[ Kate laughs in a way that says, "Yeah, right?" She laughs like it's obvious, like he'll get it, he's in on the joke. Because Kate is very much an outlier in her love for Hawkeye, and even she is self-aware enough to know that a significant percentage of that was cemented as a trauma response during the alien invasion. In the most helpless moment of her life, she sees Hawkeye, just a normal guy fighting aliens with a stick and string, and she makes her mom buy her a bow. As with the rest of her: not subtle.
She gets the same response any time she tells people that Hawkeye is her favorite Avenger. That "Oh how funny, surely you're not serious" laugh. So Clint claiming that Hawkeye could get the popular vote? That's an obvious gag. That's low-hanging fruit. Voted sixth, sure. Out of six.
But then it occurs to her that Clint might not be joking. He has figured out the branding and that is no small part of it. He is also, to put it diplomatically, more photogenic than her world's Clint. That matters in a popularity contest. ]
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She gets the same response any time she tells people that Hawkeye is her favorite Avenger. That "Oh how funny, surely you're not serious" laugh. So Clint claiming that Hawkeye could get the popular vote? That's an obvious gag. That's low-hanging fruit. Voted sixth, sure. Out of six.
But then it occurs to her that Clint might not be joking. He has figured out the branding and that is no small part of it. He is also, to put it diplomatically, more photogenic than her world's Clint. That matters in a popularity contest. ]
Wait, were you being serious?