Avengers: Infinity War Directors Say They Haven’t Forgotten About Hawkeye

Perhaps it’s the mooted transition to Ronin, or the fact that he’s one of the most woefully underused characters in the entire MCU, but Clint Barton (AKA the sharp-shooting Hawkeye) has become something of a cult hero as we approach Avengers: Infinity War.

He’s been relegated to the sidelines ever since the credits rolled on Captain America: Civil War, but thanks to the back-to-back release of Avengers 3 and 4 – two films that are seemingly more different than we’ve been led to believe – Hawkeye looks set to make up for lost time. Although, it might not be until the latter pic that Barton truly gets his moment to shine.

Or at least, that’s what directors Joe and Anthony Russo are teasing. In a recent interview, the brothers were asked about the absence of Renner’s fan favorite in the marketing campaign and they said that “all will be revealed,” before Joe elaborated further, stating:

“We keep saying, ‘Patience is a virtue.’ We did not forget the twice-nominated Jeremy Renner. We cooked up a story for him that is a little bit of a long play. Not a short play.”

What exactly he means by “long play” isn’t totally clear, but from the sounds of it, Hawkeye may have only a small role in Infinity War before really stepping up in the sequel. Or, perhaps he’ll only appear via cameo in Avengers 3? I mean, if we haven’t seen him in any of the footage shown thus far, we can’t imagine him having a very large part. An important one, maybe. But not one with tons of screentime.

Chalk that up as speculation for now, though, as we’re still completely in the dark as to how Clint Barton factors into things. Renner recently told us that the film will do “wondrous things” with the character, though, so we’re certainly intrigued to see just what he’s up to. Something tells us that it’ll have to do with the transition to his new alias, Ronin, but only time will tell.

Either way, we feel like Marvel’s got something special in store for him and we’ll soon find out what it is, as Avengers: Infinity War storms into theaters on April 27th.