Jeremy Renner hits the bullseye as Clint Barton, codnamed Hawkeye in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. He was born January 7, 1972 in Modesto California (George Lucas’ home town), which makes him 51 years old today.

Renner is an American actor and singer, and twice been nominated for Oscars. He has been part of the MCU since appearing in Thor in 2011. Although he was not officially identified in that movie, , every serious Marvel fan in the theater immediately realized he was Hawkeye. He has since reprised the role of S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Clint Barton, aka Hawkeye of the Avengers.

Renner has now played the Avenger archer role in five movies and two TV shows. The Hawkeye TV show is exclusively on Disney Plus and focuses on the man who is the heart of the Avengers, a husband and father who has been doing the impossible for years, and is getting worn out from it.

My distinguished colleague, Thaddeus Howze said:

Hawkeye is the part of the Avenger’s stories we don’t hear enough about, about the men who run alongside the angels and get tired of trying to keep up. Hawkeye is about the realization that you can’t keep doing this forever and learning to be okay with it.

To be able to move to a new phase of your life, a new phase of existence and in this case, a new phase of the Marvel Cinematic Universe — Hawkeye’s retirement would mean the Avengers as we knew them are no more.

Geek Cred

As Hawkeye, Jeremy Renner has appeared in:

• Thor (2011)
• The Avengers (2012)
• Avengers: Age of Ulton (2015)
• Captain America: Civil War (2016)
• Avengers: Endgame (2019)
• Black Widow (2021)
• What If (2021)
• Hawkeye (2021-22)

Hawkeye is one of the most interesting of the Avengers, a supremely skilled mortal man who walks besides giants and manages to keep up with them. Like Batman, he is a highly skilled “ordinary human, expert in archery, parkour, and espionage. In the comic book, Hawkeye would be the first of his mighty but motley crew to break the tension with a quick quip, joking about collecting royalty checks from Underoos.

Renner plays the spy William Brandt in

• Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol (2011)
• Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation (2015)

He’s Hansel in

• Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters (2013)

Hansel is the grown-up version of the little boy who was lost in the forest. He went from a witch’s prisoner to a witch hunter. He and his sister use an impressive array of weapons.

Render voices Swifty in

• Arctic Foxes (2019)

Swifty is a fox who wants to be a heroic sled dog.

He plays the role of Aaron Cross in

• The Bourne Legacy (2012)

Aaron Cross is a spy and black ops specialist.

Oscar Nominations

Jeremy Renner has been nominated for an Academy Award twice, for Best Actor in The Hurt Locker (2008) as Sgt. William James, and again a few years later as Best Supporting Actor in The Town (2010) as James Coughlin.

Mayor and Minstrel

Jeremy Renner has twice played mayors. He starred as Mike McClusky in The Mayor of Kingston. In American Hustle, he played Carmine Polito, mayor of Camden, NJ.

As SciFi.radio reported previously, Renner sings and plays multiple instruments: guitar, drums, and keyboard. He sung in The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007), where he played Jesse’s cousin Wood Hite. He performed on the soundtrack of North Country (2005); he played Bobby Sharp. He was also on the soundtrack of Love Comes to the Executioner (2006), where he played Chick Prigusivac.

He is in two music videos, for P!nk’s “Trouble” and Brother Sal’s Scenes on Sunset.” He released two albums in 2020, The Medicine and Live for Now. A lot of actors “sing”, with varying degrees of success, just to they can add that to their resume, but Renner actually does and he’s pretty good.

Personal

Jeremy Renner is a single father who absolutely dotes on his daughter Ava. He was married to model Sonni Pacheco from anuary 2014 to December 2015.

Happy Birthday, Jeremy Renner. Welcome to middle-age. Sir Patrick Stewart and the late Betty White proved 51 is nothing for a talented actor. Wishing you many more albums and many more movies. It’s kind of a selfish wish, really. We love what you do.

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