The following contains spoilers for Episode 4 of Hawkeye.While there has always been debate as to whether action-packed movies like Die Hard and Iron Man 3 count as holiday movies simply because they take place around Christmas, Hawkeye is Marvel’s first holiday series. The six episodes take place in the days leading up to Christmas as Clint Barton struggles to finish one mission before spending the holidays with his family. Kate Bishop, wanting to make up for the fact that he’s spending this time away from his family, tries to make his holidays a little brighter in the fourth episode of Hawkeye.
She knows that he’s missing out on ugly sweaters and movie marathons with his kids, so she brings him both while he’s staying at her Aunt Moira’s apartment. She brings a stack of some classic holiday fare and more modern selections. Amongst Kate’s stack of holiday movies are Die Hard, The Polar Express, National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, Elf, Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer, and The Santa Clause. It’s the latter that, surprisingly, might parallel Kate’s own journey in the series.
Hawkeye’s Holiday Inspiration
Those working behind the scenes on Hawkeye haven’t been shy about revealing their inspirations behind the series. While a lot is pulled from classic cinema and the Matt Fraction-David Aja comic book run, there’s also inspiration from a pair of Christmas movies.
Die Hard and Home Alone have both been cited as inspirations for the series. Considering both movies deal with characters who have to use whatever is at their disposal to save their holidays from a bad guy, the comparison makes sense. Kate and Clint haven’t found themselves trapped in a building and having to set traps for assailants just yet, but that could still be coming.
Of course, Clint fits the bill for Die Hard’s protagonist, while Kate, as the less experienced, but still creative, of the two, fits Home Alone’s. She might see a different character trajectory though than simply being a young person who fends for themselves while their family forgets about them.
The Story Of The Santa Clause
The Santa Clause, like The Polar Express, is one of Kate’s more visible movie selections in Hawkeye. They’re also available from Disney, Marvel’s parent company, creating a bit of corporate crossover.
Released in the ‘90s at the height of Tim Allen’s TV fame, the movie saw the actor play the executive in a toy company named Scott Calvin. One Christmas Eve, he discovered Santa Clause on his roof. When the man fell from the roof, he disappeared, leaving the suit for Scott Calvin to take up.
Scott reluctantly became the new Santa, wearing the suit, but grumbling about all the different things he had to do to make Christmas happen. He didn’t want to listen to anyone, and it took almost the entire year for him to understand that making Christmas happen was a team effort, and that it wasn’t just about having the most profitable toy to sell. Scott became a better person, and a better father to his young son, as he learned what it meant to be Santa Clause.
Kate’s Hawkeye Journey
Kate isn’t exactly the grumpy member of the duo, but she does share Scott’s tendency to not listen to those around her and want to get things done herself. As much as she says she wants to be Clint’s partner on this mission, Kate frequently ignores him and jumps in without thinking of the consequences of her actions. She does the same at home with regard to Jack and her mother.
Kate isn’t quite as selfish as Scott when his story begins. She does want to protect people and help save lives, after all. Kate does, however, often zero in on how a situation affects her until the reality of how it affects someone else is unavoidable. She’s learning to empathize with people beyond the broad scope of an attack on the city and see how individuals are affected by seemingly heroic actions. It’s not unlike Scott realizing that presents aren’t just making a company money and being gifted to the idea of children, but to real children he gets to meet and know and understand.
The audience has already seen Kate gradually start to understand the consequences of being a hero like Hawkeye. She helps him communicate with his son Nathaniel when his hearing aid isn’t working, brings him a little holiday cheer when she sees him missing his family, and she also attempts to talk to him about both Ronin and Black Widow, getting close to the truths about loss in Clint’s life. All of those little moments are echoed in Scott Calvin’s journey in The Santa Clause as he gets Judy’s perfect hot cocoa recipe, actually starts listening to what his son wants, and learns the different personality quirks of the different reindeer.
It’s clear that Kate is well on her way to being the next Hawkeye, and by the time her journey is complete, she might even be a better one than Clint because she’ll have his experiences to learn from.
The Santa Clause and Hawkeye are currently streaming on Disney Plus.