Social Studies bored him and he could get through Language Arts, but it wasn’t his favorite class. His color blindness didn’t automatically exclude him from any art related classes – in fact, he took a sculpting class purely for the credit requirement, but it had basically no impact on his participation in PE. He did well, particularly enjoying games like dodge ball, since he was always pretty good at nailing people on the opposite team. He also wound up holding the record for rope climbing every year and, though it wasn’t allowed, could more often than not be found in one of the trees near the track if they were given free time outside. Since he was usually reading rather than causing trouble and he never encouraged others to follow him up into the branches, his teachers didn’t see any particular reason to scold him – he never fell.
His first year of high school was uneventful, for the most part. Having received high scores on his testing in elementary and middle school, Clint was allowed to take more advanced math and science classes, which he enjoyed because he found them both more interesting and challenging. Outside his preferred classes, Clint did well enough, though English and History were certainly not nearly as entertaining for him as Honors Biology and Honors Geometry. He rounded out the year with solid grades and the promise of being able to take a test over the summer to see whether or not he could take Chemistry at the same time as Astronomy.
While putting the finishing touches on his final project for the science camp he attended over the summer, Clint overheard some of the boys from the summer school session bullying one of the students in his camp. He intervened and managed to get the boys to stop, but that brought him to their attention. The last few weeks of his summer camp were fairly difficult for him, given the amount of bullying he was subjected to, the situation coming to a head when the councilors had to break up a physical altercation between Clint and the other boys. Given he was defending himself, he managed to avoid drastic punishment, but his caseworker was far more concerned with the fact that he hadn’t approached an adult on his own behalf. After discussing the situation with him and his therapist, his caseworker contacted Professor Xavier. The information about the testing in his early childhood as well as his being x-gene positive was in his file. So, since Matt had stabilized during his time at the mansion and Clint’s therapist believed his distrust of adults was getting worse, she opted to move him from his current foster home to Xavier’s.
Having always been told that his eyes were different, Clint has never actually considered his eyesight as anything other than a result of his colorblindness. He doesn’t realize that there’s anything anomalous about his eyes beyond the obvious, a fact which will change once he and his caseworker have discussed his new placement at the mansion.
Arriving at Xavier's
Clint and his foster fathers arrived at Xavier's for a tour to make sure that the school was all it was purported to be and Clint met Maddie, who helpfully played his guide for the day. After discussing things with his foster fathers, they all agreed that going to Xavier's was for the best and, on the 22nd, Clint moved into the mansion. He met his roommate Billy and their suitemate, Matt, who Clint quickly realized was one of his former foster brothers. Tensions were understandably a little high between the boys and a lot went unsaid, but overall Clint's second impressions of the mansion were quite positive.
While on a snack run during a study break, Clint met Tandy Bowen in the rec room and introduced himself, staying to watch some of the black and white horror film she had playing. That soon became something of a tradition for the two of them on Sunday evenings where they were sometimes joined by other friends for their horror movie picks. After visiting Tandy in the medlab post Light in the Darkness, Clint decided to do something nice for her, so he preordered tickets to see The Hobbit with her in the city and asked Catseye to drive them/play chaperon. Tandy later repaid him by getting tickets to an observatory, knowing of Clint's love of astronomy.
Clint's foster fathers dropped something of a bomb on him when they told him they wanted to formally adopt him. Unsure how he felt about that, he discussed thee situation with Maddie. Thankfully, the ever-practical Miss Pryor managed to talk some sense into him. Later that month, at Billy's birthday party in mid-December, Tandy kissed Clint and told him she liked him, which left him feeling slightly scattered but quite happy. They briefly discussed the kiss as well as their vague intentions toward one another and decided obliquely that they were dating, only neither of them called it dating.
Beginning A New Year
A chance encounter on the journals led Clint to one-on-one training with Logan. During the first such session, Logan came to suspect that there might be more to Clint's powers than simple enhanced eyesight and contacted Scott to discuss further training options. After taking several spatial awareness tests, they found Clint's were far higher than a baseline human's would be and agreed to begin working with Clint in the Danger Room to see what the limits of his spatial awareness might be.
