Will Hawkeye Be In The Black Widow Movie?

The Black Widow prequel movie is on its way next year, and since the flick was officially announced, fans have had a question on their minds: is Hawkeye going to be involved? It's a little surprising that the Marvel brain trust hasn't addressed the possibility yet, given the film's period setting and the pair's long shared history.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe fandom knows that Clint Barton (Jeremy Renner) and Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson) were extremely close, as their adventures together as S.H.I.E.L.D. agents in the days before Iron Man, the Avengers, and invading alien forces have been alluded to many times. One tossed-off, comedic exchange during The Avengers' Battle of New York (Romanoff: "This is just like Budapest all over again!" Barton: "You and I remember Budapest very differently") highlighted not only the pair's lengthy working relationship, but their personal chemistry; that flick's sequel, Avengers: Age of Ultron, revealed that Romanoff was in fact the only Avenger who was aware that Barton had a family.

The onscreen kinship between Black Widow and Hawkeye came to a tragic end during the events of Avengers: Endgame, as the two old friends found themselves tasked with retrieving the Soul Stone from the planet Vormir in 2014, before the Mad Titan Thanos could get his greasy purple mitts on it. Facing the same quandary that the stone's guardian, the Red Skull, posed to Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War — "in order to take the stone, one must lose that which they love" — the two old friends fought to the death... that is, to see which would be the one to go over the cliff to their doom, allowing the other to secure the stone and complete the mission.

Black Widow, being the better fighter, won that battle. She made the ultimate sacrifice so that Hawkeye could bring the Soul Stone back to the present, and his shocked, speechless reaction upon being grilled by the Avengers as to Black Widow's whereabouts told us all we needed to know about the special place Romanoff held in his heart.

It seems only fitting that Black Widow — which is set circa 2005 — should explore this relationship, perhaps even showing us one or two of the missions that helped to shape it. But at this point, thanks to Marvel Studios' jaw-dropping panel at San Diego Comic-Con 2019, pretty much the entire principal cast of the flick has been revealed — with no mention of Renner. However, we can think of one or two reasons why this might be the case, even if Marvel were planning to feature Hawkeye in the film.

First, the cast may not be complete. We know that the primary villain of Black Widow will be the iconic Marvel baddie Taskmaster, yet there has been no news as to who will be filling the role. Principal photography on the movie is already underway, but that doesn't mean much; Marvel may still be looking for the perfect actor to take on the part, or (perhaps more likely) the studio may simply be withholding this information with an eye toward giving fans something new to be excited about as Black Widow nears release.

Second, it's just as likely that Marvel could be taking a similar tack with Renner. Black Widow doesn't hit theaters for over nine months, and while a lot of juicy info was divulged at Comic-Con, that doesn't necessarily mean that the studio showed their entire hand. News of Renner's involvement at some point down the road would drum up a lot of excitement, and Marvel knows a thing or two about sustaining interest in their forthcoming projects.

Finally, we have the words of Johansson herself, who was asked directly if Hawkeye would be a part of Black Widow during an appearance on Good Morning America. Her answer: "My lips are sealed... you've gotta wait and see."

Now, it stands to reason that if Hawkeye were definitively out of the mix for Black Widow, Johansson would simply have said so; no spoilers there. But her answer sounds a heck of a lot more like she has pertinent information, and just isn't willing to give it up... par for the course for Natasha Romanoff.

Black Widow lands in theaters on May 1, 2020.