Touting six Infinity Stones, 22 heroes and one Mad Titan, Avengers: Infinity War was undoubtedly one of the biggest superhero movies ever attempted, so it’s a credit to Joe and Anthony Russo that the Marvel epic has blazed past one box office record after another since its debut late last month.
However that may be, there were one or two characters who were strangely missing from Infinity War‘s gigantic cast list. Chief among them being Clint Barton/Hawkeye, who hasn’t so much as fired a single arrow since his bit part in Civil War. Ditto for Paul Rudd’s Ant-Man, though his absence was somewhat cushioned thanks to the oncoming release of Ant-Man and the Wasp.
As for why Hawkeye and Ant-Man remained on the sidelines (and on house arrest, it seems) during the full-scale war against Thanos, the Russo Brothers reaffirmed that they’ve carved out big plans for both characters ahead of next year’s Avengers 4.
Anthony Russo: There is a very specific story choice why…
Joe Russo: There is a… we have a really interesting story cooked up for both of those characters, and part of that story required that they be under house arrest.
This aligns with previous comments from Infinity War co-writer Christopher Markus, who recently went on record to say that both he and co-writer Stephen McFeely have cooked up a “really good story” for Jeremy Renner’s sharpshooter. It’s one that will allegedly involve the Yakuza and a possible transformation into Ronin, if those leaked set photos are any indication.
Whatever the case, those disappointed by the decision to omit Hawkeye (and Ant-Man!) from Infinity War needn’t worry, as Avengers 4 will seemingly allow the duo to make up for lost time come 2019. And that’s before we even consider Captain Marvel and the Wasp. Now there’s an MCU spinoff we’d like to see…
