It’s hard not to think of The Avengers as a whole whenever you mention one of the many actors in the gang. Almost 10 years ago, the Marvel Cinematic Universe landed its first epic team-up, reinforcing stars like Robert Downey Jr. and making new notables such as Chris Hemsworth. It wasn’t that way in the early days, as the newly formed team was still feeling each other out, both on screen and off, according to recent remarks from Jeremy Renner.
During a guest spot on Dax Shepherd’s Armchair Expert podcast, the Hawkeye star brought up some memories of first joining the rest of the gang in 2012’s Marvel Studios landmark hit. He wasn’t a total stranger to the cast that he was working with, however there was still some unknown factors lurking about in the initial phases. With that in mind, Renner provided a very apt analogy when it came to first forming up with his fellow Avengers:
If anything, if you ever played any sports, you’re kind of joining a new team. I knew [Robert] Downey, I knew Scarlett before, I just didn’t know [Chris] Hemsworth.
It’s kind of hard to play on a new team, no matter the sport. It’s even harder when that sport is the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and the game happens to be The Avengers. At that point the MCU was still in Phase 1, and all bets were off as to whether or not assembling Earth’s mightiest heroes was going to hit the way it eventually did. In a very similar fashion, Robert Downey Jr.’s funny take on the relatively unknown Hemsworth shows that the cast was just as in the dark as the world at large.
While we now know Chris Hemsworth as more than just a mountain of handsome looks, it took a little while for everyone to get acquainted with the man. Previously appearing in the Star Trek reboot, his casting as the lead in Kenneth Branagh’s Thor was even scrutinized by the media when first announced. By time The Avengers was getting off the ground, the man himself was anxious about where exactly his career was heading, which only added to those feelings. To Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth may have merely worthy of the nickname "Point Break" upon first glance. As mentioned in Jeremy Renner’s further remarks, Mr. Downey’s remarks may have also helped ease those worries, while also building the relationship of their characters:
Yeah, he’s amazing, but we didn’t know, right? On the first day, we’re all waiting around in our costumes. It looks like, you know, it’s Halloween. We’re excited but equally feeling ridiculous. I feel like we all kind of knew each other somehow, someway, except we didn’t know this Hemsworth guy, because he comes from Australia. He’s the tallest; he’s the most good-looking. And so Downey’s like, ‘We gotta break his knee. We gotta take him out. This guy’s too good-looking. He’s too tall. He’s too charming.’ But, yeah, we’re all feeling out of our own bodies and giddy that we’re dressing up in these costumes. ‘What are we doing? This is amazing but what are we doing?’
Costume fittings: the ultimate equalizer of any major film cast, unless you count the game “Boggle.” Once The Avengers broke records and inspired fans that fateful summer, there was no doubt that Marvel Studios was on the rise. And if anyone still questioned whether or not Chris Hemsworth was a leading man, that were soon put to rest; even on Robert Downey Jr.’s end. Just as the team rose to the challenge of the Chitauri, this super team of talent set the bar for comic based entertainment to the level it’s at today.
If you want to catch up with Jeremy Renner’s Hawkeye, the entire run of episodes, and the thoughts they’ve inspired, is available on Disney+. All of this comic book talk probably has you the reader excited to see what upcoming Marvel movies are headed our way, which is some good information to run through at a time like this. Who knows what next actor or project in the MCU will land its own bolt of lightning, defining a star in the process.
