While there are few archers in fiction who can top Marvel Comics’ Hawkeye in terms of accuracy and precision with a bow and arrow, there is one hero within Hawkeye’s own established universe who proved to be a bit more handy in that department for one specific reason–and that person is none other than Thor’s newest MCU rival, Hercules.
In Thor’s latest Marvel Cinematic Universe film, Thor: Love and Thunder, the God of Thunder travels to a gathering of every god from every known mythology in existence, one which is led by none other than Zeus. Thor and his partners do this in an effort to recruit the help of the strongest deities in creation to help stop Gorr the God Butcher for good. Unfortunately, things don’t quite go according to plan. Thor shoots a lightning bolt through Zeus’ chest then starts fighting a bunch of the palace guards before making a sloppy escape with the help of two giant, screaming goats–all while not recruiting a single god to help them on their mission. Skip ahead to the post-credit scene of the film and fans learn that Zeus is pretty angry with Thor for what he did earlier in the movie and tells his son, Hercules, to take care of him–indicating that Hercules will be Thor’s next rival in the MCU.
In Avengers #41 by Roy Thomas and John Buscema, the Avengers are up against the diabolically evil Diablo and his insidious android Dragon Man. However, before Earth’s Mightiest Heroes jump into action and fend off this vile threat to humanity, they first run through some training exercises alongside their new house guest, Hercules. While he doesn’t regularly participate in Avengers’ missions since he sees their work as being beneath him, Hercules does train with the group, mostly as a way to prove his god-tier superiority over them. During this training session, Hawkeye was practicing his archery skills when Hercules decides he’s going to show him up and be even better with the bow and arrow–and he actually proves that he is.
Rather than using a normal bow and arrow, Hercules proves that he can create his own weaponry from just some stuff lying around him in the training facility. Using metal pipes and some cable, Hercules quickly fashions himself a makeshift bow and arrow which he uses to shoot at his target. Despite breaking every known rule of archery and using things that in no way should have led to a desired outcome, the powerful demigod, Hercules, hits his target right on the money. While hitting a target one time doesn’t prove that someone is better than a master archer, the way Hercules did so in this issue kind of does. When Hawkeye uses his bow, it is designed specifically for that function, and his arrows are perfectly crafted to fly through the air in the most effective way possible. Basically, Hawkeye uses the best versions of his chosen weaponry and he does so to perfection. However, Hercules also proved that he was an excellent marksman, and he did so with the worst possible bow and arrow anyone could imagine. The guy strung some cord through a steel pipe and then used that to shoot another pipe at a target, then actually hit the target perfectly. If Hercules and Hawkeye were in an archery contest, Hawkeye would win hands down; but in the field, where a makeshift bow and arrow could mean the difference between life and death, Hercules takes the win.
Hercules proved that he can build a bow and arrow from scraps and that he can use them effectively, which proves that Thor’s newest MCU rival is, in a way, a better archer than Hawkeye.
