After losing both of their parents in a car accident and spending six years in an orphanage, Clint Barton and his brother, Barney ran away to join the Carson Carnival of Travelling Wonders. While there, Clint caught the attention of Swordsman and Trick Shot, who trained him to become a master archer. However, Clint found out that his mentors were embezzling money, which led to him getting beaten by Swordsman and his former mentors ran away before Clint could tell the authorities. Staying in the circus, Clint became Hawkeye, the World's Greatest Marksman, until he saw Iron Man in action and decided to become a superhero. However, on his first outing, he ran into the villainous Black Widow and joined her to be a criminal. After Black Widow was seriously injured in a fight with Iron Man, Hawkeye decided to turn over a new leaf and become the hero he wanted to be from the beginning, eventually joining the Avengers.