Ever since he pointed that bow and arrow at Thor in the New Mexico desert, Clint Barton, a.k.a. Hawkeye, has been one of the Marvel Cinematic Universe's most important supporting heroes. Over the course of The Avengers, Avengers: Age of Ultron and Captain America: Civil War, we've not only grown to understand why he was one of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s top agents, we've also learned about his personal life, a.k.a. the times when he's not shooting at killer robots and HYDRA agents. Jeremy Renner has expressed interest in the past of leading a Hawkeye movie, but he wants Marvel to get on that relatively soon, as he doesn't want to be wearing the archer's costume when he passes the half-century mark. As Renner put it:
It would be a wonderful thing. Just don't wait too long! I don't want to be in my 50s in tights.
We can't say we blame Jeremy Renner for wanting a Hawkeye movie sooner rather than later. He's already played the character in four movies over the last six years, and that will become six by the time 2019 is over. By that year, Renner will be 48, so the Marvel brass might consider throwing a Hawkeye movie into Phase Four, because if it doesn't come then, Renner's comment to South China Morning Post indicates that he wouldn't want to don those tight-fitting duds again. And hey, if a straightforward Hawkeye movie isn't in the cards, maybe Marvel could pair Clint Barton with Scarlett Johannson's Natasha Romanov and give the masses a Black Widow/Hawkeye movie instead.
At the end of Avengers: Age of Ultron, Hawkeye decided to hang up his bow and spend more time with his family, but the events of Captain America: Civil War drew him back into his superhero life. While Clint served admirably as a member of Team Captain America, he, along with Falcon, Scarlet Witch and Ant-Man, were imprisoned aboard The Raft. Fortunately, Steve Rogers broke them out of prison, though Hawkeye's exact whereabout since then are unknown. No doubt he returned to his wife and kids, but if it's unclear if he's still with them or hid them someplace safe and is continuing to operate as Hawkeye.
Whatever the answer, one thing that's certain is that Hawkeye will be among the many heroes lending his talents in the battle against Thanos during Avengers: Infinity War. However, it's in Avengers 4 the year after where he may go through his most drastic change yet. It's rumored Infinity War will leave Clint "in a very dark place," and when we reunite with him in Avengers 4, he'll have set aside the Hawkeye identity in favor of being Ronin. It remains to be seen if this information is legitimate, but depending on how Avengers 4 ends, perhaps that could pave the way for Hawkeye to strike out on his own and give Jeremy Renner one last time to shine in the MCU.
You can see Hawkeye back in action when Avengers: Infinity War arrives on May 4, 2018. Don't forget to also look through our Marvel movies guide to find out what other projects the MCU has coming up.
