Joining the club of the Avengers is akin to dedicating one’s life to saving the day without Sundays. Yet, when Jeremy Renner signed up for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, heroic anticipation was not the first responder; it was apprehension. Although Renner remains the beloved Hawkeye fans have cherished for over a decade, his Marvel leap of faith was not easy. 

If anything, his superhero flight on the tails of Marvel Comics with The Avengers came with its fair share of difficulties, one of which Renner recently weighed in on.

Jeremy Renner’s Hawkeye introduction in The Avengers still stings

On a recent episode of Josh Horowitz’s Happy Sad Confused podcast, Jeremy Renner took a trip down the MCU’s lane to revisit where it all started. While the idea of a superhero without superpowers was tempting, the studio took its sweet time to figure out he was left-handed during Thor, followed by the repeat mishap in The Avengers (2012). Though Renner and Horowitz joked, the latter reminded how the actor was initially not blown away by the Hawkeye introduction in The Avengers. 

Renner explained, “It was only because I was trying to figure out the character.” However, when the MCU snatched away Hawkeye’s characteristic essence in the first scene of The Avengers, turning him into Loki’s minion, who becomes the “bad guy,” he felt incomplete as Hawkeye. Although he later got his own Disney series and explored the character in depth in subsequent Marvel Studios films, Renner could not help but laugh about how “it took a minute.”

Though Jeremy Renner is not the first Marvel candidate to voice frustration with their on-screen portrayals, this is not the first time he highlighted The Avengers’ issue. 

When Jeremy Renner lamented the Hawkeye scene in The Avengers, the very first time

According to 2016 Radio Times coverage, Jeremy Renner was part of a Film and Comic Con event in London, where he aired his frustration with ending up as “Loki’s minion” in the $1.5 billion film, The Avengers. Hawkeye’s introduction in The Avengers saw Loki manipulating his mind, robbing the character of its comic essence just when Renner was getting to know it. So much so, he even suggested an idea to finish off the character once and for all.

During the Q&A session, Renner explained he may have wished for Clint Barton’s misery to end with the easiest twist initially. However, upon exploring the character more with the Marvel Cinematic Universe, he could not have been more thankful for being among the ones living. “I don’t really want him to die now,” he said aloud to the crowd. While even now his comic revisit to The Avengers makes him call Hawkeye “Loki’s zombie,” fans must be grateful that he chose to stay.

Did you know Jeremy Renner did not exactly love his Hawkeye’s beginning in The Avengers? Let us know in the comments below!