Rogers: The Musical was one of Hawkeye‘s most-talked singularities when the Marvel series premiered, and Marvel Studios: Assembled‘s Hawkeye-focused episode shone a light on how the idea came up, owning a lot to jokes exchanged on the Avengers sets. Assembled was announced in February 2021 as an anthology series providing exclusive behind-the-scenes footage on Marvel’s Phase 4 new releases, whether on film or television. “The Making of Hawkeye” was released on February 9, 2022, and it focused on the many revelations that made the show great, as well as the funny bits, such as the musical retelling of the Battle of New York.
The Captain America-themed musical appeared in Hawkeye episode 1, and its premiere was the reason why the Barton family, minus Laura (Linda Cardellini), was in New York in the first place. While Clint was seemingly against it, as the scene with his daughter struggling to catch his attention during the performance as he switched off his hearing aid proved, fans were left bewitched by the musical, with some going as far as asking for a real iteration of Rogers: The Musical. Hawkeye season 1 finale’s post-credits scene even featured the entire song of the battle of New York, this time seen not through the eyes of Clint Barton (Jeremy Renner) but as the full-fledged performance as it would have happened on stage.
Assembled’s Hawkeye-themed episode revealed that the idea of a musical was first thrown around as a joke on The Avengers sets. When talking about the musical, Renner said that it was something they all joked about and “even slightly performed on set” with all their props. The Hawkeye actor even weighed in the concept behind superhero movies in general and Avengers in particular, saying that “everybody is musical in some sort of way in the Avengers.“
While the Avengers cast may have joked about it, Hawkeye executive producer Trinh Tran explained it was Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige that loved the idea of a Captain America musical so much that they ended up recording a musical number more than four minutes long. Despite only appearing in Hawkeye episode 1 and the finale’s post-credits scene, the performance was created and developed as if it belonged to a musical rather than to a musical episode of a TV show. Assembled’s Hawkeye episode shone a light on the process behind it, going from how they recruited the performers as they couldn’t through casting calls during the Covid-19 pandemic to hiring Hairspray composer Marc Shaiman to write the song.
In the end, Rogers: The Musical proved the perfect way to handle the passing of the baton from Clint onto Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld). It not only represented the fame Barton got after becoming part of the Avengers, something he always resented as he wished to lead a private family life, but it also made possible the meeting with Kate. Hawkeye‘s Captain America musical might have started as a joke that evolved to a thoroughly developed wink to the past of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but in doing so, it served as a connection between that and what Phase 4 and the future will bring for the MCU.
Key Release Dates
- Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022)Release date: May 06, 2022
- Thor: Love and Thunder (2022)Release date: Jul 08, 2022
- Black Panther: Wakanda Forever/Black Panther 2 (2022)Release date: Nov 11, 2022
- The Marvels/Captain Marvel 2 (2023)Release date: Feb 17, 2023
- Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023)Release date: May 05, 2023
- Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023)Release date: Jul 28, 2023
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