Avengers: Doomsday reshoots 3 months before release fuel cameo buzz, Jeremy Renner's Hawkeye might return

Marvel Studios has begun a final wave of reshoots on Avengers: Doomsday, and the timing has fans buzzing about a possible surprise: The return of Jeremy Renner's Hawkeye.

The reshoot news surfaced this week when Winston Duke, who plays M'Baku, confirmed in an interview that additional photography on the film was underway. Hours later, Renner posted an Instagram video showing his Hawkeye costume, scored to the character's theme music, a move many are reading as a not-so-subtle hint that he's part of the new footage.

Why reshoots now?

With Doomsday just four months from its theatrical bow, there's limited runway to fold new material into the finished cut. But Marvel appears to have planned around that constraint by scheduling this final photography alongside the start of production on Avengers: Secret Wars, the 2027 follow-up expected to begin shooting this September.

Given the tight window, insiders don't expect these reshoots to touch the film's core plot. As noted by IGN, Industry tipster Daniel Richtman, a source with a solid history on MCU scoops, has indicated the footage is aimed primarily at adding a wave of cameo appearances, and Hawkeye's costume tease lines up neatly with that theory.

Renner's complicated history with Disney

Renner has earlier said, as quoted by IGN, the studio's offer amounted to roughly half his previous salary for more work, and that he ultimately told the studio to take a hike.

He had said, "They asked me to do Season 2, and they offered me half the money. I’m like, ‘Well, it’s going to take me twice the amount of work for half the amount of money, and eight months of my time, essentially, to do it for half the amount," Renner claimed.

"I'm like, 'I'm sorry? Why? Did you think I’m only half the Jeremy because I got ran over? Maybe that's why you want to pay me half of what I made on the first season.' This is not Marvel, mind you. This is like, just Disney, not even really Disney. It’s just the penny pinchers, the accountants. I told them to go fly a kite. I mean, just at the insult offer. So, we didn’t see eye to eye on it."

Despite that falling-out, Renner has indicated he would still be willing to suit up again under the right circumstances, and a cameo in Doomsday, requiring far less time than a full season of television, could be exactly that.

What's next

Avengers: Doomsday releases on December 18.