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( post-eudio, astra info )
Kate Bishop was born to a world of super heroes. Heroes that had somehow been engulfed with strange, unique powers — immense strength seeded by the intake of super serum, wall-crawling capabilities and web production due to the bite of a radioactive spider, genetically passed mystical abilities capable of altering reality itself. This was her world, but this wasn't Kate, a regular human born devoid of any special powers. However, within Kate, there's a sheer grand bout of stubbornness and an instinctive need to fix the world around her, having bared witness to a steady train of corruption and tragedy over the course of her years, experiences that assisted to mold her from Katherine Bishop, a young, privileged but inexperienced girl to Hawkeye, the independent, self-developed hero she's currently become.
One of Kate's virtues is her sense of resolve. Perhaps she lives in a world of genetically or magically powered beings, but she doesn't attribute this to becoming a bystander by any means. Upon being kidnapped at a young age, Kate was rescued by several of the first Avengers including Captain America, Thor, and Iron Man. But the Avenger that drew her attention when she'd seen him fighting with confidence amongst this overpowered group was the original Hawkeye, Clint Barton, not failing to notice his lack of special powers and his solitary ability of shooting arrows to take on enemies. As a regular human herself, this experience cast aside any doubt that being ordinary could possibly set any boundaries when it came to taking on anything. This sense of confidence in the idea that determination-triumphs-strength even set her on the course to becoming one of the primary leaders amongst the Young Avengers where she was surrounded by shape-shifters, reality warpers, and speedsters, yet never faltered in believing she was ever less than them simply because she had no special powers.
But her resolve not only stems from being a non-super. Several years after her harmless kidnapping, Kate's luck falls short when she walks home alone one night and is sexually assaulted by a strange man on the street. Unable to defend herself, the incident temporarily consumes her with doubt and fear, realizing that being a "good person" wasn't enough to get by in a such a terrifying world. But Kate hardly accepts defeat, even after personal tragedies, instead choosing to further her training as a fighter, taking lessons in areas such as boxing and archery while learning to be adaptable in combat. Gradually, she accepts that there are things beyond her control, but that she can still fight back, to protect herself and those unable to protect themselves, refusing to let harsh experiences break her.
A prominent trait that becomes spotlighted in Kate's tragedy is how determined she becomes in wanting to help others. Though Kate has always shown the depths of her caring nature long before this. The innate concern stems back through genetics from her mother, who often traveled the world, using the family's wealth for donating to charities and assisting those in need, all while Kate's father tended to his disreputable business deals and her sister wasted away the resulting money. Even before stepping into the world of superheroes, Kate chose to follow in her mother's stead, visiting soup kitchens and women's shelters to play what role she was able. Upon finally becoming Hawkeye and a self-proclaimed Avenger, Kate continues to make her attempts at assisting the lesser abled, wanting to inspire them through the performance of action, to encourage them to help one another by setting the right example.
However, her passion for assistance doesn't go without fault. At times, Kate has been accused of becoming too concerned for others, notably by Clint, who credits her for causing too much trouble in trying to save everyone. When discovering a group of children being used as biological weapons, Kate attempts to take them into her personal care, not wanting to leave them in the hands of S.H.I.E.L.D. or A.I.M., who would use them for warfare. But growing attached to Kate, the children begin to want to protect her, killing members of both opposing groups when they attempt to harm her. The situation showcases how sometimes Kate, in her inexperience and naivety, often steps into situations beyond her capabilities, all in a stubborn attempt to fulfill her own declaration of wanting to help the innocent.
Yet, Kate often carries too much pride. Whenever accused of being wrong, she will retort with a fit of anger and frustration. She faces this on a multitude of occasions with her ex-boyfriend, Eli, who, like her, carries a heavy freight of stubbornness. Due to both being leaders within the Young Avengers, their disagreements often resulted in Kate yelling or physically pushing him away to get her point across. A similar attitude is also present in her relationship with Clint. While Kate doesn't hesitate to shout at him over his repetitive passive attitude, when roles are reversed, she ignores Clint's accusations of her flaws, quickly resorting to returning the blame, even once losing her temper and punching him once he'd hit a nerve. This all draws back from Kate's desire for a constant sense of control, a trait stemming from wanting to escape the helplessness she felt when she was sexually assaulted.
Hypocrisy tends to be one of Kate's strongest faults. She can often play the card of being quite judgmental, attempting to make others feel guilty for their actions despite committing them herself. Clint is a common victim, with Kate criticizing his decisions not long before following in the same path. Kate's accusations of Clint often running away from his problems gets turned around on her when she chooses to leave New York for L.A. once she gets fed up in dealing with the dramatic situations at the time. It's an act that she's committed in the past, having ditched Eli the moment they'd fought over their relationship and she responded by going on a date with another teammate, Tommy. This dodging of relationships is repeated in her spontaneous romances with strangers, another habit she's often judged Clint for despite repeating them herself.
