Jeremy Renner Shares Hilarious Story of Robert Downey Jr. Wanting to Hurt Chris Hemsworth While Filming The Avengers

Hawkeye star Jeremy Renner shared a hilarious story of why Robert Downey Jr. wanted to hurt Chris Hemsworth while filming The Avengers. The MCU staple visited the Armchair Expert podcast with Dax Shephard to discuss his career. When the topic drifted toward the first Marvel team-up movie, Renner couldn’t help unearthing this wild story. Apparently, Avengers wasn’t just the first time all of these stars shared the screen together. It was also the first time they all did so in costume as well. Downey caught one glimpse of Hemsworth in that uniform and immediately joked that they should take out one of his knees. 

So, the Iron Man star didn’t like all that stature on display. He was joking, but other MCU actors have mentioned being a little bit surprised and even self-conscious about their bodies around the Thor star. Downey is no different in that regard, and it makes for a pretty fantastic story.

“Yeah, he’s amazing, but we didn’t know of him, right? On the first day, we’re all parading around in our costumes,” Renner explained. “So It looks like it’s Halloween. We’re excited, but equally feeling ridiculous. I feel like we all knew each other somehow, someway, except we didn’t know this Hemsworth guy, because he comes from Australia. And he’s the tallest, he’s the most good-looking… Downey was like, ‘We gotta break his knee. We gotta take him out. This guy’s too good-looking. He’s too tall, he’s too charming, f*** this guy.’”

In an interview with Vanity Fair outlining his acting career, Renner says that Downey’s character ended up making a significant impression on him. Iron Man was a game-changer on multiple fronts.

“I remember going in to talk with [Marvel Studios president] Kevin Feige and [Marvel Studios co-president] Lou D’Esposito, and they’d show me the Ultimates version of Hawkeye. Iron Man had come out, and I said, ‘I’m into what you guys are doing because I loved Iron Man. I like how you made Iron Man plausible,’” Renner told Vanity Fair. “So that’s where they wanted to go with [Hawkeye]. I’m like, ‘Great!’ You gotta kinda sign on for a bunch of Avengers films and potential Hawkeye films, kind of sign your life away. I’m like, ‘Wait, I might be 50 in tights.’”

He would add, “That was my main concern. I’m like, ‘I don’t know if I want to do this. I don’t know if anyone wants to see me in tights at 50.’” 

Have you ever heard this story before? Let us know down in the comments!