Last weekend, "Bourne Legacy" actor Jeremy Renner commented that he was a little disappointed in his role as Hawkeye in the "Avengers". "At the end of the day, 90% of the movie, I'm not the character I signed on to play. I'm literally in there for two minutes, and then all of a sudden," Renner said. This might sound like spilled milk, but Renner has a point. Hawkeye's snarky personality makes him one of the funnest characters on the team, but you wouldn't know it watching "The Avengers". And while I think Whedon's approach to the character has its merits, it doesn't do much good if Hawkeye is in the background for the rest of the franchise. Luckily, I have just the place for him.



Of all the Marvel sequels, the one which excites me the most is "Captain America: The Winter Soldier". The Winter Soldier is (minor SPOILERS for anyone who wants to be surprised) Captain America's World War II buddy Bucky, who was experimented on by the Nazis, and supposedly died after falling from a train in the mountains of Europe (at least in the movie). He was found by the Russians, who turned him into a Cold War assassin whom they would cryogenically freeze (much like Cap was), turn loose on a target, and then re-freeze him again until he was needed (hence the name Winter Soldier). If Captain America thought the present was dangerous, he has no idea what his past has in store for him.



Keep mind what follows is equal parts speculation and fanboy fulfillment. One of the great things about "Captain America" is they show Cap being, well, a Captain. In both his solo film and "Avengers", he's shown effectively leading a team. I expect this will continue in "The Winter Soldier", when Captain America will form a team to stop the Winter Soldier. His team will doubtlessly include Sharon Carter, the grand-niece of his would-be girlfriend Peggy Carter, along with possibly the Falcon, Captain America's superhero partner. But the movie has already established that, like the comic books, Bucky's preferred weapon of choice is a sniper rifle. What better way to counter the world's greatest Cold War sniper than the world's greatest marksman?



Enter Hawkeye.



Putting Clint Barton on Cap's team in "Captain America 2" is rife with conflict. Hawkeye is probably carrying some unresolved issues from "Avengers" - he killed several people while under the thrall of Loki, several of them fellow SHIELD agents. Taking out the Soldier gives him the motivation to prove he's on the right side again - and on the right level. Of course, even if his friend is a ruthless assassin on a killing spree, Captain America would try to break his friend's programming. Like Hawkeye, Winter Soldier acting under the mental control of someone else, but unlike Hawkeye, Winter Soldier has been like this for decades. This puts Hawkeye and Captain America on a collision course, with Winter Soldier in the middle. (And if you want a meta level to this, Winter Soldier is practically a Russian Jason Bourne, and Hawkeye is played by Jason Bourne's replacement).



Of course, as I said before, this is mostly speculation. I have no idea if the filmmakers will go this direction. Hawkeye's role in "Captain America 2" would probably be similar, if not smaller, than his role in "Avengers". Between the introduction of Sharon Carter, the Falcon and anything else left over from the first movie, there's already a lot going on in "Captain America 2" even without the Winter Soldier. Still, fitting Hawkeye in at all could go a long way to display the snarky attitude that was absent from "Avengers".



Either way, it sounds like it's going to be a warm winter for Captain America and company when the sequel hits theaters in 2014.



(That's it for this rant. Check out a new Blue Yonder next week!)