Another showcase of hypocrisy is in her criticism of her family's wealth. Despite her vocal aggression about their financial privileges, Kate has been guilty of the same, often seen in a large variety of stylish and expensive clothing, hardly wearing the same outfit twice. Even when she declares living independently of her father, she continues to rely on his credit card to pay her living expenses, attempting to stay at a five-star hotel when she makes her move to L.A. Having lived privileged over the years, she finds herself panicked when her credit card ends up being declined and she's forced to live in newfound poverty. Kate's uses of her father's money isn't entirely selfish though, having made it the Young Avengers' primary source of income, using it to provide costumes and aid their initiative in becoming legitimized heroes.
Because of her rich past and status of importance in wealthy communities, Kate will sometimes be slightly oblivious when interacting with others. In her mindset, she keeps an optimistic and idealistic image that her presence is a matter of luck for her audience when they're in a situation of dire stress due to her title of being an Avenger. This is because, despite the strain and conflict in her personal relationships, Kate's thoughts go back to that determination to fix as many problems as she's able. While her move to L.A. is originally seen as an annoyance by both the locals and the city law enforcement, she actually resolves several cases in a row, developing a more trusting and kind relationship with the aforementioned upon their realization that Kate's intentions are for good.
Despite her hypocritically spoiled nature, Kate isn't entirely tied with privileged wealth. After the events of her assault, she understood that life had a way with throwing unexpected turns in her direction and accepted needing to learn to adapt to altering circumstances. Upon losing access to her family wealth, Kate doesn't look upon the situation with a negative outlook. Instead, she tries to make the most of suddenly living on a tight budget, taking initiative to find her own source of income. Her habitual determination begins to push her, succeeding at making ends meet on her own upon realizing that independence to be a hero on her own agenda is something necessary for personal growth. Not only does she ultimately seek full independence from her father, but she also realizes that what she hopes to achieve as a superhero can't be done while remaining in Clint's shadow as his partner. These are gradual steps in growing from her youth and inexperience, to no longer rely on privilege and the corrupted wealth from her family and to prove herself as a capable hero without being the second Hawkeye.
Kate had arrived in Eudio with the intention of helping her friends, making a deal with the "cuddle city" authorities that she'll play along with their energy-conjuring methods as long as the people important to her back home were well taken care of. Arriving in the city, she did, however, take her time with getting a feel for the setting, along with getting familiar with its other deal-making residents before she jumped on the cuddle train (even if there were plenty of hotties about she'd have happily cuddled with, even without a deal strung between them).
Moving into a female-centric apartment, Kate made one of her most significant relationships almost immediately when she began rooming with Gwen Stacy. Though what they had would be considered platonic through the entire course of them living together, they developed a significant trust with one another that enabled them to have a casual string of hook-ups, mostly in the form of lazy sleepovers in one another's bedrooms, without the worry of any extra baggage.
The casualness hadn't only been limited to Gwen, extending to her roommate's boyfriend, Peter Parker as well. The two had remained solely as friends for quite a long time, but the same couldn't be said for Hawkeye and Spider-Man; when the two heroes engaged in a playful night of prowling the city, it steered to something much more intimate after a game of bowling resulted in the stripping of just enough clothing to keep Spider-Man's identity hidden beneath the mask. The anonymous hook-ups carried on for a while until Peter finally revealed himself to Kate, carrying on the relationship afterwards.
One of Kate's main intentions during her time in Eudio was to keep things free of any strings, not wanting to build up any attachments that would steer to something more than temporary. Those conditions became a complication when she met the person that was essentially her male-equivalent, composed of a love for nerdy puns and eighties music. Wally West essentially embodied her dream boy, and when he eventually dropped the practically forbidden three-word phrase she'd been reluctant to hear, she knew he'd already caught her heart.
Of course, circumstances had led Wally to leaving town for a time soon after his confession, leaving Kate with little time to really process the extent of her feelings. Continuing on her trend of bad decision making in the midst of wanting to escape deeper emotions, she ended up in something a little more reckless when she began hooking up with Derek Hale, the embodiment of big bad wolf, as to distract her with something a little more dangerous and exciting, all while convinced she wasn't ready for anything serious with anyone.
Eventually, Kate chose to go back home for a time to ease the complication of her feelings for all parties involved, something that resulted in her meeting with her actual partner-in-superheroing, Clint Barton. The surface description for them would be "just friends", as she'd insisted for years, but she was plenty relieved to find the Clint she returned home to wasn't the same one she spent time with in Eudio for a few months, when particular emotional feelings had surfaced. The regret had stirred, due to not wanting to risk losing her best friend, and he'd left the city before she could really fall too deep in the mess, wondering if maybe she'd lost on an opportunity or if it'd been for the best.