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Hasbro's Avengers: Endgame toys reveal Hawkeye's full Ronin costume
Yes, Avengers: Endgame will show the Avengers' vengeance-fueled assault on Thanos, but more importantly, it'll bring Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) and Ant-Man (Paul Rudd) back in the fold after their glaring absences from Avengers: Infinity War.
In particular, Clint Barton will be going full Ronin in the film, a ninja/samurai-persona from the comics that finds ol' Hawkeye trading in his bow and arrow for a pair of sharp katana swords. Based on the trailers, everyone pretty much assumes that Barton's family (first introduced in Age of Ultron) fell victim to the Snap, driving him a bit out of his mind. Why else would he get that ridiculous haircut and become a rogue samurai?
Thanks to Hasbro, we now have our first good look at the complete black and gold Ronin costume, which has been mainly obscured by rain and darkness in the teasers released thus far. Check him out in action below:
"We work very closely with the studio and Marvel. They’re great partners of ours," the toy line's manager, Michael Pullano, told SYFY WIRE during a live demonstration. "I can’t really speak to the details of all of the relationship or how we work, but they’re amazing partners. We get movie reference in advance, we don’t get to see the movie or anything. We get reference for what’s in there and we develop the toys based on that reference."
First introduced in 2005 in the comics, the title of "Ronin" has not just been held by the likes of Barton. In the comics, Maya Lopez (Echo), Alexei Shostakov (Red Guardian), Eric Brooks (Blade), and Marc Spector (aka Moon Knight) have all gone under that name.
"Marvel has history that is just amazing, so we always start there. We look at the characters that will be in the movie, but we go back to what was in the comics," Pullano added. "Between the reference we get from the studio and from Marvel, with what we know about the characters and the consumer insights that we get with our great team at Hasbro, we kind of combine them all to develop a great product line that we know kids will love."
Last month, co-director Joe Russo voiced his pleasure at seeing the Internet trying to guess a movie's plot through its official toys. More often than not, he revealed, fan speculation based on toy releases are wildly off.
"I can’t comment on the Russo Brothers’ comments," Pullano said when we asked him about that. "People are excited about this movie line. They’re excited about everything Marvel does, so you have fans out there speculating on everything. We’re just happy we’re part of the conversation."
Avengers: Endgame snaps into theaters everywhere Friday, April 26. Hasbro's new toy line based on/inspired by the film is now available for purchase in stores or online.
