Jeremy Renner famously survived a life-threatening accident, only to be offered half the money to return to the MCU.
Renner won the hearts of America with his acting ability and his inspiring story of survival after he was run over by a snowcat while trying to save his nephew in January 2023.
Many were hoping for his return to the Marvel MCU as Hawkeye, and a second season of the Disney+ show “Hawkeye.” Sadly there is currently no plan for a “Hawkeye” season two with Renner after he was offered only half the pay for the role.
According to an interview with Renner on “High Performance,” the actor had to pass on his return as Hawkeye.
“They asked me to do Season 2, and they offered me half the money. I’m like, ‘Well, it’s going to take me twice the amount of work for half the amount of money, and eight months of my time, essentially, to do it for half the amount.’”
He continued saying he wasn’t half the actor after his accident,
“I’m like, ‘I’m sorry. Why did you think I’m only half the Jeremy because I got ran over? Maybe that’s why you want to pay me half of what I made on the first season?’”
Renner went on to say that he thinks this is a bean counter move and not from Marvel itself,
“This is not Marvel. This isn’t not really Disney, it’s just the penny pinchers — the accountants.”
The actor would like to return to the character, but he ultimately needed to put himself first,
“So, we didn’t see eye to eye on that, sadly. I still love the character, I’d still love to do it but I had to defend myself.
“It was a little disheartening that it didn’t happen, but that’s fine. I’m happy to let that go because my body’s probably thanking me, time and time again, that I’m not doing it right now. But, we’ll see.”
The reason for the offer could have also been Marvel phasing out the old guard for their new, far less popular characters. My guess is they wanted to make it the new “Hawkeye” Kate Bishop show and his role was diminished by half, which led to the lower offer.
Marvel has been facing a declining box office. Now might be a good time to bring back Clint Barton/Hawkeye.
Since Marvel has replaced several actors from the original Avengers, their box office returns have not been stellar. Over on Disney+, their viewership for Marvel shows has also been in steep decline.
Aside from “Deadpool & Wolverine,” which was an outlier based on excitement for Hugh Jackman and Ryan Reynolds, the recent MCU films have struggled to break even let alone make money.
“The Marvels” lost over $230 million for Disney, making only about $206 million globally. “Captain America: Brave New World” performed better at about $414 million globally, but it will likely just break even or lose some money.
If Disney wants big box office returns again, they need to find a way to bring back many of the characters people know, including Renner.
But that is my opinion.
What do you think? Comment and let us know!
Source: Deadline
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