This article contains spoilers for Hawkeye episodes 1 and 2.
The first two episodes of Marvel's Hawkeye Disney+ TV series have set up the classic Iron Man villain Madame Masque, and it could explain Eleanor Bishop's powerful friends. Marvel has been setting up the Young Avengers for quite some time, using Disney+ TV shows such as WandaVision and The Falcon & the Winter Soldier to introduce heroes who are traditionally part of the superhero team. But Kate Bishop, played by Hailee Steinfeld, is the first one to really co-star in a series.
Jeremy Renner's Clint Barton may be the ostensible lead, but in truth there are two Hawkeyes in Hawkeye. Disney+ is setting up Kate Bishop as the next Hawkeye, a teenager-turned-vigilante who takes on organized crime and even becomes leader of the Young Avengers in the comics. The first two episodes are something of an origin story for the new Hawkeye, and it's not hard to spot the foreshadowing suggesting she'll wind up bringing down the criminal empire run by the Armand family. But, although it's easy to miss, Hawkeye episode 1 also sets up a potential Iron Man villain.
In one scene, Kate's mother Eleanor (Vera Farmiga) is unimpressed with Armand III, an elderly man who threatens her at a high-society fundraiser - and prompts Eleanor to warn him she has powerful friends of her own. Although it's not expanded upon, in the comics, Eleanor is a singularly shady figure in her own right, and she's closely associated with a crime boss named Madame Masque. One of Tony Stark's lovers, Madame Masque has always been particularly interested in acquiring Avengers-level technology and selling it to the highest bidder - and, appropriately enough, there's a black market auction going on at the "charity event" Eleanor attends in episode 1, an auction she later claims she knew nothing about.
In the comics, a girl named Courtney Frost was adopted into a wealthy family, only to learn she was actually the daughter of a crime boss, Count Nefaria, who recruited her to infiltrate Stark Industries. Frost was involved in an accident that left her face transformed into a web of scars, and though she used plastic surgery and masks to disguise it on occasion, she never truly forgot that horrific experience. Donning a golden faceplate, Courtney became "Madame Masque," a crime lord in her own right. There's always been a fascinating dynamic between Madame Masque and Tony Stark, with Masque ironically falling in love with Stark, leaving her rather conflicted. Marvel Television introduced a version of Madame Masque in Agent Carter season 2, but the canonicity of that is disputable, and there's no reason Marvel couldn't modify her to fit with the MCU.
It's possible the MCU will switch things up, revealing Eleanor's powerful friend is not Madame Masque but instead is Vincent d'Onofrio's Kingpin; there have long been rumors he'll appear in Hawkeye, rebooted for the main Marvel universe. But it would also be entirely appropriate for Marvel to handle the Eleanor subplot in a comic book-accurate way, leaving the two Hawkeyes stuck between rival criminal empires. Madame Masque could conceivably have filled the void left when Spider-Man took down Vulture in Spider-Man: Homecoming and she'd certainly be excited to get her hands on any Stark technology; Hawkeye episode 1's black market auction included a mysterious watch, possibly connected to Stark himself, which could contain advanced Stark tech. The story potential is clear, so hopefully, Madame Masque will indeed make her MCU debut sooner rather than later.
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