Clint Barton and Jessica Drew the abuse in Hawkeye #9

[ROSA13]

Cheating IS wrong, but, man or woman, physical abuse is worse.
I was also really glad to see Clint stop her firmly when she tried to strike him again. Infidelity is not an excuse for domestic violence, regardless of the target.
One thing that I liked about this scene is that Jess goes in for a third hit and Clint grabs her wrist and says something along the lines of “I know you’re angry, but you don’t get to do that”. I thought it was really, really great for violence as an expression of emotion to be called out within the text. And I remember thinking at the time that the word choice was very considered and precise, which I think implies a lot about Clint and his own background with violence (Clint’s abusive parents - fanon, canon, or ‘depends who’s writing him’?).

[Draegwolf]

I agree, we see a lot of people get up in arms about men taking a swing at women but the moment that the situation is reversed it never gets brought up and seems to be deemed acceptable for some reason. I for one am glad that we actually see Hawkeye shoot Jessica down before she goes in for another hit.

[Nyadnar17]

Is he cheating? Because it honestly seems like seems like he didn't know she thought they were exclusive.

[GrandKaiser]

Clint never cheated. Jessica just got too attached.

I don't see why this deserved a thread. I mean I agree with you but still...

[itspopularnowitsucks]

zomg jessica drew is a wife beater! they haven' signed the paperwork right

[Grapeweasel]

This is considered perfectly acceptable behavior on the Skrull Homeworld.......

[Guest_1001]

I don't read Hawkeye but I'm glad to see this in a comic book. This is far more progressive than issues you normally see represented in superhero stories.

[GrandKaiser]

This is considered perfectly acceptable behavior on the Skrull Homeworld.......

This is post Secret Invasion

[Huntsman Spider]

The overall idea does deserve some discussion, I'd say. Hank Pym only hit Janet van Dyne once while in the middle of a psychotic breakdown during which he proceeded to attack his teammates as well, and a lot of people involved with Marvel, whether as fans or as professional talent, still act as though he was a habitual abuser, something Mark Millar used as the basis for his depiction of them in The Ultimates. That infamous panel of Reed Richards slapping Sue Storm often gets reposted without context to show him as a domestic abuser when in context he was enacting a plan to snap Sue out of the Psycho-Man's emotional control that unlocked her more vicious alter ego Malice (not to be confused with the body-jumping X-Men villain). Even Peter Parker gets tagged with this for an infamous moment during the Clone Saga where he ended up smacking his pregnant wife Mary Jane Watson into a wall while trying to kill Ben Reilly in the midst of what could be called a temporary psychotic break brought on by paranoia that Ben was trying to steal his life. It's not something fans like to talk about, but it did happen, unfortunately.

Point being, male-on-female abuse is rightfully called out, as well it should be, but female-on-male abuse isn't as much, due to the usual expectation that women are weaker than men and thus unable to inflict the same degree of injury/pain as men can. With Clint/Jessica, this is doubly untrue because Clint is a physically normal human trained to be the best he can be under those circumstances and limitations, and Jessica has actual super-strength (can lift 7 tons, last I checked) packaged into her spider-powers. She could have easily killed him with those slaps if she really wanted to do more than just vent about how hurt and betrayed she felt. On the upside, I do like how it was handled, how Clint recognized her actions as coming from a place of deep emotional pain and anguish and was willing to express regret for triggering those emotions in the first place while acknowledging that she had no right to act on them in such a way. At the same time, I doubt such a sympathetic treatment would be given to a male who violently struck a female with whom he was romantically involved, and that is something I think should be addressed, too, given that neither Hank Pym nor Peter Parker were in their right minds and were appropriately ashamed and horrified for what they'd done once they came to their senses.