While eating breakfast before a mandatory service learning trip in the city, Clint - along with Maddie and Billy - found his foster fathers' apartment getting ding-dong-ditched, then caught sight of a stranger on the fire escape. Later, on the subway with the other New Mutants, Clint was transported to the Askew World and found Molly Hayes his only company. She disappeared, too, and Clint decided to make his way home, hoping to find some answers. Unfortunately, he was confronted by his foster fathers and, instead of answers, he found himself confronted with accusations from his brother - as well as the information that Steve and Andre no longer wanted to adopt him.
After escaping to his room, Clint found Billy on the fire escape. Getting his friend inside, Clint waited for Billy to summon something useful - only to witness his friend's summoning of a massive hammer. Luckily, the two of them made it out of the apartment. Running through the city in an attempt to escape the Slendermen, Clint and Billy found Molly and Tandy, assisting their friends to defeat the Slendermen attacking them. Thanks to Maddie's quick thinking - and X-Force's decisive action, all the New Mutants managed to escape the Askew World... some of them with interesting new ideas thanks to Marie-Ange precognitive-ly arming the students. This incident piqued Clint's interest in archery, leading him to seek out Laurie Collins to request that she begin teaching him.
Subsequently, Clint accidentally contributed to 2013's Spudpocalypse by encouraging Billy to come up with something not egg-related for breakfast.
Midway Through
In March, Clint began to notice that Billy was acting strangely. Initially, the suspected his friend was upset with him. However, after a month of watching Billy twitch, Clint finally cornered his friend in April and found out that Billy was pretty sure he liked guys. So, logically, Clint asked if he wanted nachos. Around the same time, he also found out that Maddie had begun dating Sue.
May saw Clint attending Prom with Tandy, where they impressed with their techno-robot moves. Maddie and Billy went along with their dates, too, and everyone had a great evening. Toward the end of the month, after another round of Ultimate with Johnny, Clint asked the older boy to teach him how to do a back-flip. Upon realizing that he was picking it up faster than he probably should, Clint emailed Logan and Scott about the possibility of it being related to his mutation.
In June, Clint had his first real bonding experience with Sue when she found him tinkering with the sentient coffeemaker in the mansion's main kitchen. The two of them enthusiastically agreed to discuss the possibility of taking a special robotics course with Adrienne, since they'd discovered who her sister was. Clint also discussed the possibility of taking summer courses with Adrienne so that he could take more advanced Science classes during the next school year.
Clint found himself in a tricky situation when a man attempted to mug him while he was in the city. However help came from an unexpected source when a dog jumped in and helped to scare the mugger away. After checking with his foster fathers and his suitemates, Clint decided to keep the dog, which he named Pizza Dog (PD for short) in honor of the very first meal they shared together.
Wrapping Up 2013
In August Clint met with Yvette Petrovic to discuss Red X, then made an effort to get the other New Mutants involved. He continued his archery practice with Laurie and pursued the special robotics course he and Sue both wanted to take with Emma Frost. He broke off his sort-of-but-not-official romantic relationship with Tandy, though the two of them remained friends.
His Thanksgiving was uneventful, though December opened with Maddie posting a picture showing him lifting weights, revealing that to the mansion at large. He had a great birthday, turning 17 and enjoying gifts from various friends.
2013 closed on a fairly neutral note for Clint, but given the advanced classes he found himself in, he felt satisfied overall.
2014
2014 was mostly quiet for Clint to start. He bonded with Namor Mazur, despite the man's slightly caustic personality and tendency to get into fights with others. He also got a job at Catseye's new deli, Deli-CAT-essen, and joined the X-Men as a trainee in March. In April he fell victim to an April Fools Day prank, when Billy turned his hair blue and accidentally made him bald. He recruited Topaz and Amanda for revenge, the younger witch turning Billy completely blue much to Clint's amusement. He also finally asked Hope Abbott on a date in May, after struggling with crushes on Hope and Topaz. In June he looked into an X-Corps internship, wanting to expand his horizons as much as possible.
The return of Julian Keller in September set Clint on edge when it became clear how reckless and impulsive the young man was, especially when he began dragging Tandy into it, recruiting her for things such as skydiving over the mansion lake, and engaging in a fake relationship with her to mess with press. Clint found himself dragged into it as well, much to his aggravation, when the paparazzi caught him and Sue (who had been pulled in a few days earlier as Tandy's possible "competition") having lunch together. He also met and became close with new arrival Gabriel Cohuelo, engaging in a one-night stand. After several "casual" encounters, the two finally began dating.
