As part of Marvel’s big reveal of their Phase 4 line-up at last summer’s Comic-Con, it was announced that Jeremy Renner was finally getting his own vehicle in the MCU via a Hawkeye TV series that would pair Clint Barton with his apprentice in archery, Kate Bishop. The show was locked in to arrive on Disney Plus in 2021, but a new report now claims that fans shouldn’t expect this release date to be met, after all, as the series has been hit by an indefinite delay.
Insider Charles Murphy is claiming that Marvel has had a major reshuffling of its TV output, which has left Hawkeye at the bottom of the pile. This is supported by the fact that Ms. Marvel has been moved up to start production this April, with casting apparently already having begun on Moon Knight and She-Hulk. All three of these series were originally due to follow Hawkeye, but are now all expected to shoot ahead of it.
Some of you may be wondering whether this delay is to do with those troubling allegations made against Renner by his ex-wife in recent months, and it seems that it is. At least, partly. As MCU Cosmic explains:
“His wife dominating the gossip sites has put something of a dampener on the whole development of the series. They aren’t removing the star of the show over an internet cancel mob, especially after the James Gunn situation, but a delay would also help that stuff dissipate from the TMZs of the world.”
However, that isn’t the only reason, as it’s also being reported that the studio’s rethinking of the bigger picture of Phase 4 has resulted in the show being put on hold as well. This decision likely has everything to do with the Young Avengers, seeing as Wiccan and Speed will arrive in WandaVision and Kamala Khan will debut in Ms. Marvel.
Kate Bishop would typically be on the teen super-team, but it seems she’ll be held off due to the delay. One potential upside of this pause on Hawkeye, though, Murphy suggests, is that it could allow for Hailee Steinfeld to sign on for the role of Kate, following reports that she was in talks but couldn’t make it work with other commitments. The series is also definitely not dead and could very well appear a year or so later than initially expected.
In any case, we’ll be sure to let you know as soon as we learn more, but for now, it seems that Marvel has put the brakes on the show for the time being.