Most of us know him as the MCU’s Hawkeye today, but within months of his MCU debut, actor Jeremy Renner made his debut in another major action franchise. Renner’s role in 2011’s Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol cemented his status as an action hero, creating the foundation for his legacy as Hawkeye and an action star later in his career. He plays William Brandt, one of the Mission: Impossible characters who deserves more screen time, but unfortunately never lived up to his potential as a character in the most famous and biggest action franchise in Hollywood history.

A year later, again within months of his iconic reprisal of Hawkeye’s role in The Avengers (2012), Renner made an appearance in one more famous 2000s action movie franchises. The Jason Bourne franchise was rebooted with The Bourne Legacy in 2012, but unfortunately failed to capitalize on the potential that Jeremy Renner brought to the franchise as the new lead. While Renner did return for another Mission: Impossible movie in 2015, both the Bourne and the Mission: Impossible franchises underutilized him as an action star and an actor.

The Mission: Impossible Movies Didn’t Make The Most Of Jeremy Renner

He Should Have Had More Action Scenes

The entire point of watching a Mission: Impossible movie is seeing Tom Cruise’s Ethan Hunt evading death as he runs around the world in search of a means to successfully complete his current mission. The knowledge that Cruise is performing his own stunts, often without harnesses and a second crew around to support him, buoys the experience as it increases the adrenaline rush viewers have when watching these movies.

However, over the years, the franchise has introduced quite a few other characters who are competent and adept at combat and parkour. None of them match up to Ethan Hunt, but without their contributions, Hunt wouldn’t have succeeded in some of his missions either. One such character is William Brandt, played by Jeremy Renner. Renner’s character is an IMF field agent who no longer wants to go out on field operations due to his ᴀssumption that his carelessness caused Ethan’s wife Julia’s death.

While Brandt is rusty, he still has his skills, and while there are only a few scenes where we see him showcase his skills as an action star, Renner brings a jaded charm to the franchise as Brandt. Though he has more action scenes in Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, including a daring stunt set piece, he is even more of a side character in Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation. Even the former could have benefited from having more action scenes for Brandt, but the latter just feels like a waste of Renner’s talents as an action hero.

Renner also gives us some of the most humorous lines in the Mission: Impossible franchise, especially in Rogue Nation, where he keeps insisting to the board that he cannot divulge details about any operation without the IMF secretary’s approval, knowing fully well the post is vacant at the moment. His acting talents are on full display as a nervous field agent and neurotic counterpart to Ethan’s radical optimism in the two movies, respectively. However, it’s hard not to feel that both films could have given him more scenes.

While Renner had his personal reasons for leaving the Mission: Impossible franchise, he has expressed his willingness to return to the franchise quite a few times since then. William Brandt was one of the biggest candidates for characters who should return in Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, but that wasn’t to be. From his comical disposition and his memorable vault jump in Ghost Protocol, to his courtroom scenes in Rogue Nation and his few fight sequences, we will have to make peace with however little of Brandt the franchise gave us.

The Bourne Franchise Struggled To Move On From Matt Damon’s Jason Bourne

Matt Damon Is The Face Of The Franchise

Some characters are essential to their franchises, like Captain Jack Sparrow in Pirates, Dominic Toretto in Fast & Furious, Ethan Hunt in Mission: Impossible, and John Wick in John Wick. It is impossible to imagine these action franchises without these characters, and the тιтular Jason Bourne of the Bourne franchise is no exception. While From The World of John Wick: Ballerina is attempting to move on with a spinoff, this has often proven difficult for franchises in the past.

Jeremy Renner plays the protagonist of 2012’s The Bourne Legacy. His character, Aaron Cross, is an Operation Outcome agent, whose physical and mental enhancements may even make him a better agent than Matt Damon’s Jason Bourne. Cross’ story starts as a direct consequence of Bourne’s actions during the trilogy. He is tracked down to be killed as part of the Colonel’s cleanup routine to rid the Earth of any remaining evidence regarding the Treadstone and Blackbriar Operations.

Much like Bourne’s adventures in the trilogy, Cross’ journey in The Bourne Legacy is about survival and stealth – he must fight off ᴀssᴀssins and stay off the radar. Renner’s skills as an action star prove to be of the utmost importance in creating Aaron Cross, as the character gets into many intense altercations. However, the choreography of the fights isn’t the best, and Renner’s character just isn’t as compelling as Damon’s Bourne.

Not only is Matt Damon inextricably linked to Jason Bourne’s character, but Bourne is also a master of stealth, unlike Aaron Cross. While there are notable fight scenes in the Bourne films starring Damon as well, The Bourne Legacy is much heavier on fight scenes, and this shift in narrative approach perhaps didn’t go over well with die-hard Jason Bourne fans. The biggest appeal of the franchise isn’t the fighting or the action, it’s the smart espionage that Bourne is an expert in. A gritty hero like Cross would need better writing to justify focusing on him instead of Bourne.

