Jeremy Renner Has Set A New Marvel Record
Jeremy just put his name in the Marvel record books.
This article is more than 2 years old
Hawkeye may not always be the most well-regarded Avenger, but Jeremy Renner’s new Disney+ Hawkeye series has apparently broken a record that has remained unshaken since the very genesis of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). According to ScreenRant, Hawkeye has the highest on-screen kill count of any Marvel project so far. Which, quite honestly, seems absolutely insane.
ScreenRant posted their findings yesterday, that Jeremy Renner’s Hawkeye on-screen kill count is between 50 and 55 bodies. The previous record holder, according to the site, was 2008’s Iron Man whose body count is apparently “around 35.” The bulk of that number comes from Tony Stark’s escape from the Ten Rings in his first Iron Man suit. ScreenRant says Hawkeye‘s record-breaking death-dealing is largely due to the season finale, “So This Is Christmas?”, in which the Kingpin (Vincent D’Onofrio) sends the entire Tracksuit Mafia after Clint Barton and Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld). Episode 3, “Echoes,” is another particularly bloody episode. “Echoes” gives us not only the Ronin flashback in which Barton’s vengeful persona kills Kingpin’s men, but we get a car chase in the present which many Tracksuit Mafia members don’t survive.
ScreenRant makes sure to point out a number of things in their record tally. First, they didn’t count times when Jeremy Renner’s character or his partner shot bad guys with arrows in non-lethal body parts (e.g. the feet, the hands). Second, they didn’t count the firing of trick arrows whose uses weren’t explicitly lethal. Third — and this is where things get a little questionable — they didn’t count “the literal wars, robot attacks, and alien invasions seen in the larger Avengers films.”
First of all, every single one of the Avengers films includes “literal wars, robot attacks” or “alien invasions,” so we’re not sure what they mean by the “larger” movies of the franchise. Second of all, why exactly would those kinds of stories be discounted in the tally? If ScreenRant is going purely by on-screen bodies — e.g. not counting everyone killed by Thanos’ snap in 2018’s Avengers: Infinity War because you don’t actually see all of the deaths — that’s one thing. But without Jeremy Renner even being present, we do see people on both sides killed in Infinty War‘s Battle of Wakanda. We also see plenty of Wakandans, Avengers, Guardians, and American civilians (in the post-credits scene) killed by the snap. That alone would seem to eclipse Hawkeye‘s kill count. Plus the Zehoberei (Gamora’s people) we see killed in the flashback, and all the Asgardian and gladiator refugees killed in the opening scene. Then there’s the Black Order, Vision, Gamora, Loki, Heimdall, etc.
How about all the Sakaarans, ravagers, and Nova Corp pilots we see killed in Guardians of the Galaxy? What about all the ravagers killed in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2? The Asgardians and gladiators in Thor: Ragnarok? The Asgardians and Dark Elves in Thor: The Dark World? All the Wakandans in Black Panther? What about Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.? There were seven seasons of the ABC series — how could its body count not overtake Hawkeye‘s? We’ll refrain from counting all the insect deaths in 2015’s Ant-Man, but that doesn’t mean Ant-thony’s sacrifice didn’t hit us hard.
Regardless, if you’d like to check ScreenRant’s math, Jeremy Renner’s Hawkeye is streaming on Disney+. You can also check out most of the rest of the MCU films, so you can have a kill-count marathon if you’d like. Whether or not you count Ant-thony is up to you.
