The star-power is reportedly set to continue finding its way to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The franchise is undefeated when it comes to Hollywood's heavyweight movies series, dominating the big screen for the better part of two decades. In recent years, it has turned its attention to the small screen too, making its presence felt among the most popular streaming shows every year since WandaVision launched in 2021. And the stars always come out for the MCU.
Rumor has it that Marvel is planning on bringing one of them back in the not-too-distant future, and that it will be looking to add some more star-power to it too. And in spite of some people claiming that the franchise's glory days are behind it, it continues to prove its ability to entertain and draw in major names to its storylines, with the likes of Harrison Ford, Kathryn Hahn, Pedro Pascal, and Angelina Jolie all being among the most recent additions to the franchise.
It sounds like the studio might be interested in adding even more big names to it in the near-future, potentially enhancing one of its best shows along the way, too.
Marvel reportedly wants to cast an A-List star as Hawkeye's brother
There have been a multitude of reports over the past year claiming that Marvel Television's Hawkeye will return for a second season. The first of those stated that the series' potential return would feature Barney Barton, the antagonistic brother of Hawkeye himself, Clint Barton. And now prolific Marvel insider Daniel Richtman has supported this, reporting that the studio has made a direct offer to an A-List actor to play Clint's brother for multiple projects, adding that Hawkeye season 2 would be the first of them.
Of course, Marvel have yet to confirm if Hawkeye will even return for a second season, but there is no doubt about it that all of these reports lining up do suggest it's likely. And given that it was reported last year that the studio is now investing its time in evolving some of its original miniseries into multi-season TV shows (due to the concern that they were spreading themselves too thin with too many new one-and-done shows in development and that the content was suffering as a result of that), Hawkeye seems like a likely choice.
Hawkeye premiered on Disney Plus in November 2021 and it really surprised people. Ms. Marvel was supposed to be the fifth MCU series to stream on the platform in the franchise's inaugural year on television, but Hawkeye was placed at the end of the year instead due to the fact that it was set during the holidays. And that really benefitted it, offering up a fun and delightful adventure that wrapped up Clint Barton's story as an Avenger (for now) and introduced us all to Hailee Steinfeld's Kate Bishop.
The series did mostly tell a one-and-done story, allowing its one dangling plot thread to spin out into spinoff series Echo, but there could very well be more story to tell if Marvel chooses to bring it back. Not only is Kate Bishop set to play a pivotal role in the franchise going forward (perhaps as a Young Avenger), but the potential introduction of Clint's brother Barney could reinvigorate the veteran archer's story, ensuring that original Avenger Jeremy Renner will stick around in the MCU for some time to come.
Barney is the older brother of Clint and, throughout the comics, he has served as a recurring villain for him to take on. From condemning him for not remaining loyal to his villainous mentor The Swordsman (who had a more good-natured adaptation in Hawkeye's first season) to accidentally ending up on the wrong side of one of his arrows, Barney has led an interesting life in the source material and if he were to be introduced in the MCU, it would no doubt create an interesting dynamic with Renner's Hawkeye.
Now we just have to wait and see if this rumored A-Lister will accept the offer to join the biggest movie franchise in the world. Here's hoping it comes to fruition.