Tony Dalton being cast as Jack Duquesne in Hawkeye led to speculation that we might explore Clint Barton's origin and the role Swordman played in his backstory. Ultimately, Marvel Studios took a different approach, making him Eleanor Bishop's fiancé and an unlikely ally to Kate Bishop by the finale.
He's handy with a sword, so the hope now is that Jack could suit up down the line. That would be an interesting development for the character, anyway, and it's something Dalton hopes to make a reality.
Talking to Discussing Film, the actor opened up on how his villainous role as Lalo in Better Call Saul helped him surprise fans by putting a fresh spin on Swordmaster in the MCU. "I would think my history with Lalo and with a whole bunch of other characters, I’ve been doing this for a while...four years playing a hitman so that doesn’t help to have a good image of your characters."
Harrison Ford is always the good guy. But in [What Lies Beneath] he’s the bad guy and you just don’t see that coming...I think they did the same thing in reverse [with Jack Duquesne]."
Dalton isn't wrong, because we definitely didn't see a heroic spin on the character coming!
It's an exciting development, though, and one the actor hopes leaves the door open to him playing Swordsman again. "Of course, I would do that role again," he enthused to the site. "It was fun. It’s nice to be the good guy for a change." He'd add that Jack is "a completely different character than Lalo and it’s a whole different direction."
There's no word on a Hawkeye season 2, though we'd be shocked if it isn't announced during next month's Disney+ Day. Fans have made it clear that they want to see more of Clint and Kate working together, and the series proved to be one of the MCU's best on the streaming service.
As for Jack, we have to believe he would be part of a second season. However, you never know when or where characters like Swordsman will make their presence felt in the MCU...