The Russo brothers have told us before that Hawkeye was going to have a more pivotal role in CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER, but due to scheduling conflicts, the scene had to be cut entirely. That’s too bad, as they have just opened up via Screenrant and given us the details of the scene and it undoubtedly would have been one very cool encounter.
Director Joe Russo on the cut sequence:
What it was going to be, we were trying to complicate the relationship between Cap and his S.H.I.E.L.D agent friends. If Hawkeye got a call from S.H.I.E.L.D saying Captain America is a fugitive, would he listen to that call or not listen to that call? That sequence actually was heartbreaking for us to cut it. I think it ultimately might have been a conflict with Renner’s schedule. But there was a great sequence where Hawkeye was chasing Cap through Washington D.C. there was an awesome sequence where they confronted each other in a ravine on the outskirts of D.C. and Hawkeye was shooting a series of arrows closing in on Cap, Cap closing in on him. And then Cap took him down and he realized for the first time that Hawkeye was trying to trick S.H.I.E.L.D, where he whispered something into Cap’s ear that Cap had a tracker on his suit and to punch Hawkeye to make it look real, because there was a Quinjet hovering above where they were watching the feedback back at S.H.I.E.L.D.
So it was a cool sequence. But look, there’s a million iterations of films, and especially when dealing with Marvel movies where characters can come in or come out during the creative process. And you keep working and working like a Rubik’s Cube till you find the right configuration where everything lines up. So even though we lost that sequence, I think we may have streamlined the movie and made it a little bit more propulsive.
While we get to check out Hawkeye and his cool, new suit in AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON, I hope Marvel will find more time for the Mr. Barton in upcoming Marvel flicks. To this degree, I feel bad that Renner is already a part of the Bourne franchise. I feel Hawkeye movies in that vein (less shaky cam please) could really do that character some justice.
CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER hits Blu-ray/DVD on September 9, 2014.