Why Hawkeye Is Possibly Missing in 'Avengers: Infinity War' Revealed

Since the marketing push for Avengers: Infinity War began, fans have been wondering why Clint Barton (Jeremy Renner), aka Hawkeye, hasn't received any attention. The Avengers: Infinity War Prelude comic book may have revealed why.

The Avengers: Infinity War Prelude comic goes back to the ending of Captain America: Civil War. Captain America shows up at the Raft prison to free the heroes who fought by his side against Iron Man's group.

The comic then shows where each hero goes after being freed. Ant-Man goes to see his daughter. Vision and the Scarlet Witch hide somewhere together. Captain America, the Falcon, and Black Widow go to Syria on a Secret Avengers mission to intercept Chitauri weapons being sent to terrorists.

Hawkeye has other plans though. Clint makes it clear to his teammates that he is officially retired, then heads to his secret home where his wife and three children are waiting for him.

This suggests that Hawkeye will be retired when Avengers: Infinity War begins. That would likely make Hawkeye a secondary character in the film and explain why he hasn't been the focus of any marketing.

We do know that Hawkeye is in the movie. Perhaps Captain America talks him out of retirement for a special mission to Japan, or maybe Thanos does something terrible to Clint's family. Either case could justify Hawkeye taking on the new persona of Ronin.

Fans noticed Hawkeye's absence as early as the release of the first Avengers: Infinity War trailer. Jeremy Renner commented on that particular release.

"I don't pay attention to that sort of stuff," Renner says. "I was just excited that we got a trailer together and it's coming out – that is a pretty killer trailer. It's difficult because you want to speak about the movie but you can't. There's a lot of superheroes in it. And it's gonna be big and it's gonna be awesome. But I can't really talk about the movie."

Avengers: Infinity War releases on April 27th. Black Panther is now in theaters. Other upcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe movies include Ant-Man and the Wasp on July 6th, Captain Marvel on March 8, 2019, the fourth Avengers movie on May 3, 2019, the sequel to Spider-Man: Homecoming on July 5, 2019, and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 in 2020.

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