It’s been over a decade since Marvel Studios released the very first Avengers movie in 2012, but recent happenings shed a morbid light on events from one of the earliest MCU superhero sets. While Disney and Marvel certainly hoped for the success of the comic book turned-film saga, they had no idea the massive popularity it would sustain for years. Being a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe means a big payday for its lead actors, but before the super team hit the big screen for the first time, one of its main members, Jeremy Renner, consistently tried to kill himself off.
Actor Jeremy Renner, known better to Marvel fans as the Avenger Hawkeye, dominated the first news cycles of 2023 after a horrifically traumatic snow plow accident that left him literally shattered. The world was stunned and inspired by his seemingly superhuman ability to stay positive, work hard, and miraculously heal from something that should’ve easily killed him. This tragic incident and his brush with death gave new context to his actions on the Avengers set.
According to FandomWire, Jeremy Renner was actively rooting for his onscreen death as Hawkeye to the point where he would pretend to die while filming…multiple times.
Renner is quoted saying,
I just had a heart attack in every scene – I’d just be walking with… Scarlett Johansson, and just like be ugh. 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.
FandomWire suggests that his constant heart attack pranks were meant to comment on Hawkeye’s lack of character development in the script. While Renner was right about Clint Barton not receiving a ton of character depth in comparison to other Avengers, heart attacks on set may not have been the way to go about it. I mean…poor Scarlet Johansson (Black Widow).
Jeremy Renner’s humor has apparently always been a bit on the darker side, but things may have changed over the past eleven years. Not only did he survive a life-altering accident, but he has gone on to star in a handful of other Marvel Studios features as well as his own Disney+ series, which certainly gave Clint Barton/ Hawkeye the spotlight Renner was looking for.
