It’s been a minute since we’ve seen Jeremy Renner playing Clint Barton, a.k.a. Hawkeye, in the MCU, and there’s still no word on if he’ll reprise the role in upcoming Marvel movies and/or upcoming Marvel TV shows. To be fair, much of this has to do with how Renner was badly injured in a snowplow accident at the start of 2023, resulting in a long recuperation process. However, apparently he had also been approached to do Hawkeye Season 2, but turned it down for a completely understandable reason.
As the actor laid out in an interview with High Performance, this decision didn’t stem from a lack of interest in reprising the archer he’s been playing stretching back to 2011’s Thor. Rather, if he’d agreed to return for another season of Hawkeye, which premiered late 2021, he would have been taking a massive pay cut. As Renner explained:
They asked me to do Season 2, and they offered me half the money. And I’m like, ‘Well, it’s going to take me twice the amount of work for half the amount of money, and eight months of my time, essentially, to do it for half the amount.’ I’m like, ‘I’m sorry? Why? Did you think I’m only half the Jeremy because I got ran over? That’s why you want to pay me half of what I made on the first season?’
Yeah, I can understand why Jeremy Renner would have a problem with this. To be clear, it wasn’t outright stated that his pay would have been cut because of his accident; technically we don’t have an official reason. Renner also clarified that he doesn’t hold any ill will towards the people at Marvel Studios and “not even really Disney,” but more specifically at the Mouse House’s accountants, who he described as “penny pinchers.”
Renner went on to say that he told these accountants to “go fly a kite” after he heard the “insulting offer.” While he’s open to playing Clint Barton again someday, he wants to make sure he’s getting properly compensated, and the amount proposed for Hawkeye Season 2 just wasn’t it. As he put it:
Sadly, I still love the character. I’d still love to do it, but I had to defend myself. I didn’t ask for any more money, mind you. Just pay me what I made made the first season. So it’s all disheartening that that didn’t happen, but that’s fine. I’m happy to let that go, because my body’s probably thanking me, time and time again, that I’m not doing it right now. But we’ll see.
My agreeing with Jeremy Renner that he should get paid just as much for Hawkeye Season 2 as he did in Season 1, if not more so, the fact that another season is even being talked about with him is somewhat surprising. The show has been long labeled as a miniseries, and while Alaqua Cox went on to reprise Maya Lopez in the Echo spinoff, and Hailee Steinfeld cameoed as Kate Bishop in The Marvels, there’s been no indication that Season 2 was in the cards. Maybe if Marvel comes back with a better offer for Renner, that could get Season 2 off the ground in the coming years.
For now, Jeremy Renner can next be seen in Wake Up Dead Man, which will be released sometime in the latter portion of 2025 movies schedule. As far as the MCU goes, Thunderbolts* opens in theaters tonight, and Ironheart will premiere on the 2025 TV schedule on June 24.
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