Jeremy Renner's Hawkeye: A Physical Challenge

Marvel: Jeremy Renner has said that playing Hawkeye in the 2012 film "The Avengers" was a very physical role and that he trained physically and practiced archery as much as possible in preparation. Renner was trained by Olympic archers. Director Joss Whedon later stated that he never gets tired of watching Hawkeye shoot arrows while looking the other way.

About the role, Jeremy Renner said, "When I saw 'Iron Man' (2008), I thought that was a really awesome approach to superheroes. Then they told me about this Hawkeye character, and I liked how he wasn't really a superhero; he's just a guy with a high skill set. I could connect to that."

Regarding Hawkeye's sniper mentality, Renner said, "It's a lonely game. He's an outcast. His only connection is to Scarlett Johansson's character, Natasha. It's like a left-hand/right-hand thing. They coexist, and you need them both, especially when it comes to a physical mission."

Hawkeye was originally supposed to be on the Avengers' team from the beginning, and writer/director Whedon had written a detailed backstory for him but was unable to even reference any of it due to time constraints. This led to the brainwashing subplot, which Whedon invented to give Renner something interesting to play out (even though Renner was reportedly no fan of that plotline).

During the planning stages, Hawkeye was envisioned to be depicted as a circus performer, trained by supervillains who manipulate him into fighting the team, essentially a modernized version of his 616 origin story.

At another point, he was planned to debut in "Iron Man 2" (2010) as an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., who works closely with Natasha Romanov, a.k.a. Black Widow, and Nick Fury.

Jeremy Renner said Hawkeye is not insecure about his humanity. "Quite the opposite; he's the only one who can really take down the Hulk with his [tranquilizer-tipped] arrows. He knows his limitations. But when it comes down to it, there has to be a sense of confidence in any superhero." (