'Hawkeye': Songwriters behind Cap musical have idea for entire, genre-hopping Marvel play

Out of all the fictional media floating out there in the pop culture ether, Hawkeye's Captain America musical is the one we most wish actually existed. Glimpsed in the show's premiere episode, the Broadway performance presents an upbeat — and slightly inaccurate — depiction of the life of Steve Rogers. Clint Barton (Jeremy Renner) takes his three kids to see the show, but regrets it almost immediately when the big number about the Battle of New York — entitled "Save the City" — not only glorifies the harrowing alien invasion led by Loki, but also gets several facts wrong (like including Ant-Man amongst the Avengers).

"It's important for the Hawkeye character to watch that event that was such a seminal part of his life and feel slightly uncomfortable like, 'What have they done to my world?'" Scott Wittman, who co-wrote the track alongside his usual creative partner Marc Shaiman, explained to Entertainment Weekly. 

"It was a fine line to walk. We knew that we had to write a good song, an entertaining song, something you'd hopefully enjoy," added Shaiman. "But it also had to make Clint roll his eyes and think, 'What is this?'"

You can actually listen to the full song (which, we have to admit, is pretty fire) below:

The concept of a large-scale stage performance based around the character of Captain America isn't all that far-fetched. It nearly happened in our own reality back in the 1980s before funding fell through. If there's enough demand from the fans, however, Marvel and Disney apparently might just consider fleshing out Rogers: The Musical into an actual play.

Wittman and Shaiman (known for such musical endeavors as Hairspray and Mary Poppins Returns) already have a few ideas about how such a thing could work. 

"There are a million things that you could create in a Marvel musical, especially with Steve Rogers," Shaiman said. "The fact that he exists in the '40s as well would allow us to write a whole lot of different genres, so the whole Marvel story would take place over decades. It would be a thrill to get to do that. But for now, we're just extremely excited about the way the show came out."

"Get people to start calling Kevin [Feige] on the phone and tell him," Wittman joked.

The first three episodes of Hawkeye are now streaming on Disney+. Episode 4 premieres on the streaming service next Wednesday, Dec. 8.