Take this news story with a Hulk-sized grain of salt, folks: Rumour (via We Got This Covered) has it that Marvel is tossing up whether to drop Jeremy Renner from Disney’s Hawkeye limited series (and by extension the MCU).
Marvel wanting to cut ties with Renner doesn’t come too much of a surprise given all those unsavoury allegations leveled at everyone’s least favourite Avenger from his ex-wife, who made some pretty serious claims of physical and verbal threats on her and himself.
Now nothing is confirmed (apparently Marvel are merely mulling the idea at this point) and these rumours could end up amounting to nothing. We very well could still see Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye in the MCU, but for what its worth, We Got This Covered has covered scoops like this in the past and has proven to be correct so make of that what you will.
Assuming Marvel does indeed ditch Renner, word is the character will be recast with another actor (which isn’t the first time Marvel has done that) but how this will affect the Hawkeye Disney+ series isn’t too clear.
Say Marvel end up cutting Hawkeye from his own show, this may actually work to its benefit.
From what we know so far, show is focused on Kate Bishop and how she eventually takes up the role of Hawkeye in the Avengers. While having Clint Barton mentor her before gracefully bowing out, cutting him out of the show completely will actually be more faithful to the comics than if he wasn’t.
For those who are unaware, Kate Bishop becomes Hawkeye not through Clint’s mentoring but by stealing a heap of gear from the Avengers (including Clint’s bow) and using her skill to help the Young Avengers.
Other than references to the character, you wouldn’t really need Clint around to tell a compelling story of how Kate becomes the new Hawkeye and Renner’s rumoured departure won’t be a big issue to work in.
Then again, we could still get the “Clint mentors Kate” storyline we expect and Hawkeye will either be played by Renner or someone else.
Bottom line is, we don’t really know what will happen with the Hawkeye situation but we’ll find out soon. And if Jeremy Renner does indeed leave the Marvel world, well, he was everyone’s least favourite Avenger anyway.