Jeremy Renner Has A Strong Message For Sony About Spider-Man
Look out, Sony. Hawkeye is taking aim at you — and he never misses.
On August 20, Hollywood was rocked when reports surfaced that Sony and Disney couldn't come to terms on a new agreement to keep Tom Holland's Spider-Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It looks like the 23-year-old Holland is done showing up in MCU movies after five appearances in the past three years, beginning with 2016's Captain America: Civil War and ending with 2019's Spider-Man: Far From Home. The vast majority of people involved — including Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige and Holland himself — have kept quiet on the recent bombshell, but one of the Avengers has spoken out. Knowing who cuts his checks, his response is hardly shocking.
Jeremy Renner, who has played Clint Barton (better known as Hawkeye) in the MCU for eight years since first appearing in 2011's Thor, took to Instagram on August 21 to vent his feelings on the controversial subject. He uploaded a still of himself in Avengers: Endgame with a caption that reads, "Hey @sonypictures we want Spider-Man back to @therealstanlee and @marvel please, thank you #congrats #spidermanrocks #🏹 #please."
Poor grammar and odd hashtagging aside, it's clear that Renner is clamoring for a new deal to be put in place, and that he falls on the Disney side of the dividing line. It takes two to tango, as it were, and Sony executives can't negotiate with themselves on this subject.
Renner has many irons in the fire — including starring in major Hollywood films, launching a musical career, and appearing in some slightly strange Jeep commercials — but it's obvious that Disney and Marvel offer the actor his steadiest gig. The man knows how hard it can be to find work in Hollywood, having been a makeup artist early in his career to make ends meet at a time where he couldn't find casting anywhere. Thankfully, Renner's place in the MCU is locked tight, as he's slated to star on the upcoming Marvel series Hawkeye set for release on the Disney+ streaming service sometime in the future. It's smart of Renner to not look a gift horse in the mouth and instead come to Disney's defense after Sony has put the blame on the House of Mouse.
After the events of Avengers: Endgame and Spider-Man: Far From Home, the web-slinger seemed poised to take on a central role in the MCU by continuing Tony Stark's legacy and keeping the memory of his late mentor alive. Unfortunately, placing Peter Parker at the center of the MCU may have been a misstep by Marvel's Feige, as it puts Disney at a distinct disadvantage in negotiations with Sony. With Sony having the sole film rights to Spider-Man — something the company has held since 1999, when Marvel was holding a licensing fire sale to stave off bankruptcy — Disney was already on the wrong side of the corporate power-struggle. Setting Spider-Man up to become an Avenger and a key cog in the future of the franchise may have only made matters worse.
Coming back to Renner's response, it's somewhat odd to see the actor leveraging the name and legacy of beloved comic book icon Stan Lee in his social media post. Lee, who died in November 2018 at the age of 95, was famous for having a cameo role in every single MCU film, and he did love seeing his creations on the big screen interacting with each other. However, it seems a little bit cheap to invoke Lee's name when asking Sony to give Spider-Man "back" to Marvel and Lee himself. It isn't as if Lee had a lot of say in what Disney was doing with the films in the first place, and it could be argued that using a dead man's name to comment on a colossal corporate spat is in poor taste.
Hopefully this is the first of many public comments by Marvel-related figures on the split; after all, this is the social media age where everyone and their mother lets loose their every thought online. The major players have been decidedly quiet on the subject thus far, though fans are surely waiting with bated breath to hear what Tom Holland himself has to say. It would also be very interesting to hear what Marvel head honcho Feige has to say after having Spider-Man ripped from his future MCU plans after righting the ship for Sony in the first place. For now, Marvelites will have to be happy with Hawkeye taking his aim and shooting his shot.