Marvel star Jeremy Renner has given fans an encouraging update on his return as OG Avenger Hawkeye — just months after criticizing Disney “penny pinchers” and saying he had turned down a second season of his character’s Disney+ spin-off in a dispute over pay.
Back in May, Renner poured cold water over hopes of a Hawkeye Season 2 by revealing he had declined to return for new episodes, after being offered “half the money” he was paid for the show’s initial run — something he described as an “insult”. (Exactly in what capacity he would have returned, however, remains unclear.)
But now, speaking to Empire, Renner struck a more optimistic note — and said he was “sure we’ll end up doing season two, and do other things”. He continued: “And I’m happy to do it.”
Hawkeye’s enjoyable first season saw Renner’s retired agent team up with young hero Kate Bishop, played by Hailee Steinfeld, to take on enemies from his pre-Avengers past. The mini-series offered a strong double act between the two characters, fun cameos from numerous other Marvel faces (including Florence Pugh’s Yelena and Vincent D’Onofrio’s Kingpin), plus strong Christmas vibes. Among the mixed results of Marvel’s many Disney+ efforts, Hawkeye is generally agreed to sit within the upper tier.
Fans have continued to hope for more, though Renner’s future in the MCU was placed in doubt after the actor suffered a serious snowplow accident in 2023. It’s this incident which Renner previously referenced during his pay dispute — saying he would now be working even harder while continuing his recovery.
“I’m like, wow, it’s going to take me twice the amount of work for half he amount of money — eight months of my time, essentially, and you do it for half the amount?” Renner said back in May. “I’m like, ‘I’m sorry, why? Did you think I’m only half the Jeremy because I got ran over?’ Is that why want to pay me half of what I made on the first season?”
Fast forward a couple of months, however, and Renner is striking a different tone.
“I’m always happy to be in that world, man. I love all those guys, I love the character,” Renner has now said.
The timing of these remarks is interesting, with filming now underway on Avengers: Doomsday. While Renner himself is still unconfirmed to appear, there’s an expectation from fans that the master archer will pop up at some point, as one of the few original Avengers still left standing. Is this one of the “other things” that Renner is now referencing?
Steinfeld’s Kate Bishop, meanwhile, was last seen in a post-credits scene featured in The Marvels, where the character is seeing meeting Kamala Khan. While brief, this moment appeared to be setting up a team of younger heroes including Ant-Man’s daughter Cassie Lang — though Marvel has yet to confirm any future project involving those characters.
For now, Marvel’s focus is on its already-established superhero teams, with the Thunderbolts/New Avengers, Sam Wilson’s actual Avengers, and the Fantastic Four set to work together in Doomsday, which will also feature characters from the Fox X-Men universe.
Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
