“Mayor of Kingstown” star and former “Avengers” member Jeremy Renner was as thrown and surprised by the announcement of Robert Downey Jr. and the Russo Brothers’ return to the MCU as everyone else seemed to be.
Chatting with Us Weekly in regards to the news, when asked whether collaborator and friend Downey Jr. clued him into the announcement, Renner said, “No! I had no idea. The son of a bitch didn’t say anything to me. We’re good friends. There’s the Avengers family chat. The original six. He said not a peep. I got online and started blowing up his phone like, ‘What’s going on? You’ve been hiding this from us all along?’ That’s exciting news. I’m really, really excited about it.”
Going further, Renner went on to seemingly acknowledge the pivot Marvel was in need of making and how relying on key players is always a smart move.
“You got Downey back in the mix, you got the Russo Brothers back in the mix. You always got Feige and Marvel. This is a direction where Marvel is going to do well,” said Renner. “The Avengers movies have always been fan favorites and there’s so many wonderful characters in them.”
Speaking of all those characters, Renner was also asked whether this news means his own return to the MCU or even the return of others. Though he was cagey on the subject, he certainly didn’t deny it as a possibility or interest.
“It’s going to be challenging to get everyone together. They’re probably going to have to piece it together, like a week-by-week kind of thing, just because of people’s schedules,” Renner said to Us Weekly. “There are a lot of people. But I am excited about it. We’ll see. I think we’ll probably be doing it. It’s all brand new. They just made the announcement. They got to start figuring it out.”
Following his snowplow accident at the beginning of 2023, an outpouring of support has been shown to Renner. He has documented his miraculous recovery over social media and continued a commitment to his career by returning for a third season of “Mayor of Kingstown” and taking part in the third installment of the “Knives Out” film series, “Wake Up Dead Man.”
