Back in late May, Jamie Foxx - who previously played Electro in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 - joined the cast of the Spawn reboot to play the titular anti-hero... but it seems that the production isn't done adding comic book movie veterans to the ensemble. It's now being confirmed that the film is now adding Jeremy Renner, best known at this point for playing Clint Barton a.k.a. Hawkeye in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Deadline has the details of the casting, noting that Jeremy Renner will be playing the role of Detective 'Twitch' Williams in the movie. The Blumhouse Studios production will mark the directorial debut of comic book legend Todd MacFarlane, who has been developing the feature for a number of years. The story follows Al Simmons (Jamie Foxx), a CIA Black Ops killer who is double-crossed, murdered, and sent to hell. While there he makes a deal with the devil to return his soul to Earth - but doing some contracts him as a hellspawn - a minion of the dark underworld responsible for collecting evil souls.
Essentially waging a war against evil on Earth isn't exactly a mission that can be achieved alone, however, which is where Twitch Williams comes in. He is an NYPD homicide detective, and partnered with his best friend Sam Burke they help Spawn achieve his goals. He is not only a brilliant mathematician and essentially fearless, but he also happens to be a shooting prodigy and is often depicted utilizing a set of twin pistols in battle. We assume that Sam will be a part of the new Spawn movie as well, but we do not yet know who will be playing him.
With the exception of his work with The Avengers, Jeremy Renner has mostly been sticking to non-blockbusters in recent years. Since Captain America: Civil War in summer 2016, his work has been more focused on smaller and more dramatic fare, such as Denis Villineuve's Arrival, Taylor Sheridan's Wind River, and Jeff Tomsic's Tag. Marvel fans were shocked earlier this year when Hawkeye didn't even make a momentary appearance in Avengers: Infinity War, and he won't be in the upcoming Mission: Impossible - Fallout either, but he will be back in tentpole mode next May when he will reprise his most popular part in the untitled Avengers 4.
According to the new trade report, the next step for Spawn will be figuring out its distributor - which shouldn't be too hard given the popularity of comic book properties at the moment. The movie is going to be made with a much smaller budget than most superhero adaptations, looking at something in the $10-12 million range, and it will be R-Rated. We're following this project very closely here on CinemaBlend, so be on the look out for all of the latest updates in the days, weeks, and months ahead.
