When Marvel Studios introduced Kang (a.k.a. He Who Remains) in Loki, the stage was set for the MCU to get a more formidable big bad than even Thanos.
However, the studio made a major misstep by adding his most well-known Variant, Kang the Conqueror, to Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania. In the movie, the Kang we expected to be the Multiverse Saga's endgame was soundly beaten by the title heroes. Then, to make matters worse, rising star Jonathan Majors was dropped from the role after a well-publicised domestic abuse trial.
Marvel Studios has since decided to move on from Kang and will instead focus on Doctor Doom in the next Avengers movies. The Kang Dynasty has been retitled Doomsday, and the time traveller's story is likely to end with a few lines of throwaway dialogue next December.
Hawkeye star Jeremy Renner was asked about media coverage in 2019, which alleged violence, threats, and dangerous drug use in his marriage with ex-wife Sonni Pacheco, and how that differs from Majors' situation.
"I don't know. I don't know what the difference is between gossip and anything else," the actor replied. "I don't know enough about Jonathan and his situation to know. I know they had big plans for that character, that's for sure. Whatever transpired...that sucks, I think. The due diligence really has to be played out."
Pushed to elaborate, Renner spoke in general terms about how online coverage of any situation like this can factor into how a company like Disney handles the fallout.
"There's a bigger kind of scope to that. The idea of public opinion becoming part of the court process...when did public opinion become more valuable than the actual truth in any situation?" he mused. "We've had that for a while with social media and all that stuff. I think it's kind of dangerous. All the cancel culture and all that stuff. It makes me want to run and hide."
We don't know when Renner will return to the MCU, but he did recently reveal whether he'll be back for Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars. Hawkeye Season 2 may also be somewhere on the horizon, and he looks back on his time as part of this world fondly.
"No one ever expected it. Even the Marvel people were taken aback by it all. It happened pretty quickly from Iron Man into The Avengers. What a great...what are we, 13, 14 years into it, and it's still in the ring, still fighting, taking punches and throwing punches. It's a fun, fun, fun world. The friendships that were formed out of it. It started off so bizarre."
"Some of us knew each other before we started filming The Avengers, but Hemsworth and a few other people we didn't know. It's strange. It's like a Halloween costume. We're all wearing these bizarre outfits and these props. We're like, 'What are we doing? I don't know, but at least we're doing it together.' I got really great friendships out of the deal."
You can hear more from Renner in the player below.