EXCLUSIVE
Everyone knows that Jeremy Renner will play Hawkeye in Joss Whedon's "The Avengers," but that's not the first time we'll see the Oscar-nominated "Hurt Locker" star drawing the bow and arrow.
Renner will first appear as Hawkeye in a cameo in the Kenneth Branagh-directed "Thor," TheWrap has learned.
There has been a lot of confusion about whether Hawkeye would be popping up in "Thor," as Empire Online speculated in November 2009 that the character would appear at the end of the film, similar to how Samuel L. Jackson was introduced as Nick Fury at the end of "Iron Man."
“If I was a betting man, I would bet that Hawkeye would probably show up in "Thor," and then be in 'The Avengers,'” Renner told Empire. “But do I know for sure? I can’t say. But I’d love for that to happen. It’d be fun.”
However, just a month later, Renner told Movieline that there was "no truth" to rumors of Hawkeye first appearing in "Thor."
"That was just one of those things that got blown way out of proportion," Renner explained at the time. "The only reason it came out this early, because 'Avengers' is two years away, is that they’re thinking OK, we may throw him in 'Thor,' we may not, as a cameo. You know what I mean? So there’s truth that we talked about it, but there’s no truth to me doing it."
But an individual who has seen an early cut of "Thor" confirmed to TheWrap that Renner's Hawkeye appears in the film, although the person declined to elaborate on the context of the character's appearance or when it will occur. They did, however, confirm Jackson's earlier statements that Nick Fury does not appear in "Thor."
Paramount will release "Thor" on May 6, while Disney will unleash "The Avengers" on May 4, 2012.