The End
January 2015 brought with it one disaster after another. After someone who appeared to be Jean Grey killed nearly two million people in India, Clint joined a team to go and try rescue her from the Indian government, who wanted to put her on trial for genocide. Clint died during the battle when Oracle brought a building down on him in retaliation for killing Starbolt.
Physical Characteristics
Height: 5'10"
Weight: 150lbs
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Brown
Other Features: None at the moment.
Powers
Enhanced Eyesight: Right, so. Clint’s eye parts. They work better than yours. (Frito dared me to put those as the opening lines of his powers section, that is totally her fault.)
More specifically, he has enhanced fovea – his are more like a bird of prey’s, which means he can focus better, more clearly, and on smaller things. He has no blind spot – his optic disc connects from behind, like a squid’s. Clint’s eye muscles are also more advanced than your average human’s in that the outer ones are more efficient and unconnected, so he can move his eyes independently of one another, and the internal ones allow him to focus better.
In addition, the rods and cones in Clint’s eyes (the specialized cells responsible for normal vision) are very different from a baseline human’s. While a regular human has around 150 million rod cells in his/her retinas, Clint has over 400 million, vastly increasing his visual acuity. He also has fewer cones than the average human, causing him to see mostly in black and white, increasing his visual contrast, and allowing him to better see “what’s real and what’s not.” For instance, he can see through a two-way mirror.
Clint’s pupils and irises react faster to light than a baseline human’s, meaning he doesn't get light dazzled nearly as much/easily as others – a flash bang grenade would do it, as would a laser pen shone directly into his eyes, but probably not much else. Last, but certainly not least, Clint’s eyes have nictating membranes, so he doesn't have to blink nearly as often as others and he doesn't have to close his eyes when he’s under water. Clint’s eyesight is 20/2 – what most people can see clearly at 2 feet, he can see clearly at 20.
Increased Agility: Clint has enhanced reflexes, allowing him a much faster reaction time than most others. For instance, he couldn't dodge a bullet, but he could see someone turning a gun toward him and move before they fired the weapon much more quickly than your average person. These reflexes will eventually tie into his ability to fire arrows (or other objects, if necessary) in quick succession (fairly close to, say, Kyle’s or Garrison’s). Currently, Clint doesn't really do anything with his increased agility aside from climb trees and avoid people in the hallways at school, since he doesn't know he has it. Eventually, once he’s made aware of it, he’ll be able to consciously utilize it during any number of situations, particularly hand-to-hand combat and other training scenarios.
Exteroception: Clint has a very strong sense of proprioception – the perception of his own position and the ability to detect externally imposed passive motion (both angular and linear), as well as muscle memory and hand-eye coordination. This, along with his extreme visual acuity, also gives him an inhuman exteroceptive sense, or perception of the world beyond his own body. Like a bird of prey, he is exceptionally strong at detecting movement, even of very small things at a distance. This means that like others (Artie, Scott, Remy), he tests off the charts on 'spatial awareness' tests. Thus, his aim with ranged weapons (either a bow, which will become his weapon of choice, or improvised thrown weapons) is more or less perfect unless impaired by some outside factor and hand-to-hand combat comes fairly naturally to him in a physical sense. He’s able to dodge things and block moves, for example, but he would need to study tactics and practice a great deal to build up true muscle memory. Given enough experiential data, he can even compensate for things such as magnetic fields or extreme gravitation imposed by other mutant powers.
Equipment
None.
Trivia
- Loves black and white movies, particularly old horror films, though not Westerns
- Is seriously interested in both robotics and astronomy
- His interest in archery was piqued by the events of Something Slender (and Awful) when Marie-Ange Colbert handed him an Asgardian bow
- Clint's in-game Twitter handle is @nvr2far2see and and first appears in the tweets for an in-game event.
Plots
2013
Age of Apocalypse (alternate version)
2015
Meta
Former Player: Cai
Player Icon Base: Steven R. McQueen
Meta Trivia
Meta - so much meta. So this started because Jeremy Renner played Hawkeye in 2012's The Avengers and Cai wanted a PB who looked kind of like him. Cat suggested Steven R. McQueen and Cai liked him, so that's who she went with. It was later discovered that Renner had been tapped to play Steven McQueen in an upcoming biopic. And later still, Dex mentioned that Hawkeye was originally based (physically) in the comics, off of Steve McQueen (for a "gunslinger" vibe as opposed to a Robin Hood one). As Cat says, the meta circle is complete.
