Hawkeye is one of the least-used characters in the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe. Most of the Avengers have their own solo films, and the ones that don't usually pop in from time to time in other places. Say, Scarlett Johansson in "Iron Man 2" and "Captain America: The Winter Soldier."
But not Hawkeye. He was in "The Avengers" (and technically in the first "Thor" for a few seconds), and that's it. No other Haweye appearances. Which makes him seem a little skimpy, as far as Marvel characters go.
Why isn't Marvel using this character to the same degree as Black Widow or Nick Fury? actor Jeremy Renner may have revealed some potential reasons.
Newsarama reports that, when asked about what Hawkeye was doing when S.H.I.E.L.D. fell, Renner revealed that Hawkeye wasn't particularly engaged with the organization.
"He's only a team player because he sort of has to be. He's not really a company man. Cap can be that guy, I guess, but Hawkeye is his own man," says the actor. "A lot will be revealed with a few simple scenes [in Avengers: Age of Ultron]. You'll understand why he thinks the way he thinks. But yeah, I don't think S.H.I.E.L.D. was ever really that important to him. Fury's awesome. [Hawkeye] likes Fury and will do anything for him, but he doesn't just punch in and punch out."
As well, in IGN, Renner said how he was almost on "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D."- until he wasn't.
"Yeah, I think there was talk of some of the guys jumping onto a TV show. I remember hearing something about that. Again, there has to be a good rhyme or reason for it, and I like the character enough to explore him more. I'm always open to it, because he's obviously not had a franchise of his own, to really deeply explore who Hawkeye is. I'd like to explore the guy more. He's an interesting character to me."
Movie News Guide also reveals that Renner isn't too keen on spoilers, so he kept to the outskirts of "Age of Ultron" while the movie was being filmed.
"I haven't seen him, I kind of keep my head turned away from all of that so I can be surprised when I see the movie. Obviously I saw Paul Bettany in person as the character, but then they do the visual effects and all that sort of stuff. It will be a surprise to everybody in the movie - Ultron as well as Vision, because those characters were so much generated stuff."
All of which might explain why we've had so little Hawkeye in the years of Marvel films already out there. Although once Phase Three hits, who knows? Maybe there'll be a Hawkeye in every movie.
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