Jason Bourne will prove impossible to replace, just like Mission: Impossible‘s Ethan Hunt. While a Matt Damon and Jeremy Renner crossover Bourne movie is more than possible, even a decade after the last film in the franchise, it is rather unlikely to ever be made. According to reports, the franchise will be getting the reboot treatment, which means Renner’s Cross won’t be returning either way. The Bourne franchise could have given more time and better plotlines to Aaron Cross, but that is not to be.

Neither Franchise Should Have Tried To Replace Their Stars With Jeremy Renner

Renner Should’ve Stuck Around Both Series As A Secondary Character

One of the biggest candidates to replace Tom Cruise in Mission: Impossible was Jeremy Renner. While there is only speculation that the production house wanted to introduce William Brandt as a younger version of Ethan Hunt, so he could replace the latter, there has never been any confirmation. However, it is very obvious, given how every movie features other IMF agents with similar skillsets, that Brandt has a place on Ethan’s team even if he’s not meant to replace Hunt.

Similarly, while Aaron Cross’s existence is a direct consequence of Project Treadstone and its successor, Project Blackbriar, he and Bourne would have been good teammates. The differences between Aaron Cross and Jason Bourne make them complementary agents who could work well together as a team. What Cross lacks in his stealth, he makes up for in resilience and physical durability, while what Bourne lacks in perception and sensory attunement, he makes up for in evasion.

A crossover between Jason Bourne and Aaron Cross would fulfill many fans’ dreams as they symbolically represent the two sides of the same coin. Bourne is a product of the system in that his country recognizes him as a rogue agent because he refuses to watch the government’s covert projects ruin lives. Cross is more literally a product of the system because he was injected with viruses to permanently enhance his senses and mental forтιтude. The two are on opposite sides of the project, and their team-up would help dismantle the system even better.

Similarly, instead of giving him a reason to stay in the courtroom for most of Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation, the franchise should have found ways to put Brandt in the field more, alongside Ethan Hunt. Renner shouldn’t have replaced Cruise, and the franchise’s legacy is all the proof one needs, but that doesn’t mean more action scenes starring Renner would have been a bad idea. Utilizing Renner’s skills to make him another trusty sidekick to Hunt would have been the ideal way to go.

Why Jeremy Renner Hasn’t Been In More Mission: Impossible & Bourne Movies

The Actor Wanted To Focus On Parenting

Jeremy Renner left the Mission: Impossible franchise after 2015’s Rogue Nation because he wanted to be closer to his family and spend more time with his kids. Due to the high quality of action and the elaborate nature of the set pieces in the franchise, Mission: Impossible movies are highly demanding, both in terms of time and physical strain. Renner needed to leave if he was to make time for his family.

Since the soft reboot failed, and Matt Damon’s return to the franchise proved effective in attracting crowds and rejuvenating people’s interest in the franchise, Renner was never asked to return to the Bourne franchise. Moreover, Jason Bourne has found streaming success on HBO today, but despite years going by since its release, there has been no official confirmation of a sequel. Because Aaron Cross wasn’t as interesting, Renner didn’t return for Jason Bourne.

Jeremy Renner has played an important side character in the MCU for a decade, since his cameo in 2011’s Thor to 2021’s Hawkeye. So, even if he wanted to, fitting in the time necessary for an intensive film like Mission: Impossible would have proven impossible. Moreover, he unfortunately had a terrible accident and a near-death experience in December 2023 when he was run over by a snowplow. So, returning for Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, even if both parties were interested, couldn’t have happened.

Jeremy Renner’s Action Star Status Is Set Thanks To The MCU (But He Still Deserved More)

Adoring Fans Will Always Remember Him As Hawkeye

Despite having very few scenes in comparison to the bigger names attached to the MCU like Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, and Mark Ruffalo, Jeremy Renner truly broke out as an action star with The Avengers in 2012 as Hawkeye. The absurdity of an archer playing as big a role in the fight against an alien invasion by a group of supernaturally abled people and a man in the world’s best weapon-loaded exosuit is what stands out about him. Hawkeye’s few stunts, especially the jump from a rooftop, will always live on in fans’ memories.

So, even if he was never given his due by the Bourne franchise or the Mission: Impossible franchise, there is no doubt that Jeremy Renner has a strong legacy as an action star due to his role in the MCU. One might argue that even the MCU didn’t give him his due, and I’m inclined to believe he deserved more screen time and more dedicated projects long before 2021’s Hawkeye, which was mostly focused on Hawkeye, and symbolically Renner himself too, pᴀssing on the baton to another younger character and actress.

Jeremy Renner’s status as an action star has been permanently cemented because Hawkeye is quite unforgettable despite having only a few scenes. However, one can’t deny that Renner deserved more and was never given the stage to showcase his talents like he should have. His standalone action movies, like S.W.A.T., The Hurt Locker, The Town, Take, and Tag, prove he shines in starring roles, and Jeremy Renner was criminally underutilized by all the franchises he acted in.