Prior to The Avengers being released, Jeremy Renner made his Marvel Cinematic Universe debut as Clint Barton in Thor. While his introduction was basically a glorified cameo, it laid the seeds of seeing more of him the following year when the biggest superheroes teamed up to stop Loki. Once the film opened, he was even one of the first characters we got to see, but his role as a hero struggling to be a part of this team was cut short as he became one of Loki’s minions. He eventually snapped out of it and helped save the day, but it was not the arc that Renner had envisioned for the character when he signed on.
Renner has voiced his frustrations with his role in the movie before, mostly pointing to how it stopped any sort of character growth or progression for Hawkeye. While he may have been disappointed in his role in that single film, it appears it was worse than we had originally thought. Renner made an appearance at London Film and Comic-Con over the weekend and revealed that he was so frustrated that he was wanted him to die.
I never really told anybody this, but in the first Avengers… I was just getting to know who Hawkeye was, and then zap, I go round like a zombie, I’m like Loki’s minion. And I’m still not even sure who Hawkeye was at that point. So I’m a little frustrated, because I was so excited to figure out who Hawkeye was.
I just had a heart attack in every scene – I’d just be walking with… Scarlett Johansson, and just like be ugh. And they said, ‘what are you doing man?’ I’m giving you an option, if you just want to kick me out of this movie. Just you know, at any given moment, if you wanna kill me off, daddy’s gonna be having a heart attack.
As we all know, Hawkeye made it out of The Avengers alive, and became a common choice of who would die in Avengers: Age of Ultron. He not only survived that appearance, but also Captain America: Civil War, although he is now running from the government. While we do not yet know if he will appear prior to Avengers: Infinity War or the follow up, Untitled Avengers, Renner is now happy with the trajectory of the character and looking forward to exploring him more.
I don’t really want him to die now. I really got to explore him a lot, and I can’t wait to explore him more, and there’s some really cool ideas coming up. Really cool ideas. Great deaths! Amazing ways to die.
With all the talk and theories surrounding who could die at the hands of Thanos, Hawkeye remains a popular choice. He does not have any solo projects in the works, and likely never will, so Renner could get his dying wish in a few years. He will know before we do as they film the next two Avengers film concurrently starting at the end of the year, but hopefully whatever the choice may be, it fits within the character and the universe.
Source Radio Times.
