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Early Life

Clinton Francis Barton was born to Harold and Edith Barton in Waverly, Iowa. He grew up working in his father's local butcher shop next to his older brother, Barney. Their father was abusive, especially when he drank and would constantly beat on his young sons; however, Harold seemed to attack Clint more often than his older brother. Barney tried to teach him how to fight through cruel and unusual methods so Clint could eventually learn to hold his own.

Harold's drinking eventually cost him and Edith their lives when they both died in a car accident, both of their young children in the backseat. Barney, age ten, and Clint, age six, were hospitalized for three months after that accident.

Waverly Home for Boys

As soon as they were released from the hospital, Clint and Barney were sent to the Waverly Home for Boys, an underfunded orphanage on the outskirts of their home town. The orphanage was run by a crooked man named Thomas Jacobs. From ages seven to ten, Clint was subject to torture by the hands of another man. Jacobs fixated on Clint from the very beginning, beating him to nothing in the daylight. At night, however, things got much worse. Jacobs would attack Clint in his room as sexually assault him nearly every night, with Barney in the bunk above him. He never did anything.

In order to escape the countless nights of torture, Clint found a safe haven in the rafters of the old barn on the edge of the orphanage's property. He would climb up there and sleep. This is where his love for heights comes from. They feel safe.

One fateful afternoon when Clint was ten years old, Thomas Jacobs lost it. He beat Clint to a bloody pulp with the metal end of his belt then left him to die at the bottom of the staircase. That night, Barney made him pack his things and told him they were running away.

They left and never looked back.

Carson's Carnival of Travelling Wonders

After five straight days of walking, Clint and Barney wandered onto circus grounds just outside of Des Moines. There, they met the man Zayne Carson himself, who instantly fell in love with them. He hired them on as roustabouts, but from the beginning it was clear that Clint had more potential than that. Jacques Duquesne, or as they called him, Swordsman took Clint on as an apprentice whom he taught all the workings of the circus. High wire, knife throwing, sword swallowing, trapeze, he did it all. And he was good at it too.

At age eleven, Clint was caught shooting a bow that didn't belong to him and Swordsman's first instinct was to punish him for going places he didn't belong. But by then he was too good to have it taken away from him. He was then taken on by Buck Chisholm, better known as Trickshot, who taught him to hone in on those natural archery skills he somehow possessed. Clint got good enough to shoot from trapeze blindfolded, and was eventually gifted his own act as The Amazing Hawkeye, the boy who never missed.

In his little corner of the world, he became famous.

But in order to follow the tragic pattern of his life, that could never have lasted long. Good things never do for him.

At age sixteen, Clint's brother turned on him. He caught Barney and Swordsman stealing money from Zayne Carson himself and he was immediately enraged. He threatened to turn the two thieves in, and the two men had seen no other choice but to kill him.

That night in the rain, Barney took a knife and stabbed his own brother in the shoulder and left him to die. That was the last time he would see him for years.

Clint was saved by Trickshot, but he already knew his career in the circus was over. Six months later, armed with nothing but a set of fake papers and a beat up motorcycle, Clint ran.

The Army and the Prison Stint

Somehow, Clint ended up in the Army. He lied about his age and was able to get into boot camp. From the beginning, he shined as a natural marksman and was closing in on a career that could last him a lifetime.

He would never get that far.

A man by the name of Ethan Carter used to be Clint best friend and former spotter. Until he murdered a man in their battalion just because he felt like it. Clint had no choice but to bring it to their superiors.

Carter would then beat Clint into a pulp in the bathrooms and would expose him for lying about his age. The two landed themselves in a high security prison in Kansas.

A prison Carter would spend his life in. And the same prison Clint would break out of in three months.

The Dark Years

From ages seventeen to eighteen, Clint spent his life as a paid assassin for hire. Not even SHIELD has much information on this period of his life. The only one's he's ever opened up to this about are Phil Coulson, Natasha Romanoff, and a ledger he refuses to share with anyone.

All that is know is he killed 349 people in one year.

SHIELD and the Man Who Cared

At eighteen, Clint had no hope for the future. He was lost and alone and destined to die a young, bloody death.

Until he caught the attention of one Phil Coulson, agent of SHIELD.

After months of arguing, Phillip Coulson finally convinced SHIELD to bring Clint on as an asset. The young assassin was cornered and convinced to turn his life around and become something better.

At SHIELD, Clint was passed around from handler to handler, no man or woman able to get their hands around him. He was belligerent and arrogant, to the point that no handler stayed around long.

Just as Clint was beginning to lose hope in SHIELD and the straight and narrow, they sent in Phil Coulson again. To everyone's disbelief, Coulson was the only handler that managed to get through to the distance assassin, and actually start to turn him around.

After eight short months, the two agents went on their first mission together and would begin the story of the best agent and handler partnership in the history of SHIELD.

