The 2018 scene Jeremy Renner point-blank refused to shoot: “You’re not going to do me wrong”
Considering his character’s “powers” consist of a bow and arrow and some serious plot armour, Jeremy Renner has done incredibly well for himself in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Since his debut as Clint ‘Hawkeye’ Barton in Thor, he has appeared in six movies, some of which rank among the highest-grossing of all time, and his own miniseries. Considering he could have died in Age of Ultron instead of Aaron Taylor-Johnson, that’s not bad going.
Another major franchise that Renner has been involved with is Mission: Impossible. He joined the series for its fourth instalment, Ghost Protocol, as William Brandt, an IMF analyst who joins Ethan Hunt’s ragtag group of outlandish superspies. He returned for the sequel, Rogue Nation, in which he was involved in an improbable scheme to kidnap the Prime Minister of England. National Treasure, eat your heart out.
Rogue Nation, though, marks the most recent opinion of Brandt. The franchise and Renner have only increased in popularity since then, so why haven’t they collaborated in over a decade? According to the actor’s appearance on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, director Christopher McQuarrie initially wanted to kill Brandt off. He wanted to fly Renner out to England to film a scene in which he meets his demise, but the actor put his foot down.
“You don’t get to do that,” he told McQuarrie. “You’re not going to drag me over there and just kill my character,’ like get out of here! If you’re going to do this and you’re going to use my character, you’re going to do it right… Dude, you’re not going to do this to me like that; you’re not going to do me wrong.”
While Tom Cruise is obviously invulnerable to all danger in the franchise, Mission: Impossible isn’t afraid of killing off major characters. Alec Baldwin debuted as IMF Secretary Alan Hunley in Rogue Nation, only to be bumped off in the very next film, Fallout.
Rebecca Ferguson’s Ilsa Faust, a skilled assassin and quasi-love interest for Hunt, met her end in Dead Reckoning – Part One. The biggest death in series history has to be that of Luther Stickell. Portrayed by Ving Rhames in all eight of the movies, computer genius Stickell was revealed to be terminally ill in The Final Reckoning. This was quickly rendered irrelevant, however, as he was blown up by the film’s villain in the first act.
It’s very strange for a character in a major franchise to appear in multiple films and then just disappear without a trace. It seems that backstage disagreements have gotten in the way of the story. If there really are no plans for Brandt to return, surely it would have been better for him to have died and wrap up his character arc on screen?
Even though the most recent instalment had the word Final in the title, there’s no way the highly lucrative Mission: Impossible series isn’t coming back for more. Maybe Renner can return as Brandt in whatever inevitable sequel, prequel, or spin-off that’s coming in the near future.
