'Avengers: Endgame' Spoilers: Toys Confirm Hawkeye's New Superhero Identity
To paraphrase the immortal Vanilla Ice, Hawkeye is going ninja (go). Among other things shown in Hasbro’s new toys for Avengers: Endgame, Hawkeye is officially confirmed to be named “Ronin,” based on the packaging of his newly unveiled action figures.
On Sunday, during WonderCon in Anaheim, Hasbro revealed its Avengers: Endgame catalog of toys, which are already on their way to store shelves.
There’s something for every kid, from action figures to role-playing accessories to masks to stuff for the collector-oriented Marvel Legends. If you’re looking to buy your nephews and nieces Thor hammers or Captain Marvel blasters, Hasbro has you covered.
The toys are light on spoilers, but they do offer a full glimpse at the Avengers’ new high-tech red/white uniforms worn by the Hulk, Rocket, Captain America, Black Widow, Thor, and Iron Man in the latest Endgame: Trailer. Strangely, the figures for Ant-Man and Captain Marvel do not show them in the uniforms, even though Scott Lang/Ant-Man can be seen wearing one in the trailer.
Arguably the most interesting action figure revealed is those of Hawkeye’s new identity, Ronin. Missing during Avengers: Infinity War last year, Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) returns to the series under a new identity. Based on the comics, Ronin is Hawkeye as a masked ninja who exchanges his archery bow for two katana swords. (This, of course, is historically incorrect. The “ronin” didn’t refer to the ninja, but the masterless samurai of feudal Japan.)
As seen briefly in the film’s trailers, Hawkeye adopts the Ronin identity for a mission in Japan in the aftermath of Thanos’ “snap” — the genocide seen at the end of Infinity War. Fans haven’t yet caught a full look of his costume, so these figures, including the stiff “Titan Hero” and the Marvel Legends figure, are the first real glimpses of Ronin in full costume.
See the toys of Ronin below.
Above: The Marvel Legends version of Ronin, which are highly posable six-inch figures targeted to adult toy collectors.
Above: The stiffer "Titan Hero" figure of Ronin, aimed at younger consumers.
As an added bit of amusement, Ronin comes with the Infinity Gauntlet that forms the final piece in the Thanos “Build-A-Figure.” A common incentive for toy collectors, “Build-A-Figure” toys are separate pieces of another figure, packaged in with others, that combine to create a character. In essence, by buying five to six figures, you get one for “free.”
The Build-A-Figure for these Avengers: Endgame toys is none other than Thanos himself, whose remaining pieces are scattered among the other Marvel Legends toys: Ebony Maw (left leg), Citizen V (right leg), Hercules (head), Living Laser (torso), and Nighthawk (right arm and his new double-bladed staff weapon). And no, this does not mean Hercules or Living Laser will appear in Avengers: Endgame, as Hasbro has historically included unadapted Marvel comics characters into the movie toy lines.
Avengers: Endgame will be released in theaters on April 26.
