For quite a while there have been rumours circulating that Jeremy Renner is being lined up to play super-archer Hawkeye in The Avengers. It started last year when it was said the character would pop up in Thor, before get a larger role in the big superhero mash-up, but those rumours were shot down when it was revealed Hawkeye wouldn’t be in Thor after all.
However it seems he will indeed be in The Avengers and that Hurt Locker star Renner will take the role, with THR reporting that the actor is in final negotiations for the part. In the comics, the character started out as a reluctant bow and arrow wielding villain, before switching sides and becoming an integral part of The Avengers team. Whether this switch from bad guy to good guy will remain in Joss Whedon’s film isn’t yet known.
It’s good news for Renner, who got a huge career bump from Hurt Locker, but despite being heavily courted for Battleship, he never joined that film, and his role in Paul Thomas Anderson’s The Master is currently up in the air due to financial problems. Apparently he likes the idea of Hawkeye, because while he’s still committed to The Master, he should still be able to make that movie if it comes together and star in the Avengers, as with Iron Man, Thor, Captain America and others sharing the load, his part shouldn’t take too long to shoot.