Now, almost nineteen, Clint struggles to handle the demons he tried so hard to bury as he learns what it means to be a good person again.

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Mission Files

This list is incomplete. Details to come

Recruitment: Vienna, Austria
November 11th, 2002

Leuven, Belgium
July 23rd - July 28th, 2003

Cario, Egypt
October 13th - October 31st, 2004

Zagreb, Croatia
June 10th - June 19th 2005

Paris, France
February 21st - March 2nd 2006

São Paulo, Brazil
December 2nd - December 8th 2006

Palermo, Sicily
May 14th - May 24th 2007

Dublin, Ireland
August 5th - August 19th 2007

Hai Phong, Vietnam
March 20th - April 2nd 2008

Budapest, Hungary
June 30th - July 10th 2008

New York, United States
November 20th - November 23rd 2008

Berlin, Germany
April 7th - April 16th 2009

Yekaterinburg, Russia
July 31st - August 7th 2009

New Mexico, United States
October 10th - October 17th 2010

New York, United States
May 12th, 2011

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Banner, Robert B.

Robert Bruce Banner is Clint's guilty pleasure. The two got along from the moment they met, and Clint made it his personal mission to make sure Bruce lived a good life. He didn't want to see the older man stuck in a pattern of living in fear and shame - he knows what that's like better than anyone.

No matter where he is, or who he is seeing, Clint will always come back to Bruce, no matter how bad of a choice it may be. He is Clint's safe space and he refused to give him up.

Romanova, Natalia A.

When you ask Clint who his soulmate is, he will always say Natasha Romanoff. even though the two of them are no longer romantically involved, they share a bond no two other people have shared with each other.

They know everything about one another, down to the pattern of each other's heartbeats and the steps the other will take before their feet have even fallen. They are two pieces of the same machine. No one else, no matter how romantic or involved they may be could ever come close to what the Hawk and the Spider have with each other.

Parker, Benjamin J.

Benjamin Parker is Clint's great mistake. He is the man who was nothing but toxic to him, but the one he kept coming back to. The only reason he's stopped is because Ben disappeared.

The two were nothing but torture and sex. They would get drunk and do drugs then have unhealthy sex. And in the morning after, they would do nothing but scream at each other and abuse one another. They were never meant to be anything real. They only stayed together so long because they both wanted to feel something real.

Coulson, Phillip J.

Phillip Coulson is the man who saved Clint's life. Through all the father figures he went through, this is the one that stuck. They are more than brothers, more than blood. Their relationship goes deeper than that. Before the Avengers, before Natasha, before Bruce there was Phil.

And the two of them were unstoppable.

As a young agent, Clint went through what are arguably the worst years of his life. Through it all there was Phil. He has seen Clint at his best and his worst. Through the nightmares and the near death experiences, Phil never wavered. He never talks about their time together, but Clint will argue this is the strongest bond he has with another person.

Bishop, Katherine E.

Clint met Kate when she was very young, and he was lucky enough to watch her grow up. She is the only person out there he feels is worthy of carrying the Hawkeye name other than himself. She was always family, even back in the beginning, and he loves her as such.

Even as they have drifted apart in the years, she still holds a special place in his heart. He'll always be around to watch her six or give her advice. Clint always says he has three daughters. She's one.

Banner, Bellamy E.

As the second unofficial Barton child, Bellamy is another young girl he was lucky enough to watch grow up. She was as fierce and as fearless and he was and from day one they had a bond that was special.

In childhood and adulthood alike, Clint had always looked out for Bellamy and he would kill a man for looking at her wrong. And she knows it.

Barton, Anastasia G.

As the only legitimate child he has, Anastasia holds a very special place in the heart of her father. Their relationship has never been where Clint wants it to be, but he has loved her since the day she was born.

As the daughter of two master assassins, she was trouble from the start. And it only makes sense that she despises the man who brought her into the world. He will mend this relationship if it's the last thing he does. He has to.

Parker, Peter B.

Peter Parker is the closest thing Clint ever got to having a son. The kid was one that was always around, so the bond that formed between them was a strong one.

They have saved each others' lives and that makes them as thick as thieves. He treats Peter just like he treats the rest of his kids; as if they are his whole world. And they are. They're all he really has at the end of the day.

Barton, Charles B.

Clint doesn't know when his brother learned to hate him, except it was sometime when they were children.

The man who stabbed him and tortured him through childhood is not one Clint favors. He is the source of his nightmares and the center of his pain. Even though Clint has no idea where he is, and he refuses to talk about it, there will always be a part of him that wants Barney dead.

Stark, Anthony E.

Tony Stark has been an enemy from day one. The two never got along, and over the years it got worse. He was the man who stole crush's heart, the man who took that same later boyfriend away from him, and the man who locked him on an island in the middle of the ocean.

He is a much more real enemy than many Clint has even known, but deep in his heart, he knows he and the billionaire will never be able to get along.