Remember the hype and frenzy that followed The Avengers’ huge opening weekend last summer? People were coming out of the theaters fully satisfied; reliving their favorite scenes, spouting out the memorable lines, arguing over which Avenger is the best, and trying to figure out who the guy with the bow and arrows was.
It was a miracle that Joss Whedon was able to fit all these heroes into one gigantic movie, but it was obvious that after everything was said and done, one of them was going to get the shaft in terms of character development. A lot of people – including Jeremy Renner himself – thought Hawkeye deserved a bit more of screen time, instead of being Loki’s mindless goon for half the film.
Renner spoke with Hero Complex during the end of the summer, discussing his role in The Avengers and how he feels there was more to the character than what was shown. He’s actually quite honest, check it out below.
“At the end of the day, 90% of the movie, I’m not the character I signed on to play. I’m literally in there for two minutes, and then all of a sudden… All I could really work on was the physical part of it all, because that didn’t change. That was just the biggest challenge to overcome in playing the guy. Also, we’re pretty much introducing a new superhero character to everyone in a movie where there’s a thousand superheroes. So there’s not a lot of back story or understanding we can really tell about who Clint Barton is, or Hawkeye, and is he working for SHIELD or not. There’s a lot of unanswered questions, even for me. And I was OK with that. At least I was still in the movie. And I was glad for that. The closest thing I could really link to was Scarlett [Johansson’s] character, Black Widow, because they have a history. And that definitely plays in the movie, I think. And obviously, you can’t go into too much just because there’s so much story to tell, but you definitely get a sense that they’re connected, and that there’s something really, really important that ties them together. And I could try to summarize it, but it can go a lot of places. That excites me, though, that there’s room for other things.”
It’s easy to see where Renner is coming from, his cameo in Thor was awkward at best, and his introduction in The Avengers was almost nonexistent. But Hawkeye is ultimately just a guy who is amazing with a bow, and like his comic counterpart, it’s hard to stand out among the other heroes that can fly, transform or summon thunder. At least he had some cool moments in the film’s last act of mass carnage and destruction.
As for that history Hawkeye and Black Widow share? It will likely be explored in The Avengers 2, as Renner tells MTV that the sequel will give him the chance to dig a little deeper.
“It’s what he was able to do with the first one. Now, there’s more opportunities to explore the characters a little more, I think, for everybody. I think that’s exciting.The creation of the team is not the happy ending. It is the beginning of something that is complex and difficult, and now I get to dig a little deeper. And maybe, while I’m digging, just twist that knife. And that’s exciting for me.”
It’s hard to tell what Hawkeye’s role will be in Marvel’s Phase Two of films coming out; he won’t be in Iron Man 3 for sure and his appearance in Thor: The Dark World, Guardians of the Galaxy or Ant-Man would seem out of place. His presence makes more sense whenever SHIELD is involved, so the only logical bet for him to pop on screen before The Avengers 2 hits theaters in 2015, would be in Captain America: The Winter Soldier.
Maybe he’ll show Cap what the benefits of being a lone wolf include; the two do share a lot of history and respect with one another in the comics. But if there’s one thing Marvel should take from the pages and emphasis with Hawkeye over the next four or five sequels, it’s how much of a playboy he is. Seriously, Tony Stark has got nothing on Clint Barton. He has gotten it on with almost every female Avenger who ever joined the team. If they decided to show that side of him in the movie, I’m betting that Renner wouldn’t complain.