Newly unearthed Avengers: Endgame concept art features a pre-Ronin Hawkeye design. Jeremy Renner’s Clint Barton was not involved in Infinity War, along with Paul Rudd’s Scott Lang. Marvel Cinematic Universe fans were not happy about the situation and they let the world know about their disappointment. However, screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely had a pretty intense story for Hawkeye boiling under the surface, which they unveiled in Endgame. However, this new artwork hints that he may have shown up sooner.
Andy Park, Marvel Studios Director of Visual Development, shared the new Hawkeye concept art. It is pre-Ronin, which Park points out, meaning that this could have actually been artwork for Infinity War. The artist does not specify, but we do know that there were originally ideas to have Hawkeye join the secret Avengers. That obviously did not happen and the character was sidelined for the first installment. However, when Clint Barton returned in Avengers: Endgame, he was not the same character.
When Thanos completed his goal at the conclusion of Infinity War, he wiped out Clint Baton’s family in the process. This obviously left the character in disarray and sent him on a killing spree under the name of Ronin. He was a dark samurai character who spent the five years after the Decimation going out for blood. It wasn’t until Natasha Romanoff, aka Black Widow, located him in Tokyo that he came back as Hawkeye. By now, the reunited Avengers had the time heist plan in full motion, which Barton agreed to. This led to Romanoff making the ultimate sacrifice on Vormir, leaving Barton heartbroken.
The Clint Barton character has been through a lot over the years, so it will be very interesting to see what the Hawkeye Disney+ series is all about. Jeremy Renner is currently getting ready to return to the role, but there isn’t a whole lot of information about the series floating around just yet. It is believed that the show will focus on Barton training his prot&ég&é Kate Bishop. It has been rumored that Hailee Steinfeld will take on the role of Bishop, but that has yet to be confirmed and the actress has denied talks with the studio.
For now, MCU fans will just have to be happy in knowing that Hawkeye is coming back. We’ll get some more insight into the character and perhaps a tease of the future. Will he show up on the big screen again? Or will the series mark Jeremy Renner’s departure from the role? It could really go either way at the moment with a lot of original MCU characters starting to retire from the superhero life. We’ll just have to wait and see what Marvel Studios has decided to do with Hawkeye. In the meantime, you can check out the Avengers: Endgame concept art below, thanks to Andy Park’s Instagram account.
