Wrapping up on the epic San Diego Comic-Con panel that assembled the main cast of forthcoming
The Avengers movie, Marvel Studios head honcho, Kevin Feige talks with
IGN during a SDCC roundtable.
During the roundtable, Feige addressed the casting of Jeremy Renner as Clint Barton, a.k.a. Hawkeye, in The Avengers and what the cinematic future may hold for Marvel's most famous archer.
"We'd talked to Renner before about the character and it sort of floated around out there and he got nominated [for an Academy Award as Best Actor for The Hurt Locker] and he had this great success with Hurt Locker," Feige recalled.
"And then the rubber sort of hit the road and we realized we were actually going to put this character in The Avengers and we went back to see if he was still interested and he was and we were able to make a deal with him. And we hope to develop a standalone franchise for him after The Avengers."
He added, "Another reason why you go for an actor like Renner is you hope not to just cast an ensemble. It's an ensemble that you hope are rich enough and real enough and the actor can portray and embody this enough that they can crack out and carry their own film."
With Joss Whedon in the director’s chair, The Avengers stars Samuel L. Jackson (Nick Fury), Chris Evans (Captain America), Robert Downey Jr. (Iron Man), Scarlett Johansson (Black Widow), Chris Hemsworth (Thor), and Jeremy Renner (Hawkeye), and Mark Ruffalo (Hulk).
And though Hawkeye wasn't an original "Avenger", he and Earth’s Mightiest Heroes will unite on the big screen May 4, 2012.