Hawkeye: Unmasqued

Things have gotten pretty complicated in Kate Bishop’s life, to say the least. With her personal and professional lives  colliding, she’s been forced to face some challenges from her past. And, as it turns out, Kate’s old foe Madame Masque orchestrated the drama.

On October 4, writer Kelly Thompson and artist Leonardo Romero bring Kate and Madame Masque together for a showdown in HAWKEYE #11!

So what makes Masque such an excellent nemesis? We asked Kelly Thompson for her view on the classic villain.

Marvel.com: Kate has a long history with Madame Masque—going back to writer Matt Fraction and artist David Aja’s run. We’ve seen the tension building between these two characters for a while.

Kelly Thompson: Yes, Fraction wrote such a fantastic intro for those two characters—with Kate sort of cavalierly embarrassing Madame Masque by taking her place. I think that intro is exactly the kind that makes for arch-nemeses. Madame Masque has been fixating on Kate ever since. And it’s not an accident that their story plays out this way.

Marvel.com: Masque has worked with (and manipulated) Kate’s dad—and we’ve seen Kate trying to sort things out with him recently. What are these events going to do to their relationship?

Kelly Thompson: Masque has definitely been playing the long game in her approach to Kate. Laying some groundwork that’s really emotionally devastating to Kate by encouraging and assisting Derek Bishop in sort of leveling up in his villainy, if you will. But Masque also has her own desires—namely power and powers—and that’s syncing up nicely now with her desire for pure revenge. So she’s moving into a less subtle, more openly destructive phase of her plans against Kate.

Marvel.com: It seems like Masque wants to clone Kate…and Kate’s definitely not down with that!

Kelly Thompson: Yeah, Masque’s desire to clone Kate—a literal reversal of what Kate did to her when they first met (though without the clones)—isn’t an accident. And Masque will not be the only one with revenge on the brain when this ends.

Marvel.com: In some ways, it seems like Kate’s dad could be her arch-nemesis as well. While she can’t just write her dad off, maybe Madame Masque will take his place?

Kelly Thompson: Yes, I think that’s definitely a slow boil story building in the direction of Bishop vs. Bishop. And Kate would much rather have Madame Masque to fight, as that’s far less complicated overall. She has a greater internal struggle with her father—knowing that there are good things about him, things that she wants to save. But she also feels the need to do what’s right and shut him down. She doesn’t really know what that should look like…does she arrest him? Does she fight him? What’s the move? It’s not an easy question for her to answer. It’s a little more complicated than your traditional “save the day” super hero story.

Marvel.com: What else can you tease about the upcoming issues?

Kelly Thompson: This arc comes to a close with issue #11—and Leonardo Romero and [colorist] Jordie Bellaire are doing truly tremendous work. I think people are going to really love it.

HAWKEYE# 12 exists as a standalone story—a team-up with Wolverine (and Gabby—and yes, Jonathan the Wolverine and Lucky will meet) and we’ve got the fantastic artist Michael Walsh coming back for that story.

Then in December with HAWKEYE #13, we kick off an all-new arc guest starring Hawkeye original flavor…Clint Barton!

Check out Kelly Thompson and artist Leonardo Romero’s HAWKEYE #11 on October 4!