The first three episodes of Hawkeye are currently available to stream on Disney+ and there are plenty of nods to Marvel ranging from the obvious (like the fun details in Rogers: The Musical) to the hidden gems (like the comics deep cut that teased the West Coast Avengers). There was another little nod to the greater MCU that one eagle-eyed fan spotted. While investigating the New York City Larpers that ended up with the Ronin costume, the group’s Instagram page is seen, and one of their follows is @iamgr00t. This led to a fan asking Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn an important question about Groot.
“@JamesGunn Someone on Earth has the Instagram username iamgr00t so people on Earth not only know who Groot is, but they know his saying. Wonder how that came to be. #HawkeyeSeries,” @moviepollz asked. “That’s probably the IG account of the MCU version of Rob de Groot, @DaveBautista’s stunt double. Unlike the real Rob, the MCU version is a total dick, has a posh British accent & a full, luscious head of hair. (Also, it’s a cool Easter egg),” Gunn replied. You can check out the post below:
That’s probably the IG account of the MCU version of Rob de Groot, @DaveBautista’s stunt double. Unlike the real Rob, the MCU version is a total dick, has a posh British accent & a full, luscious head of hair. (Also, it’s a cool Easter egg.) https://t.co/4OEjSuCF3p pic.twitter.com/xu7eDcTLf7
— James Gunn (@JamesGunn) December 2, 2021
In the post’s comments section, Gunn replied to a since-deleted tweet about Bautista having a stunt double. “As I’ve said many times before, stunt professionals are professionals, & no matter how athletic you are it doesn’t give you the knowledge of the craft our stunt folks have. No American actor does ALL their own stunts,” Gunn explained.
As for Hawkeye, another big MCU nod was the first episode’s opening scene, which showed a flashback to the Battle of New York from Kate Bishop’s perspective. According to Hailee Steinfeld, it was a very necessary flashback created to establish why Hawkeye is so important to her.
“What we see with the fans that come up to [Clint] and want to take a picture with him, it’s like they’re recognizing him in a public setting and being excited about the fact that he’s in a place that they wouldn’t have expected to see him,” Steinfeld told EW. “So they want to document it and we don’t necessarily know if they’re lifelong fans or not, but with Kate we do know. She made this discovery of Hawkeye at a time of extreme loss in her life, and she sees in him part of what she lost. This human who is as ambitious and maybe a little reckless, as she is, someone who wants to help people and wants to protect people, she recognizes that part of him. That’s what she idolizes.”
The first three episodes of Hawkeye are streaming on Disney+.