Marvel's 'Hawkeye' Recruits 'Troop Zero' And 'Comrade Detective' Directors

Marvel Studios has zeroed in on some directors for its Disney+ Hawkeye series, and as usual for the studio, it has selected some out-of-the-box choices.

Bert and Bertie, the female writing/directing duo best known for directing the Amazon movie Troop Zero, will direct multiple episodes of the upcoming show, while Rhys Thomas, a Saturday Night Live veteran who directed the Amazon comedy series Comrade Detective, will also direct a block of episodes. Looks like Hawkeye might end up being funnier than we thought.

A traumatized Clint Barton (Jeremy Renner) ditching his Hawkeye nickname, adopting the moniker of Ronin, and slicing his way through Asian guys in Avengers: Endgame was not what I'd call funny. But it appears that with these choices of filmmakers for the new series, Marvel might be changing up the tone for this character and giving him some much-needed levity. Perhaps seeing how Taika Waititi resurrected the character of Thor with comedy in Thor: Ragnarok inspired Marvel Studios chief Kevin Feige and his creative team to take Hawkeye in a similar direction.

Then again, maybe Bert & Bertie (real names: Amber Finlayson and Katie Ellwood) and Rhys Thomas will shrug off the comedic approach they've crafted over the years and turn this into a dark and gritty Hawkeye. Let's be real: they probably won't. But I don't want to imply that these filmmakers are only capable of doing one thing.

Bert & Bertie have only directed one major film thus far: Troop Zero, a sappy sweet little indie comedy that felt like School of Rock meets Little Miss Sunshine. That's not exactly the tone we expect the Hawkeye series to take (although how weird would that be?), but hey, Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck initially seemed like odd choices for Captain Marvel, and they did a fine job with that. In addition to Comrade Detective, Rhys Thomas has directed several episodes of Documentary Now! and recently directed John Mulaney and the Sack Lunch Bunch. Who knows: maybe Jake Gyllenhaal's Mr. Music will be the villain of Hawkeye.

In the current Hawkeye comics, humor is very much a part of the storytelling. The most celebrated run of Hawkeye comics, which was written by Matt Fraction and drawn by David Aja, seems to be prime source material for this spin-off series, and that run featured an even mixture of comedy and action – a combo that's basically been established as the sweet spot for the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe. Jonathan Igla (Mad Men, Pitch) is writing the show, which will see Renner reprise his role and might feature Hailee Steinfeld as young archer Kate Bishop.