Hawkeye’s Steve Rogers Musical Is Exactly What It Appears To Be
Hawkeye’s first two episodes are currently available on Disney+:
Hawkeye’s trailers indicated that the eponymous character would attend an odd reminder of his previous successes, specifically a musical about his old partner Captain America’s life. Even those previews couldn’t have prepared viewers for the in-universe production’s extreme over-the-topness. Rogers: The Musical is one of the most bizarre concepts to ever come in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and it should be quite divisive in-universe, given the gruesome subject matter it reimagines as perky Broadway show songs. In the first episode of Hawkeye, Clint and his three children, Cooper, Lila, and Nathaniel, spend time together in New York City to enjoy the holiday season. They end up seeing a Broadway performance along the route, particularly Rogers: The Musical. The theatrical performance, which was teased in the series’ promos, is as stupidly corny and carelessly degrading as it could possibly be. The audience has only seen one musical song, which recreates the climactic Battle of New York from the original Avengers film. The actors race about the stage dressed in reduced copies of the superheroes’ outfits, singing along with backup dancers as they act out the struggle and openly anger the former Avenger in the audience.
The musical, in particular, appears to have taken considerable liberties with the battle’s events:
The musical, in particular, appears to have taken significant liberties with the battle’s events. The Avengers are seen hopping around the stage, avoiding most of the killing and damage that characterized the combat. Hawkeye is portrayed with the same amount of importance as one of the background dancers, emphasizing how the heroic archer was more or less an afterthought to the rest of the world when compared to Captain America, Thor, and Iron Man. The Black Widow cartwheels onto the stage to a lyric about how she’s the team’s “eye-candy,” grossly underplaying her importance in the larger battle against Loki and the Chitauri Army. Meanwhile, despite Scott Lang not yet being Ant-Man, Ant-Man is seen on stage as one of the “Avengers” that rescued the day. What makes this ridiculous, over-the-top show so odd is how the Battle of New York has previously been depicted in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) as a terrifying event akin to the 9/11 attacks. For heroes like Iron Man, the struggle was a huge cause of PTSD, and it paved the way for villains like the Vulture to grow in power. The Battle of New York was a catastrophe that resulted in hundreds of millions of dollars in damage throughout New York City and several civilian casualties, and was the first genuine proof that aliens exist and may invade at any time, prompting the whole globe to reconsider their role in the cosmos. And now there’s a silly musical about that fateful day, complete with a green actor who gets to shatter ridiculous blocks.
The Battle of New York is a pivotal moment in the MCU’s in-universe history:
It’s understandable that the Battle of New York is a pivotal period in the MCU’s in-universe history; it’s simply odd to see portions of it replicated as part of a goofy musical. Multiple background jokes in the first two episodes of Hawkeye—ranging from theatre posters to television ads, with youngsters even attending the play dressed as the Avengers—suggest the musical is a blockbuster on Broadway. The thought of an entire musical dedicated to Captain America is absurd enough on its own, but the fact that it’s apparently appreciated in-universe while trivializing one of the world’s most terrifying events raises the absurdity factor even more. The first two episodes of Hawkeye are available to view on Disney+ if you want to witness Rogers: The Musical in all its absurd splendour.
