For the original “fictional” Two-Gun Kid, see Clay Harder.
Origin
Matthew Hawk was a lawyer who became a crimefighter in the Wild West known as Two-Gun Kid. Inspired by the original Two-Gun Kid dime novels that he read about in his youth, Matt was trained by an aging gun-slinger named Ben Dancer to become an expert marksman and rider. As one of the Old West’s most famous gunfighters, the Two-Gun Kid befriended several of the other heroic gunfighters of the era such as Kid Colt and the Rawhide Kid and found a sidekick and close friend in the former boxer Boom-Boom Brown. He also got involved with a young woman named Nancy whom became his sort-of girlfriend.
Creation
Two-Gun Kid was created by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby and Dick Ayers and first appeared in Two-Gun Kid #60. The previous star of Two-Gun Kid was Clay Harder, created by Syd Shores, whom this character was modeled after.
Character Evolution
Matt Hawk assumed the role of headlining character in the Two-Gun Kid series as well as appearing in several of Marvel’s other Western books of the era. He was properly integrated into the larger Marvel Universe by Steve Englehart in The Avengers #141 and subsequently brought forward to modern times via time travel a few issues later.
Major Story Arcs
Serpent Crown Saga
When Kang the Conqueror traveled back in time and attempted to take over the world in the past, Matt joined forces with a time-traveling Hawkeye in battling Kang. Aided by fellow Western gun-slingers Kid Colt, Phantom Rider, Rawhide Kid and Ringo Kid, they led a resistance against Kang’s reign.
Eventually, Hawkeye’s fellow Avengers arrived in the past and joined forces with Matt and Hawkeye in thwarting Kang’s scheme. Having developed a close friendship with Hawkeye, Matt was invited to join the Avengers as a member. Curious to what the future had in store for him, Matt accepted the offer and decided to travel with the Avengers to the modern era and serve alongside them. However, when the Avengers decided to settle on a new team line-up shortly afterwards, both Matt and Hawkeye resigned as active Avengers to instead be on call as “reserve members”. The two friends decided to journey across West America together.
Shadows and Stars
Matt and Hawkeye fought alongside the Avengers’ Black Widow and Hercules and the Champions against the Stranger and the Possessor, both of whom were trying to claim one of the Infinity Gems.
Bride of Ultron
The Avengers were forced to again face Ultron when the evil robot kidnapped both the Wasp and Yellowjacket. The villain was seemingly too powerful for the team to fight against and the team tried to contact Matt and Hawkeye for assistance. The Avengers calls for help were unfortunately not received because Matt wasn’t familiar with the modern era’s communication devices.
Korvac Saga
Matt was among one of the first Avengers who were abducted and held captive by the Collector who wished to amass a collection of all the members of the Avengers. Hawkeye returned to the Avengers to seek aid for his search for Matt as more members of the Avengers were mysteriously disappearing.
Eventually, Hawkeye and a few of the remaining Avengers managed to free Matt and the fellow captives and together they defeated the Collector. As the Avengers interrogated the Collector to his intentions and discovered he was trying to preserve them from the coming wrath of Michael Korvac and his own daughter Carina. Before the Collector could reveal any more he was abruptly obliterated by Korvac from halfway across the Galaxy.
Upon learning that the Collector had a time machine, Matt decided to use it to return to his own era and bid goodbye to Hawkeye and his fellow Avengers.
Lost in Space-Time
Having returned to the past, Matt resumed his career as a crime-fighter in the Wild West. When a time-traveling team of Avengers, led by Hawkeye, arrived in his time, he was happy to ally with them and help them get back to their own time.
However, as the team departed traveling to another time, Hawkeye’s wife Mockingbird was kidnapped by the Phantom Rider and subsequently trapped in the time period. Matt set out on a quest to free his friend’s wife from the Phantom Rider who had drugged Mockingbird into accepting him as her lover. Matt eventually managed to locate Mockingbird and the rest of the Avengers returned to retrieve her, offering Matt a chance to come with them to the future and again be an Avenger to wish Matt declined.
A Normal Life in the West?
As the years went by, Matt’s life finally seemed to wined down. He had married his sweetheart Nancy and became a full-time lawyer. They couple even had a daughter. However, both mother and child died during childbirth, which gave Matt much grieve. Later on, his old and best friend Boom Boom Brown died as well. These deaths made Matt cynical and fatalistic, an attitude reinforced by his knowledge of the future, in which he saw historical records of his own death. He however decided to live life by the fullest and become the Two-Gun Kid once more. He used his weapons of the future to bring justice to the old West once again as part of a new band of Western heroes known as the Sunset Riders.
