Jeremy Renner Says Hawkeye Is Not in Avengers: Doomsday

Jeremy Renner has offered a characteristically sharp assessment of the Avengers’ odds against Doctor Doom: if Hawkeye is not on the roster, the team should not expect things to go well.

In footage presented as part of a Q&A from last month and subsequently circulated online, Renner said he is not part of Avengers: Doomsday, due in theaters on December 18, 2026. He made the point as a joke, but it is a notably direct answer about Clint Barton’s immediate Marvel Cinematic Universe future.

“Doomsday, I’m not in,” Renner said. “So, the Avengers will probably lose, just so you know.”

He followed that with an even more Hawkeye-appropriate bit of blame assignment: “They didn’t call me, so it’s their fault they’re gonna lose.”

The gag lands because Clint Barton has occupied an unusual position among Marvel’s biggest heroes. Hawkeye has no Hulk-like strength, reality-altering abilities, or apparent cosmic powers. He is a highly skilled archer and operative who repeatedly shares a battlefield with gods, super-soldiers, sorcerers, and aliens. That mismatch has long been part of the character’s appeal: he is the Avenger whose contribution is precision, resolve, and the willingness to walk into an impossible situation with a quiver instead of a magic hammer.

A clear answer, with limits

Renner’s remark is the clearest indication here that he is not in Avengers: Doomsday. It should not, however, be expanded beyond what he actually said. His absence from this film does not establish the long-term fate of Hawkeye, nor does it settle whether Barton could return in a later MCU project.

That distinction matters with franchise films, where a performer being absent from one ensemble entry is not necessarily a permanent departure from a role. At present, the supported takeaway is straightforward: Renner says he is out of Doomsday; Hawkeye’s involvement in 2027’s Avengers: Secret Wars remains unclear.

Renner had previously indicated in 2025 that he would be open to a second season of Hawkeye. The 2021 Disney+ series positioned Clint alongside Hailee Steinfeld’s Kate Bishop, bringing a potential successor and partner into the character’s corner of the MCU. No further season is established here, and any continuation appears to be on the back burner for now.

Why the joke has history behind it

For longtime MCU viewers, Renner’s prediction taps into a familiar fan joke: bad things happen when Hawkeye misses an Avengers movie.

Clint was absent from Avengers: Infinity War, the 2018 installment in which Thanos succeeded in using the Infinity Stones to erase half of all life. Hawkeye later returned for Avengers: Endgame, joining the effort to recover the Stones and reverse that catastrophe. The Avengers ultimately won that battle, albeit at enormous cost.

That sequence has made “they should have called Hawkeye” an easy and enduring piece of superhero arithmetic. It is not a literal claim that one archer would have single-handedly prevented Thanos’ victory. It is an affectionate way of recognizing that Barton is often underestimated inside a franchise built around spectacular abilities. Renner is leaning into that idea rather than presenting a plot spoiler.

There is also a neat bit of timing in his comments. Renner spoke positively about taking his daughter to see the recent Avengers: Endgame Encore theatrical re-release, since she had been younger when the film first arrived. That film is both one of Hawkeye’s most consequential MCU appearances and the basis for the joke that his presence correlates with the Avengers eventually pulling out a win.

Clint Barton’s path from cameo to core Avenger

Renner first appeared as Clint Barton in 2011’s Thor. From there, Hawkeye became part of the main team in The Avengers, Avengers: Age of Ultron, and Captain America: Civil War. The character’s progression is important context for why a Doomsday exclusion may disappoint fans even if the actor delivered the news playfully.

Hawkeye began as a comparatively brief presence, but developed into one of the original Avengers associated with the group’s human scale. His role did not depend on being the strongest person in the room. Instead, the films repeatedly framed him as a veteran who could offer perspective to teammates operating under immense pressure.

Hawkeye, the 2021 Disney+ series, placed that perspective at the center. The show gave Renner’s Barton a lead role while pairing him with Bishop. The arrangement made practical sense for the character: an established hero with hard-won experience alongside an enthusiastic new archer finding her place in the larger world.

For viewers following Marvel’s current television side, there is more MCU discussion elsewhere, including an examination of Marvel’s VisionQuest. But Renner’s latest comment concerns a more immediate question: whether one of the franchise’s original team members will be around when the Avengers confront Doctor Doom.

What “not in” means for Doomsday

Avengers: Doomsday is described as involving Doctor Doom’s effort to conquer the multiverse. In Marvel terms, the multiverse refers to multiple realities rather than merely distant places within one universe. It naturally raises the scale of the threat far beyond the grounded missions associated with Clint Barton.

That scale makes Renner’s joke more pointed. Hawkeye has always been a fundamentally human counterweight to larger-than-life stakes. Leaving him out of a multiversal showdown could be read as a sign that this story is pursuing a different lineup and a different flavor of conflict. It could also simply reflect the limits of an ensemble film’s cast. Neither reading, on its own, tells audiences what happens to Clint in the story, because Renner’s statement does not offer those details.

Still, the absence changes the emotional texture for fans attached to the original Avengers group. A team movie can include familiar names without reproducing the specific dynamic of the 2012 lineup. Hawkeye’s history with that group, and his lack of spectacle compared with many teammates, made him a useful reminder that heroism in this universe was never reserved for the most visibly powerful people.

The practical takeaway for Hawkeye fans

The short version is that Renner has said he will not appear in Avengers: Doomsday. Fans should not treat his humorous prediction of defeat as confirmation of the film’s ending. It is a joke built on the character’s Infinity War absence and Endgame return.

There is also no confirmed answer in these remarks about whether Hawkeye appears in Avengers: Secret Wars, whether a second season of Hawkeye will happen, or what form any later return might take. Renner’s earlier openness to returning establishes willingness, not a production commitment.

For now, Barton appears to be sitting out the next fight while Renner enjoys the opportunity to insist that this is a catastrophic strategic error. If the Avengers do lose to Doctor Doom, Hawkeye fans already know exactly who will be taking credit for predicting it—and exactly who will be assigning the blame.