Although we’ve known from the get-go that The Avengers will center on the superheros who’s names have already blessed a marquee (namely Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Thor and Captain America), fans rejoiced at the addition of Black Widow and Hawkeye to next Summer’s superhero orgy. Now Scarlett Johansson and Jeremy Renner discuss how their characters might be severely reduced in the editing process.

In an interview with news.com.au (via CBM), Jeremy Renner revealed that he felt like a “token chess piece” while on the set of The Avengers

On his busy schedule filming a series of action flicks back-to-back:

It’s certainly a ride. It’s tested me personally, artistically, physically. I don’t know if I’ve passed the test – I don’t even think I passed ‘Go’! I certainly haven’t collected my $200.

On whether he foresaw his acting career steering towards the action genre:

No. It started off with wanting to do something on a world stage – The Avengers. I love what Marvel do in that universe, so I thought, ‘I could give that a go, why not?’ I’ve never been a part of a movie people are gonna go see all around the world. I’ve done a lot of movies nobody’s ever seen (laughs). So that opened it up – then Mission came around, then Hansel and Gretel, then Bourne. It all snowballed in a wonderful way.

On if he felt lost in any of the big action blockbuster ensembles:

It certainly had that feeling on The Avengers. Maybe I’m in the movie, maybe I’m not, I have no idea. The scale is out of this world. That’s where I felt like a token, a little pawn chess piece.

On rumors that he’ll take over the Mission Impossible franchise from Tom Cruise:

I dunno. There are possibilities in any franchise … But that’s also assuming I don’t die in this movie, so you may be overstepping your boundaries.

His top injury from all of his action films:

It’s probably to my ego (laughs).

Then, as if in response, Scarlett Johansson said on MTVNews that she felt much the same way, lost in a gigantic film (although she did have very nice things to say about Director Joss Whedon and the quality of the piece in general).

Now today, in an interview with Moviefone (via CBM), Jeremy Renner was sure to mention that the movie is “awesome”, but he reiterates that he is a pawn when compared to the size of the mega-film.

On whether he can share about his cinematic ‘Hawkeye’ for non-comic readers…
Not a lot. It’s really because I don’t know. It’s a huge movie. There’s a lot of characters in it, so there’s not a lot of room for backstory or character development. He comes more from The Ultimates universe than the old school Marvel with the mask. I couldn’t even talk about that before the costumes were revealed. Now that that’s out, it’s definitely more The Ultimates version of the character. Definitely seems more authentic, which is why I got involved in the first place. Marvel started creating these superhero movies that are pretty plausible for a superhero movie. Like the whole Iron Man thing was like, “Wow, I could kind of buy it.” It actually could kind of happen. I thought they did a really good job and obviously with Downey and getting to work with him at some point. I still didn’t work with him on the film much

On whether he meant Downey was in character the whole time or if the two don’t share many scenes…

No, no. Well, kind of, but not. It’s hard to explain. You’ll have to see the movie.

On whether he’s seen any of the film…
No. And I have no idea what it looks like. It’s just too big of a movie in scope for me to grasp. I feel like I’m just a small little pawn in the Joss Whedon world of ‘The Avengers’ film.

On what it’s like bringing all the iconic characters together…
Awesome! Awesome! Mind you, it happened only once [pauses to think] … twice, we were all together. Just on the set on the same day, let alone be together. Now, that was fun. When we were in Central Park, everybody was in costume… [pauses] nah, not everybody. I wasn’t in costume. Scarlett wasn’t. But just to have everybody there… it’s a hoot.

On whether Hawkeye have history with Black Widow in the movie a la the comics…
There is some stuff in there with Scarlett and I, yes. But again, I can’t speak to what it is. But yeah, I do work with her quite a bit. More than anybody else, I can say that, only because there’s ties from the past. You can’t get into the history of it, but certainly, they spend a little time together.

On the potential Hawkeye movie and whether he’d be up for it…
Oh, I don’t know. I don’t have control over that! [being up for it is] another “I don’t know.” They’d have to want me to do it. And I’d have to make sure that there’s enough there to go do it. Don’t want to do it just to do it. Yeah, you never know in the Marvel universe. Keeps it exciting.

So what do you think? Exactly how much screentime can we expect from Hawkeye and Black Widow in The Avengers? Exactly how much of their history will matter in the film? Will their backstory be well handled? Will fans of the characters miss seeing more of them in the final cut of the film?