Hawkeye was noticeably absent from ‘Avengers: Infinity War’, despite some pre-release buzz about him appearing and taking on the new identity of Ronin. So what happened?
It turns out nothing. Screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely flatly stated that Hawkeye was never in the script for this ‘Avengers’ installment. But with all the secrecy surrounding these films prior to their release, rumors are bound to swirl, including those that are completely false.
But clearly, his fate will not remain a dangling question mark. However, with all the secrecy around most of the Marvel movies, nothing compares to that regarding ‘Avengers 4’. The studio hasn’t even announced what its real title is!
McFeely stated:
“We’ve said this before: the idea that some characters have great stories in the second movie. And we also gave ourselves permission to use both movies to tell complete arcs for the characters. And that might mean that somebody like Cap or Natasha you might feel like, ‘Oh, they didn’t have as much to do as say Thor or Doctor Strange, and that surprises me.’ It’s likely because they have a lot to do in the next one.”
He went on to elaborate that with the scope of ‘Infinity War’, all attention had to be paid to the core story and those characters directly connected to it.
“Once it became sort of a smash-and-grab type movie, anything that wasn’t involved in the main A-plot in response to Thanos collecting stones, mostly got jettisoned.”
Now for the rumor round-up. As stated, there was heavy buzz that Jeremy Renner’s Hawkeye has been seen filming in Japan, with a new costume and haircut, which led to the Ronin rumors. But considering that the directors Anthony and Joe Russo have stated that because of various actors’ availability, they had to juggle shooting scenes for both ‘Infinity War’ and ‘Avengers 4’, it appears that perhaps the footage shot in Japan was for ‘Avengers 4’. Hawkeye could still become Ronin, at least temporarily. In addition to Renner, Scarlett Johansson was seen filming as Black Widow. The pair were reportedly filmed battling the Yakuza. Now rumors are swirling that these Yakuza gangsters are actually shapeshifting Skrulls and that the ‘Secret Invasion’ comic book storyline will be the basis for this film.
The Skrulls are also expected to play a large role in ‘Captain Marvel’, a movie that was teased in the ‘Infinity War’ post-credit scene. As indicated in that same scene, S.H.I.E.L.D. is still active in a sense, but now word has surfaced that ‘Captain Marvel’ could introduce another secret organization S.W.O.R.D. (Sentient World Observation and Response Department) and that it’s possible that since her first encounter with Nick Fury, Captain Marvel has been stationed in outer space defending Earth against extraterrestrial forces.
All that is just speculation and rumor right now. Well, we have less than a year left to wait to find out what happens next in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
‘Avengers: Infinity War’ is playing in theaters now. ‘Avengers 4’ opens on May 3, 2019.
Source: Collider
