So, there's a new Avengers movie coming out. Maybe you've heard of it? It's called Infinity War, because this franchise is going to go on forever! Haha, I kid, I kid. Anyways, yeah, there's this Avengers movie coming out, and seemingly everyone in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is involved. There are something like 40 main characters, per interviews - and check out this poster! There are SO MANY NAMES (and faces) on this poster!
And why shouldn't it be packed? This is the culmination of the MCU up until this point - every franchise will have a part to play in Thanos' quest to take all the very pretty jewels for himself so that he can make the Universe's Prettiest Glove (or whatever his ultimate goal is), so it only makes sense that all the main characters from the MCU would be part of this grand finale. You may notice the poster lists all the names of the original Avengers first - Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Evans, and Scarlett Johanssen.
Yep, all 5 original Avengers.
Oh wait. Oh crap. There was one more original Avenger, wasn't there? Yeah - Jeremy Renner, who played Clint "Hawkeye" Barton, noted easily-brainwashed guy and bow-and-arrow aficionado.
Somehow, Renner's name does not appear on the poster - nor does his character. Heck, Hawkeye hasn't been seen in ANY of the marketing materials, despite apparently being "a character in the film." As the stories go, Renner even turned down participating in the latest Mission: Impossible film in order to make sure he was available for Avengers: Infinity War (and it's sequel, which was filmed at the same time). And, per behind-the-scenes reports, he even donned a new hairdo and overall look for Hawkeye (looking like something akin to his 'Ronin' persona).
So - he turned down a big movie, he got a new haircut, AND he's an original Avenger (not to mention sorta a huge character in the last Avengers movie, Age of Ultron) - and he hasn't even made a blip in the marketing materials yet. And if we wanna talk awkward/embarrassing, he didn't even make the Entertainment Weekly 90 variant covers for Infinity War edition, so he posted some fan art of Hawkeye on one of the covers as if he were:
Fan art...@marvel #infinitywar #hawkeye #🏹 #excited #blackpanther🤘🏻🤜🏿 #fanart #fansrock👍🏻 A post shared by Jeremy Renner (@renner4real) on Mar 12, 2018 at 3:18pm PDT
Fan art...@marvel #infinitywar #hawkeye #🏹 #excited #blackpanther🤘🏻🤜🏿 #fanart #fansrock👍🏻
A post shared by Jeremy Renner (@renner4real) on Mar 12, 2018 at 3:18pm PDT
This is kinda feeling a little bit sad now - Renner is a big movie star, should he really be reduced to posting FAN ART of ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY COVERS?! Even fellow bow 'n arrow shooter Stephen Amell (of the CW's Arrow) has taken pity on poor Hawkguy:
Anyways - the mix of sadness / weirdly noticing that a supposedly major character is missing has turned Hawkeye into something of a meme amongst the Marvel faithful, who have decided to start treating Hawkeye like they (or anyone) actually cares about him.
hawkeye while everyone else was posin for the poster pic.twitter.com/pUwu32VzOt -- 💌 (@rimsushi) March 17, 2018
hawkeye while everyone else was posin for the poster pic.twitter.com/pUwu32VzOt
via ThaiPosterfanmade
via Bbrown43
via philipkennedy
via BossLogic
Hawkeye watching Thanos beat up all his coworkers pic.twitter.com/CWKgmtMURJ -- Big Meechio Kaku (@TwanTargaryen) March 18, 2018
Hawkeye watching Thanos beat up all his coworkers pic.twitter.com/CWKgmtMURJ
via probatsy
via spooky-daddy-jim
WHERE IS HE, MARVEL??? #InfinityWar #Avengers #Hawkeye #Fanart @Renner4Real pic.twitter.com/qEQKSLyQnX -- ☆ Minty @ Sakuracon #620 (@tinymintywolf) March 18, 2018
WHERE IS HE, MARVEL??? #InfinityWar #Avengers #Hawkeye #Fanart @Renner4Real pic.twitter.com/qEQKSLyQnX
when everyone asks "where's hawkeye?" in the infinity war promos but nobody asks "how's hawkeye?" pic.twitter.com/AczBoYrG1a -- captain* (@iamgeekingout) March 13, 2018
when everyone asks "where's hawkeye?" in the infinity war promos but nobody asks "how's hawkeye?" pic.twitter.com/AczBoYrG1a
Hopefully it will bring some small measure of calm to all the Hawkeye fans out there (aka Jeremy Renner's relatives) that Hawkeye is "on his own journey" in Infinity War, which may explain his absence from the trailers (which mostly concern group efforts). And maybe they're just trying to keep his part under wraps - because it's going to be such a cool, unexpected surprise!
...or it'll suck and/or be pointless. We'll see.