The original MCU Avenger with the least amount of screen time is finally getting his own time to shine. Jeremy Renner’s Hawkeye hung around in the shadows of Captain America, Iron Man, and Thor for a number of years, popping up here and there to shoot an arrow or reveal a really cool tattoo sleeve. Now he’s getting his own series, and all that time he spent in the background is a big reason why.
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Marvel fans have loved Renner’s take on Hawkeye ever since he debuted back in 2011. This was especially true in Avengers: Age of Ultron, when Clint Barton’s family was introduced and his friendship with Wanda Maximoff revealed that he may be more of a leader than the stronger Avengers ever gave him credit for. The notion that Clint could be a mentor was the foundation of Hawkeye, according to Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige.
“All of these roles have been fairly small. And then Ultron, we got a little more. And then he just starts stealing all of these scenes. But it was always the intention to explore much more,” Feige told ComicBook.com‘s Brandon Davis during the Hawkeye press conference. “The character’s history is vast. And also, the Matt Fraction comics, which I am sure people have been spending a lot of time talking about, was a big tonal inspiration for us. And seeing that and this new dynamic.”
“There are moments within all of Jeremy’s appearances where you see this mentor under the surface,” Feige continued. “This reluctant hero, this reluctant mentor under the surface. One of my favorite scenes in all of our films is the scene with Clint and Wanda in Sokovia. Where he basically says, ‘When you go out that door, you’re an Avenger.’ And motivates her to join the fight. And that was the kernel of how we could connect our MCU incarnation of Clint Barton into the Matt Fraction storyline in relationship with Kate Bishop.”
The story of Kate Bishop and Clint Barton finally gave Marvel a Hawkeye story worth telling on-screen, but the work that Renner put into the character over the last decade also factored into the decision-making a bit.
“We want to see more Jeremy Renner. And more Jeremy Renner. And that goes back to the earliest days. We are both grandfathers now of the MCU,” Feige said. “And the trust that Jeremy had to jump into the MCU before moderators said things like ‘welcome to the MCU.’ It was, ‘Hey do you want to do this thing with us, and it would be pretty cool, and I think it could be neat.’ And he said yes, and then he won an Academy Award, and he still said yes. And I thought that was pretty cool.”
The first two episodes of Marvel’s Hawkeye arrive on Disney+ on November 24th.
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