When it was first marketed that one of the six members of the titular team of 2012’s The Avengers would be a guy who shoots arrows, the ensuing mockery was inevitable. But as Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige implied earlier this year, the derision died down once viewers got see Clint Barton in action, with Jeremy Renner’s character proving to be a surprisingly effective fighter.
In fact, one YouTuber has now tallied a pretty impressive kill count for Hawkeye, based on his scenes in The Avengers and its 2015 sequel Avengers: Age of Ultron. According to this new video, Clint racked up at least 19 confirmed deaths in the former and 21 in the latter, while using a total of just 28 arrows between the two films. What’s more, since we observe our hero firing several arrows without seeing where they landed, it’s safe to assume that most of them hit their targets (because, hey, this is Hawkeye we’re talking about), meaning you can probably add a few more kills to each of those figures.
Though the character was a notable no-show in the recent Infinity War, Renner is confirmed to be returning for next year’s Avengers 4. In the wake of Thanos’ infamous finger-snap, the current speculation is that Clint will be assuming the new identity of Ronin in response to some or all of his family falling victim to the universe-wide purge. Could this be a set-up for his rumored, long overdue solo movie?
Either way, let’s hope that the upcoming film makes up for lost screen time, since it wouldn’t feel like a true culmination of the first eleven years of the MCU without the full line-up of the Phase 1 heroes getting the climax they deserve. We’ll find out if Avengers 4 is up to the task when the film opens on May 3rd, 2019.
