{"id":343,"date":"2021-11-23T05:00:53","date_gmt":"2021-11-23T04:00:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sciencefocus.com\/?p=105168"},"modified":"2021-11-23T05:25:11","modified_gmt":"2021-11-23T04:25:11","slug":"a-master-archer-critiques-hawkeyes-bow-skills","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/rss_feed\/a-master-archer-critiques-hawkeyes-bow-skills\/","title":{"rendered":"A master archer critiques Hawkeye\u2019s bow skills"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By Stephen Kelly\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Tuesday, 23 November 2021 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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When it comes to the Avengers, Hawkeye has something of a reputation for being the odd one out. After all, the superhero team includes a Norse god, a green behemoth, a wizard, a racoon, a man who can shoot webbing out of his hands, a witch, a super-solider and\u2026 some guy with a bow and arrow.<\/p>\n

But is that fair? Patricia Gonsalves, a master archer who has worked as an advisor on superhero show Arrow<\/em>, starring DC hero Green Arrow, doesn\u2019t think so.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hear that a lot,\u201d she says. \u201cWhen I worked on Arrow<\/em>, a lot of people were like, \u2018he should just get a gun\u2019. But the people who say that are missing the point of the archery character \u2013 instinct is their superpower. They don\u2019t need to see; they can hear things that the average person can\u2019t hear. They turn around, draw the bow, they\u2019ve already got the image of their target in their head. Anyone can fire a gun. Instinct, stealth and subtlety \u2013 that\u2019s the superpower.\u201d<\/p>\n

But even so, it\u2019s not like Hawkeye is any ordinary archer. With the release of new Disney+ series Hawkeye<\/em> this week, Gonsalves talks us through why the superhero is way more than just some guy with a bow and arrow\u2026<\/p>\n

Power <\/strong><\/h2>\n

In archery, bow draw weight is the amount of force needed to pull a bow, which then translates into how powerful the shot is. How much bow draw weight an archer needs depends on what they\u2019re doing.<\/p>\n

\u201c60 pounds will blow through Kevlar,\u201d says Gonsalves. \u201cWhen hunting, I\u2019ve never really had anything more than a maximum of 70 pounds. I\u2019m trying to hunt an animal, not blow a hole inside of it. If you\u2019re doing Olympic archery you\u2019re looking at maybe 40, 45 pounds. War bows from the site of the Mary Rose<\/em> of England had an estimated draw weight of 180 pounds. The world record, held by Mark Stretton, is over 200 pounds.\u201d<\/p>\n

The bow draw weight for Hawkeye, according to the comics, is 250 pounds, which makes Gonsalves burst out laughing: \u201cOh God, no! To say that is overkill is an understatement. There\u2019s absolutely no reason to have that sort of draw weight. I can\u2019t think of any circumstance you would want a 250-pound bow. Unless you were trying to take down a tank.\u201d<\/p>\n

Speed <\/strong><\/h2>\n

Details on how many arrows Hawkeye can shoot in a single minute are sketchy, but his DC cousin the Green Arrow \u2013\u00a0whose abilities are not hugely dissimilar \u2013\u00a0can shoot 29.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn average 12 would be the ideal number in a minute,\u201d says Gonsalves. \u201cMy own record is 21 in a minute. Danish archer Lars Andersen [who claims he can shoot 10 arrows in 4.9 seconds] shoots quite fast and it looks great but he\u2019s using a really light draw bow. I could probably shoot 30 with a 10-pound bow, because it\u2019s offering very little resistance.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen it comes to shooting quickly, it\u2019s about how fast can get the arrow on the string, not how fast you can let it go. It\u2019s not unrealistic to shoot 29 arrows a minute, but sure as hell not on a 250-pounds bow!\u201d<\/p>\n

\""Hailee\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
Hailee Steinfeld and Jeremy Renner in Hawkeye<\/em> \u00a9 Marvel Studios 2021<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

Accuracy <\/strong><\/h2>\n

Hawkeye\u2019s accuracy with a bow is legendary, with Jeremy Renner\u2019s MCU version being able to take down moving targets from ludicrous distances, sometimes without even looking. In reality, archers must contend with what Gonsalves calls the \u2018archer\u2019s paradox\u2019: the fact that when an archer shoots an arrow it is moving in three different directions at once. \u201cIt is spinning, it is moving forward and it\u2019s also going through the air like a fish, wriggling back and forth,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

To tame that movement, archers must consider various factors that can influence the direction of an arrow \u2013\u00a0distance, the wind, what hand they\u2019re shooting from. But most all, says Gonsalves, they must go against their instinct.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re shooting an Olympic target, you want to point your arrow at the middle, right? But the arrow is going to go up or down depending how close or how far away you are.<\/p>\n

\u201cThink of a target as a clock. If I\u2019m 20 feet away, I\u2019m not going to aim at the yellow. I\u2019m going to be aiming at around the 5 area, because if I aim at the middle, I\u2019m going to hit the 10 area. The arrow\u2019s going to travel up because I\u2019m so close \u2013 it doesn\u2019t have time to finish its travel. But if I\u2019m farther away, I have to aim a little bit higher. There\u2019s a lot of different factors that go into a shot.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trickery <\/strong><\/h2>\n

Gonsalves is able shoot a bow in such a way that the arrow curves around an object and hits her target, but even she balks at some of the trick shots pulled off by Hawkeye. Not least the feat of him shooting three arrows at once and having each one hit their target.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cPhysics says no,\u201d she says. \u201cWhen you have three arrows, instead of the string going into a single point, it\u2019s now going into multiple points. The top and the bottom arrows are ahead of the centre one, which means when you shoot, the string is going to push the top one down and the bottom one up.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re also taking away momentum from all three of those arrows because if you\u2019re using, say, a 40-pound bow then that is now being dispersed between three projectiles instead of one.\u201d<\/p>\n

Form<\/strong><\/h2>\n

And finally, a quick note on Jeremy Renner\u2019s overall form, which Gonsalves says \u201csucks\u201d. This is because, according the Gonslaves, Renner was trained in the Olympic style of archery, which favours slower, more open and less dynamic movements.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose are 40- to 45-pound bows,\u201d she says, \u201cthe target is 60 metres away. Not that I\u2019m saying it\u2019s easy, but they have sights. They have all this assistance. So, trying to take someone who\u2019s supposed to be a vigilante and getting them to shoot like an Olympian is completely ridiculous. No offence to Olympians, but what do they know about that sort of [fast, dynamic] movement? What does an Olympian know about being an assassin?\u201d<\/p>\n

Instead, she says, Renner should have been trained by an instinctive hunter. \u201cWhen it comes to archery on film, we need to make it dynamic and exciting with a lot of movement. And that\u2019s instinctive hunting.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe dynamic movement is the draw\u2026 If you\u2019re going to hold the bow out like [an Olympian], reach for the arrow slowly, then draw and shoot \u2013 well, if you\u2019re a deer, you\u2019re gone.\u201d<\/p>\n

About our expert, Patricia Gonsalves<\/h4>\n

With over 30 years of experience and training, Patricia specializes in ancient and traditional archery weapons, tools, and techniques. She now teaches these skills to students at her own archery school, Lykopis Archery. In addition to passing along her knowledge to the next generation of traditional archers, Patricia also promotes accurate Hollywood portrayals of archers in her role as archery consultant for the popular television series Arrow<\/em>, as well as other shows.<\/p>\n

Read more from\u00a0Popcorn Science<\/em>:<\/strong><\/p>\n