Robert Downey Jr. and Chris Hemsworth Praise Avengers Co-Star Jeremy Renner After Recovery From Snow Plow Accident

Robert Downey Jr. and Chris Hemsworth are singing the praises of their Avengers co-star Jeremy Renner, following his recovery from a snow plow accident in the beginning of 2023. 

In a new Vanity Fair interview, Chris Hemsworth reflects on his bond with the other Marvel Cinematic Universe actors he worked with to make The Avengers franchise a global phenomenon. The group (which includes Downey, Hemsworth, Renner, Scarlett Johansson, Chris Evans and Mark Ruffalo) maintains contact through an official Avengers text chain; it was on that chain that the shocking news about Renner’s near-death accident got dropped: 

“He sent us all a sort of a doped out, hospital, beat-up image and said, ‘All good, guys.’ And then I didn’t hear from him for a while as he was in the thick of it,” Hemsworth admitted. 

Renner recently reunited with his Avengers crew at the Cap Cod wedding of Chris Evans, who married Portuguese actress Alba Baptista last September in a private home ceremony. Robert Downey Jr. (someone who certainly understands an unlikely comeback story) had all the perspective needed to recognize how much of a feat Renner had accomplished through his recovery: 

“If there’s one characteristic we’d all agree is paramount,” Downey says of their crew, “it’s resilience. To see Renner embody that literally, and in the context of what was basically a Portuguese-American wedding, was mind-blowing. Fully recovered and ready to celebrate. So, yes-miracles happen.”

Hemsworth put a cap on the point by talking about how nearly dying has clearly changed Renner: 

“There was an astounding sense of gratitude from him around just being alive.”

Both Chris Hemsworth and Robert Downey Jr. have had their own respective brushes with mortality. Downey was a notorious “bad boy” in his younger years as a breakout star (1990s), by the time he was crashing his car into the side of a house while under the influence, there were many wondering if he’d end up in an early grave. Thanks to years of work and sobriety, Downey has turned it all around, going from a complete career reboot with Iron Man in 2008, to winning his first Oscar this year for Chris Nolan’s Oppenheimer. 

Chris Hemsworth revealed in 2022 that genetic factors make him 8-10 times more likely to experience some form of early-onset dementia, or other neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s. Since getting that diagnosis Hemsworth has had to switch focuses in life, routinely exercising his brain as well as his movie star body, and generally making preparations for a day where his mental facilities could begin to break down. 

…That’s all to say: Jeremy Renner is looking like a real-life Avenger to his buddies right about now – just as he’s represented a real-life hero to so many people who need the example of his recovery.  

Avengers Movies are streaming on Disney+