Jeremy Renner is in final negotiations to become a member of The Avengers team as the sharpshooting Hawkeye.

Should Renner join the team he will be working with Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark (Iron Man), Don Cheadle as James Rhodes (War Machine), Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow, Chris Evans as Steve Rogers (Captain America), and Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury.  Joss Whedon is set to direct the picture.  There’s no word as to whether Ed Norton will reprise his role of The Hulk.

Rumors started flying about Renner being Hawkeye last summer, when Renner let slip that he thought the character Hawkeye would appear in the Thor movie (set to release next summer).  ”If I was a betting man, I would bet that Hawkeye would probably show up in Thor, and then be in The Avengers,” he said at the time.

“But do I know for sure? I can’t say. But I’d love for that to happen. It’d be fun.”

At the time the actor was heavily involved in promoting his current film The Hurt Locker and being courted by Universal for Battleship.  Renner also expressed interest in Paul Thomas Anderson’s untitled drama at the time.  Battleship fell through for the actor and Anderson’s film has suffered several set backs while a budget is being hashed out.  Renner will next appear in Ben Affleck’s The Town.

Renner is apparently interested in the character because he doesn’t have superpowers.  ”I liked it because he wasn’t a superhero,” he said. “He’s not a guy in tights doing his thing, he’s actually just a regular dude with a highly trained set of skills. I think I can actually connect to that. Not just flying around with a codpiece on or something.”

Marvel is staying hush about the deal, but let’s cross our fingers and hope!  I think Renner would make a quite dashing Hawkeye!