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 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 are 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 on April 27th. Black Panther is now in theaters.
Jeremy speaks out…..
Some fans are disappointed that that Hawkeye didn’t show up in the Avengers: Infinity War trailer but Jeremy Renner, the actor who plays Clint Barton in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, isn’t one of them.
Renner tells that whether he appears in the trailer or not is the kind of detail he just doesn’t sweat.
“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.”
Unfortunately, Renner couldn’t say any more about exactly why the Avengers archer was absent from the film’s first trailer.
“It’s difficult, because you want to speak about the movie but you can’t,” he says. “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.”
Renner did talk a bit about his new haircut for the movie in a similarly nonchalant manner.
“A haircut is a haircut,” he says. “Sometimes I get a choice in the matter, and sometimes …”
Renner’s new haircut may or may not be indicative or a persona swap from Hawkeye to Ronin, which is a persona that several Marvel heroes, including Clint Barton, have used over the years in the Marvel Comics universe during moments in their history when they were having an identity crisis of some sort. Barton’s time as Ronin was similar to the situation that Renner’s version of the character, as it followed after the events of Civil War and saw Barton joining the underground team of Avengers on the run from Iron Man and the Superhero Registration Act. Avengers: Infinity War currently has a 4.38 out of 5 ComicBook.com User Anticipation Rating, making it the most-anticipated upcoming comic book movie among ComicBook.com Users. Let us know how excited you are about Avengers: Infinity War by giving the movie your own personal ComicBook.com User Rating below.
Avengers: Infinity War opens in theaters on May 4, 2018. Plus Ant-Man and the Wasp on July 6, 2018, 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.