We knew it was coming, but the final few minutes of Hawkeye's penultimate episode still provided viewers with some awesome reveals. Not only did we learn that Eleanor Bishop was responsible for hiring Yelena Belova to kill Clint Barton, but she's also allied with the threat the Avenger has been so concerned about: Wilson Fisk, a.k.a. The Kingpin!
There's a huge amount of excitement surrounding how the villain will be reinvented for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and a recent promo appeared to show him arriving at Rockefeller Center to confront Clint and Kate Barton (with his cane from the comic books). Now, Hailee Steinfeld - who clashed with The Kingpin as Spider-Gwen in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse - has dropped some hints about what that confrontation could look like in Hawkeye.
"It's a very different experience standing underneath Vincent and hearing him. To be in his presence is really something," Steinfeld teases. "I've been a fan of his for a very long time. It's always amazing to be a part of something with people that you really admire. I'm excited to see people watch it unfold."
"This is somebody that she doesn't know much about, but she's been warned. She knows everything she needs to know when she hears Clint say 'this is the guy I've been worried about the whole time.' That right there is enough for her to need to come to her senses and figure out how to handle the situation. If it didn't feel real before, it's real now. After all the partner talk and jokes that have been thrown around, now she has the opportunity to step up to the plate."
As for the revelation that Kate's mother appears to have villainous intentions, Steinfeld says: "I remember reading it and feeling like there is this sense of fear, because we now have no idea what her mother is capable of. But I did feel this sort of confidence in Kate. I believe in that moment Kate is far more capable of protecting herself than she might have been just a few days prior."
The stakes are certainly high heading into the Hawkeye finale, and there's a lot the series needs to address. We can't help but think a season 2 is guaranteed at this point, but The Kingpin is likely a threat that will be dealt with by Maya Lopez in Echo...hopefully, with some backup from Daredevil!
Check back here on Wednesday for the biggest reveals from the next episode of Hawkeye.