Here's Jeremy Renner's Incredibly Unsubtle Hint That He Wanted Hawkeye to Die in THE AVENGERS

It's no secret that Jeremy Renner wasn't thrilled with Joss Whedon's approach to the character of Clint Barton (aka Hawkeye) in 2012's The Avengers. He's spoken openly about how he didn't like the fact that he was basically turned into a mind-controlled villain for most of the movie, but today I learned that he was so miserable during that film's production, he might have taken things a little too far:

“I never really told anybody this,” the actor said during a Q and A at London Film and Comic-con, “but in the first Avengers… I was just getting to know who Hawkeye was, and then zap, I go round like a zombie, I’m like Loki’s minion. And I’m still not even sure who Hawkeye was at that point. So I’m a little frustrated, because I was so excited to figure out who Hawkeye was. [So] I just had a heart attack in every scene – I’d just be walking with… Scarlett Johansson, and just like be ugh,” Renner said, clutching his chest theatrically.

"And they said, ‘what are you doing man?’ I’m giving you an option, if you just want to kick me out of this movie. Just you know, at any given moment, if you wanna kill me off, daddy’s gonna be having a heart attack.”

It seems like he's telling the truth here (through probably slightly exaggerated for the Comic-Con crowd), and if that's the case, that seems like a very childish way to act out against a script decision you don't agree with. I don't really like to use the whole "You're getting paid so much money, just shut up and do what you're asked to do!" argument, but in this case, faking your character's death multiple times while the film is shooting seems like a little much.

It's probably not as serious as he's making it out to be, and it sounds as if his arc in Age of Ultron gave him a better opinion of the character:

“I don’t really want him to die now,” Renner told the crowd. “I really got to explore him a lot, and I can’t wait to explore him more, and there’s some really cool ideas coming up."

Maybe one of those "really cool ideas" is that Netflix series for Hawkeye. We'll find out soon enough.

Source: RadioTimes