AsAvengers 4continues shooting, we haven’t seen much from the set sinceproduction beganback in mid-August. Given the ultra-secretive nature of this sequel, which brings the entire MCU to a close as we know it, that’s not terribly surprising. Thankfully, Jeremy Renner shared a photo of himself getting ready for a day of action on the set as Hawkeye. While we don’t get to see his costume, or any details from the set, at least Hawkeye fans know he’s survived, up until this point of the MCU, but that could obviously change every day, especially given the massive stakes of this movie.
Back in August, shortly after filming began onAvengers 4, the actor shared a newHawkeye photothat lead to speculation that his family, which we first saw inAvengers: Age of Ultron, may have been killed. We learned inUltronthat Hawkeye, a.k.a. Clint Barton, had kept his family hidden, and they used his secret home as a place to regroup before taking on Ultron. In the Ultimate comics, Hawkeye had a family that was killed by a traitor, ultimately revealed to be Black Widow, which lead to Hawkeye killing her to avenge their death. Hawkeye also drastically changed his wardrobe to what was known as his “vigilante” costume, which included a haircut practically identical to the one seen in that August photo, and also the newAvengers: Infinity Warphoto shoot featuring the whole team.
While this isn’t confirmation that Marvel Studios is following that specific story line, it wouldn’t be surprising, since we haven’t seen Clint’s wife Laura (Linda Cardellini) sinceAvengers: Age of Ultron, and it would make for an intriguing character arc for Hawkeye, who has often been one the most level-headed Avengers on the whole team, and to see him transform so drastically would be interesting. Then again, this is all speculation, based on a haircut no less, and it’s also worth noting that hisclassic Hawkeye costumewas revealed inAvengers 4set photos from October. It’s possible we could be getting both the classic and vigilante costumes in the same movie, but that is not confirmed yet.
Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige teased in a new interview yesterday thatAvengers 4 is a finale for Marvel superheroes, meaning that this movie will mark the end of one specific period in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and the start of another, which likely means that this movie will bring the deaths of several beloved Marvel superheroes. Kevin Feige even said that there will be two distinct periods in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, one that took place beforeAvengers 4, and one that features everything after, so it will obviously be quite the massive event. Whether or not a character like Hawkeye will survive remains to be seen.
As for the future of the MCU, Feige also stated that allMarvel Phase 4 announcementswill happen after the release ofAvengers 4in the summer of 2019, all of which are considered to be huge spoilers forAvengers 4, the title of which itself is a huge spoiler forAvengers: Infinity War. While many fans are simply dreading this long wait to find out more about the future of the MCU, there’s not much more we can do but wait, although we did learn today that the first trailer forAvengers: Infinity Waris dropping tomorrow, so hopefully we’ll learn more about Hawkeye in that footage. Until then, take a look at this new photo, courtesy ofJeremy Renner Instagram.