Destiny War
During the war between Kang and Immortus, Hawkeye, Songbird and Yellowjacket went back in time to Matt’s era. The Avengers again crossed paths with Matt who was more than willing to help them battle against evil again. After the war, Matt remained in his own time and was not heard from again until a few years later.
Blaze of Glory
Years later, in the late 1880’s, Two-Gun Kid was seen again when old friend Reno Jones enlisted his help along with other western legends to help protect a town in Montana named Wonderment against a band of mercenaries known as the Nightriders. This was a gang of racist cowboys whom threatened to kill every, mostly Afro-American, resident in town. Two-Gun Kid accepted and he was soon back together with his former teammates and friends such as Kid Colt, Rawhide Kid, Ringo Kid and the Phantom Rider, all whom he had not seen in many years. They joined forces in hopes of bringing the evil and racist Nightriders to justice and to save the people of Wonderment.
The gunslingers had located themselves in Wonderment and waited for the arrival of the Nightriders. When the Nightriders finally arrived, a brutal fight erupted in which the gunslingers managed to defeat their advisories. It however came with a huge price as both Two-Gun Kid and his friend Kid Colt heroically died in the battle. Rawhide Kid was one of the few to survive the massacre and was devastated by the loss of his close allies and friends. He honored his friends with the vow to bring justice to the West for the rest of his life.
Time Trials
Matt was killed during the events of Blaze of Glory. This, however, would not meen the end of the hero. When modern superhero She-Hulk was targeted by the Time Variance Authority for infractions in the space-time continuum, she was left the choice to free one former-Avenger out of ‘death’ continuity- limbo, effectively making it possible to ‘revive’ a fallen teammate. She-Hulk choose to revive the Two-Gun Kid, because she knew of his bravery and heroism. Matt was revived and returned with She-Hulk to the modern era.
Matt decided to continue his career as a lawyer and worked alongside She-Hulk at the Goodman, Lieber, Kurtzberg & Holliway law firm. Things didn’t work out when he realized his knowledge of law and legal concerns was out of date and instead decided to act as the firm’s security agent and bounty hunter tasked with apprehending and guarding high profile clients. Matt also developed a relationship with fellow-attorney Mallory Book.
Civil War
Matt presumably allied with the Pro-Registration forces during the super-human Civil War, as he remained one the good side of the law and close to She-Hulk although he did not take part in any of the conflicts with heroes. After the war, he subsequently joined the 50 States Initiative and was asked to lead a team of heroes called The Desert Stars in Arizona.
Secret Invasion
Matt and the Desert Stars helped battle against invading Skrulls during their attempted invasion of Earth. With the help of 3-D Man, Matt and the rest of the Desert Stars discovered one of the members called Blacksmith was actually a Skrull imposter. The team fought against the Skrull who was eventually killed after he badly injured some of the team-members.
The Marvels Project
It is not known when exactly Matt returned to the past (as of this time, Matt is still in the present). It is just known that he did go back eventually. He lived out his life until the late 1930’s. There, as an elderly man, he often spoke with his doctor Thomas Halloway.
The doctor had diagnosed Matt as suffering from some sort of senile delirium. This because of Matt’s stories about how he had seen the future and that the ‘Age of Marvels’ was starting soon, and how he would have loved to live long enough to see them in their very first appearance. It was not until after Matt passed away in his sleep that Doctor Halloway realized he had been talking to the Two-Gun Kid from the Westerns he had read as a child. Matt Hawk had left his Two-Gun Kid mask and guns to the good doctor, with a note that said, “From one hero to another”. It was not until later that Thomas understood what he was meant to do. He donned the mask and used the guns as the Angel, and fought in honor of Matt during World War Two.
Sensational Seven
In this mini-series(2010), in another adventure between his time travels, Matt is seen as Two-Gun Kid where he helps the ‘gay’ Rawhide Kid in his quest. He is part of a band of cowboys known as the Sensational Seven.
Powers and Abilities
- Matt Hawk is an expert marksman and a formidable unarmed combatant. He also has great skill in riding horses and in modern times has adapted to use high-tech weaponry and vehicles.
- His main weapons are a pair of quickdraw colt SAA’s, and in the modern day, he uses an accessorized browning BLR lever rifle.
Other Versions
Matthew Hawk became a zombie in Earth-483 when a virus attacked a western town, transforming the dead Marvel western heroes into zombies. The zombies attacked Hurricane, the Kid’s old foe, before being shot by him.