A fellow Avenger helped Jeremy Renner survive his difficult hospitalization. The 53-year-old "Hawkeye" star told People how Robert Downey Jr. encouraged him after his near-fatal snowplow accident last year. Renner said the "Iron Man" star checked on him in the ICU and kept him upbeat.
"We ended up having really great chats on FaceTime, like we were dating or something," Renner claimed, adding that Downey helped him forget his "otherworldly pain". "He's like, 'Dude, the most important thing is you look good,'" Renner said. "'I don't care how you feel, as long as you look good, that's all that matters.'"
He also jokingly pushed him to improve so he could see more episodes of his Paramount+ series "Mayor of Kingstown." "He's like, 'You've got to get back to do 'Mayor,' because we need to see what happens,'" Renner laughed. "His ways are very heartwarming."
The Washoe County Sheriff's Office in Reno, Nevada, reported that Renner was hospitalized in January 2023 after his snowplow ran over him while helping his nephew with car issues. Renner shattered around 30 bones in the collision and told Diane Sawyer in April that could "see my eye with my other eye."
Renner said in November that he had "countless hours of physical therapy, peptide injections, IV drips and pushes, stem cell and exosomes, red light/IR therapy, hyperbaric chamber 2.0 atmospheres, cold plunge, and the list goes on and on." He said "my greatest therapy has been my mind and the will to be here and push to recover and be better."
Downey wasn't the first "Avengers" celebrity to comfort Renner after the accident. Johansson and "Captain America" star Chris Evans came to Los Angeles to visit Renner during his rehabilitation, Variety reported. "I didn't know if I was ever going to see him again," remarked.
According to Johansson, Evans, Downey, Chris Hemsworth, and Mark Ruffalo texted Renner on a "Avengers" text chain after her prognosis improved after the accident. End of story. You won."
About a year after his accident, Renner resumed "Mayor of Kingstown" in January. "Day one on set … nervous today," he posted on Instagram. "Hope this works out that I can ACTUALLY pull this off for our production and more importantly the fans." Renner also told Entertainment Tonight in February that he's ready to play Hawkeye again. “I'm always game,” he said. "I'll be strong enough. I'll prepare."
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