Tony Dalton, Fra Fee, Brian d'Arcy James, Aleks Paunovic, Piotr Adamczyk, Linda Cardellini, Simon Callow, and Vera Farmiga also star.

During the Battle of New York in 2012,[a] a young Kate Bishop is saved from a Chitauri warrior by Clint Barton, but her father Derek is killed in the chaos.

Suddenly, a group of masked mercenaries known as the Tracksuit Mafia break into the auction and take the attendees hostage in search of a mysterious watch.

[3][4] Igla and Thomas executive produce alongside Marvel Studios' Brad Winderbaum, Trinh Tran, Victoria Alonso, Louis D'Esposito, and Kevin Feige.

Igla conceived the idea wanting to set up the notion of being different points of view, reminiscent to the 2012 Hawkeye comic book run of Matt Fraction and David Aja.

In this case, the battle is revisited through a younger Kate Bishop's point of view, which Igla felt that allowed the audience to "jump[ing] back and forth a little bit in time" and see things from different perspectives.

[10] Igla also decided to include a montage about why Barton needs a hearing aid after his many adventures seen in the films to showcase the lasting impact of his heroic lifestyle has, unlike the other super-powered teammates.

[9] Tanner Bean, the show's executive story editor, rewatched Avengers: Endgame (2019) to see what other artifacts the Tracksuit Mafia could have found in the rubble of the film's climactic battle for the black market auction scene, and one thing he tried to include was the "La Cucaracha"-playing steering wheel from Luis' van, though the Easter egg was not included.

[11] The episode stars Jeremy Renner as Clint Barton / Hawkeye, Hailee Steinfeld as Kate Bishop, Tony Dalton as Jack Duquesne, Fra Fee as Kazi, Brian d'Arcy James as Derek Bishop, Aleks Paunovic as Ivan, Piotr Adamczyk as Thomas, Linda Cardellini as Laura Barton, Simon Callow as Armand Duquesne III, and Vera Farmiga as Eleanor.

[26] The two-episode premiere of Hawkeye was the top streaming series for viewers in the United States for the week ending November 28 according to Whip Media's TV Time.

The site's critical consensus reads, "Never Meet Your Heroes" "sets the table for Hawkeye's first season with an introductory episode that puts Hailee Steinfeld front and center.

[30] Kirsten Howard of Den of Geek gave the two-episode premiere a 4.5 out of 5, liking the holiday setting and saying that they felt that "Renner's ability to do a lot of character work with a reaction shot means the audience takes a quick hit for his triumphs and losses in the wake of Thanos' misjudged pursuit".