Jeremy Renner, who got a real bump from The Hurt Locker, is getting his name attached to all sorts of geek properties. First he was talking about a role in the new Mad Max (which it seems like he didn’t get – it appears to have gone to Bronson star Tom Hardy), now he’s chatting up a part in The Avengers, Marvel’s all-or-nothing superhero team movie.
Renner tells Empire Magazine that he’s been talking with Marvel about playing the team’s bowmaster, Hawkeye.
“I met with the Marvel guys, actually, but we didn’t talk about Captain America. But one of the writers, Zak Penn, we’ve become friends over time and he was thinking maybe Hawkeye could be interesting. He sounds like an interesting character.”
He is a pretty interesting character, at least in the original Marvel Universe. He was originally a criminal; he was also in a relationship with Soviet superspy Black Widow (played by Scarlett Johansson in Iron Man 2, and likely in Avengers as well). Hawkeye is sort of Marvel’s take on Green Arrow, only with fewer boxing glove arrows.
We’re still a year or two from The Avengers really getting moving, but there’s no telling if Marvel wants to cameo Hawkeye in Thor or Captain America. There had been talk of a SHIELD agent named Clint Barton – Hawkeye’s civilian name – in Iron Man 2, but that appears to have been just a rumor.