[Star_Jammer]

The overall idea does deserve some discussion, I'd say. Hank Pym only hit Janet van Dyne once while in the middle of a psychotic breakdown during which he proceeded to attack his teammates as well, and a lot of people involved with Marvel, whether as fans or as professional talent, still act as though he was a habitual abuser, something Mark Millar used as the basis for his depiction of them in The Ultimates. That infamous panel of Reed Richards slapping Sue Storm often gets reposted without context to show him as a domestic abuser when in context he was enacting a plan to snap Sue out of the Psycho-Man's emotional control that unlocked her more vicious alter ego Malice (not to be confused with the body-jumping X-Men villain). Even Peter Parker gets tagged with this for an infamous moment during the Clone Saga where he ended up smacking his pregnant wife Mary Jane Watson into a wall while trying to kill Ben Reilly in the midst of what could be called a temporary psychotic break brought on by paranoia that Ben was trying to steal his life. It's not something fans like to talk about, but it did happen, unfortunately.

Point being, male-on-female abuse is rightfully called out, as well it should be, but female-on-male abuse isn't as much, due to the usual expectation that women are weaker than men and thus unable to inflict the same degree of injury/pain as men can. With Clint/Jessica, this is doubly untrue because Clint is a physically normal human trained to be the best he can be under those circumstances and limitations, and Jessica has actual super-strength (can lift 7 tons, last I checked) packaged into her spider-powers. She could have easily killed him with those slaps if she really wanted to do more than just vent about how hurt and betrayed she felt. On the upside, I do like how it was handled, how Clint recognized her actions as coming from a place of deep emotional pain and anguish and was willing to express regret for triggering those emotions in the first place while acknowledging that she had no right to act on them in such a way. At the same time, I doubt such a sympathetic treatment would be given to a male who violently struck a female with whom he was romantically involved, and that is something I think should be addressed, too, given that neither Hank Pym nor Peter Parker were in their right minds and were appropriately ashamed and horrified for what they'd done once they came to their senses.

This post is like a work of art.

[Huntsman Spider]

This post is like a work of art.

Thanks for the compliment, but yeah, it definitely is a topic that doesn't get addressed enough, especially when we're still inclined towards the "men = strong, women = pretty/weak" stereotype.

[Tofali]

Women of Marvel seem to be on a role this week lol! First it was Titania and now it is Jessica. Can someone call the police on them.

[Guest_1001]

Women of Marvel seem to be in a role this week lol! First it was Titania and now it is Jessica. Can someone call the police on them.

The funny thing is that how domestic violence is portrayed in this issue and in the Thor issue is like night and day.

[ed2962]

Definitely the gender dynamic influences how people interpet scenes like this. And in real life many times men won't even report actual abuse.

Having said that, I'm not sure this is actual domestic violence. I think Fraction was going for that moment you see in dramas and soap operas all the time. The "How-dare-you-whatever-etc" moment. If Fraction wanted to show Jess as abusive, he definitely would have should her humiliating and hurting Clint.

[Huntsman Spider]

Definitely the gender dynamic influences how people interpet scenes like this. And in real life many times men won't even report actual abuse.

Having said that, I'm not sure this is actual domestic violence. I think Fraction was going for that moment you see in dramas and soap operas all the time. The "How-dare-you-whatever-etc" moment. If Fraction wanted to show Jess as abusive, he definitely would have should her humiliating and hurting Clint.

Good point. There is a difference between lashing out in the heat of the moment or while undergoing a temporary mental breakdown (the Clint/Jessica breakup, my aforementioned examples of Hank Pym and Peter Parker) and actively humiliating and denigrating an intimate partner as ongoing domestic abuse would entail. The issue also mentioned is that what Pym or Richards or even Parker did under the influence of either a severely strained mental state or extenuating circumstances of trying to free a loved one from a villain's control gets exaggerated by much of fandom and even some of the professional talent into ongoing, deliberate abuse of said loved ones when it comes to male characters and is quickly brushed aside or excused with female characters. That's the double standard of typical presumed gender dynamics at work once again.