Jeremy Renner Fuels Hawkeye/Ronin Rumors With New Avengers 4 Set Pic

Amid all the hype and excitement generated by Vanity Fair’s immense cover shoot – not to mention Thursday’s big reveal for Infinity War – Clint Barton himself, Jeremy Renner, has shared a candid new pic from the set of Avengers 4.

Still lensing across parts of Atlanta, the as-yet-untitled sequel is due to arrive in 2019, long after Infinity War, Captain Marvel and Ant-Man and the Wasp. Hell, Marvel boss Kevin Feige has even referred to Avengers 4 as a “finale” to the current MCU, before the likes of Spider-Man: Homecoming 2 and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 get the ball rolling on Phase 4 in 2020 and beyond.

And at the risk of putting the cart before the horse, it was recently revealed that Marvel has scheduled another 20 – count ’em, 20! – movies beyond 2018, so don’t be fooled into thinking that things will begin to wind down after the back-to-back release of Avengers: Infinity War and its mysterious sequel.

Speaking of which, the latter has already piqued the curiosity of Marvel fans with its Yakuza scenes and those leaked set photos featuring Captain America in a post-war America, who has been tipped for a transition into Nomad. He’s not the only Avenger poised for some huge character developments though, as there’s even been talk that Hawkeye will go on to become Ronin.

Initially dreamed up by comic book duo Brian Michael Bendis and Joe Quesada, Ronin is essentially another alias for Clint Barton who comes into play soon after the events of Marvel’s Civil War. Both Moon Knight and Echo are mentioned in the comics, though we can’t imagine Joe and Anthony Russo will dedicate much time to the character’s fantastical elements; instead, this looks to be a fun expansion of what is arguably the most underused hero in the entire MCU.

And he’ll be making an appearance in Avengers: Infinity War come 2018. After that, expect the war against Thanos and his so-called Black Order (see: Corvus Glave, Proxima Midnight, Ebony Maw and Black Dwarf) to weave its way into Avengers 4 in two years’ time.