Not Sure I believe in thunder gods!

Clint Barton was born to Harold and Edith Barton in Waverly, Idaho. He grew up close to his older brother Barney and worked alongside him at their father's butcher shop. From the outside they appeared to be a tight knit family but inside the home Harold was an abusive drunk who often took his anger out on his sons, usually Clint as he was clumsier and more outspoken. While Clint was still young, his father and mother died in a car accident because his father had been driving drunk.

Following his parents' deaths Clint and Barney were shuffled around from foster home to foster home. At these homes they were often packed in with many other children. The other boys picked up where Clint and Barney's father left off. They would beat up Clint and peer pressure Barney into watching. Although Barney tried to teach Clint how to defend himself the younger boy was too small compared to his attackers.

Since they couldn't get away from abuse in the foster home they ran away and joined Carson's Circus. At the circus they had to work to earn their keep. Usually that meant feeding the animals, setting up the tents, and running errands however Clint gained the attention of Swordsman, a thief and small time villain. He was teaching Clint how to throw knives when a dispute over Swordsman's gambling and stealing led the man to beat Clint up. Barney, who had become a member of Swordsman's gang of thugs failed to defend his brother for the first time. Instead, it was another circus performer, Trickshot who stepped in.

Trickshot took Clint in and began mentoring him in archery. Clint was even better at archery than he had been at swordsmanship and soon his skill was enough that he tried to get Clint involved in his own criminal enterprises. He convinced Clint to help him go after a small time mob boss, who unbeknownst to Clint had loaned the circus some money that he wanted repaid. What Clint didn't know was that after leaving the circus his brother Barney joined the army, and then the FBI and at the time was undercover as a security guard for the mob boss.

Clint didn't count on Trickshot killing the mob boss. He also didn't count on Barney being among the security guards they shot in the attempt to escape. Clint wounded his brother with what he believed was a fatal injury by accident. Dismayed by his crime became disillusioned with Trickshot. He turned on his former mentor and they parted ways.

Clint Barton continued to live the only way he knew and started travelling the country as an archer in cirucses. He was billed as the "Amazing Hawkeye". The circus had nothing on super heroes and when his travels brought him to New York he found all of his shows were upstaged by Iron Man. He realized that there wasn't much difference between heroes and circus performers and decided to change careers. Sadly the police mistook him for a criminal and he spent his first night patrolling a jail cell.

Enter Natasha Romanoff, Black Widow, at the time she was a Russian spy trying to get the scoop on Stark Industries. She convinced Clint that Iron Man was up to no good in order to recruit him to be her partner. While Clint was successful in destroying at least one of Tony's suits, he realized that Black Widow was up to no good. Abandoning her he petitioned to join the Avengers and after Tony Stark's endorsement he was added to the roster where he would consistently remain for the next few decades.