Marvel Cinematic Universe has provided almost all of the Avengers with their solo movies, except for one. The unfortunate one remains Jeremy Renner’s Hawkeye who never got his own big-screen adventure, while a few of his teammates even enjoyed multiple standalone movies.
Well, the super-archer Clint Barton aka Hawkeye who made his MCU debut with a cameo in Thor, was originally slated to get his solo movie. However, over the years the idea simply morphed into a TV show and certainly saved Jeremy Renner from Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow-like disaster.
Hawkeye Was Initially Meant To Be a Standalone Movie
Jeremy Renner‘s Hawkeye has been one of the integral and beloved characters among the Avengers. However, despite his remarkable screen presence and prolific acting, Renner never got a standalone movie for his character, unlike his teammates. Although he was initially supposed to get a solo film, it was later turned into a TV show.
“When we first started talking about it and developing Hawkeye, it was supposed to be a feature. It was back in 2017 when we were still filming Infinity War and Endgame.” executive producer Trinh Tran told Den Of Geek.
Discussing that the show was initially planned to be a movie, focusing on Hawkeye’s relationship with the newly introduced Kate Bishop, Tran mentioned, that they needed time to explore the dynamics. Later on, Trinh Tran claimed that Disney+ launched at the right time, allowing them to turn the film into a show.
“We were trying to figure out, how do we have enough time to tell Clint’s story? It didn’t make sense that the two-hour timeframe was the right way to go. So at that time, Disney+ was also launching and we were talking about characters going into that platform.”
Finally, Kevin Feige agreed to turn the movie into a TV show, considering that it would give them enough time to explore the characters.
Jeremy Renner Escaped a Black Widow Like Disaster
During the interview with Den Of Geek, executive producer Trinh Tran mentioned that it only made sense to explore the characters and their relationships in detail with a show rather than a movie. Further, since the show was released in 2021, during the pandemic, it even earned massive viewership on Disney+.
“In speaking with Kevin, he mentioned, ‘Well, why not just allow you guys the six hours of space so that you can get deeper into the characters of these two and form that dynamic and chemistry?’ So it made sense to move that over.”
While it’s sad to know that Jeremy Renner’s Hawkeye never got his standalone movie, it’s also a positive thing for the actor since he almost escaped a Scarlett Johansson‘s Black Widow-like disaster. Johansson’s notorious lawsuit against Disney is quite renowned as the company released Black Widow in theatres and streaming platforms, simultaneously, causing great damage to her profits.
The same thing could have happened to Jeremy Renner if MCU and Disney decided to come up with a movie instead of a TV show. In that case, Disney might have launched the movie in theatres and streaming platforms simultaneously, to earn more from both sides. And eventually, this might have led to a lawsuit from Renner, just like Johansson.
Thus, changing the original plan and turning Hawkeye into a TV series wasn’t such a bad idea.
Read more: Scarlett Johansson Only Won the Black Widow Legal War When Disney CEO Committed a Critical Error
