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MCU icon Jeremy Renner couldn’t help but work in a Marvel joke when reflecting on the snowplow accident that almost killed him nearly two years ago.
While at the Red Sea Film Festival in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, December 10, the Avengers star — who is best known for his role as Hawkeye in the MCU — was asked if he has faced any limitations from the 38 broken bones and other serious injuries he sustained in the January 2023 incident.
“I don’t think of it as limitations – even though I’m 25 percent titanium, so f*** Iron Man,” Renner, 53, quipped in response, per Variety.
“It’ll be two years in January, and I am very, very proud to overcome a great adversity in my life, and I’m forever grateful for all the love and support I’ve gotten from people all around the world, even those I never knew existed, that helped propel me to get better, and it’s the only thing that really kind of defines me in my life at this point,” the actor added.
“I’m writing a book about it right now,” Renner continued, noting how he is finishing up the final touches on the memoir while in Saudi Arabia. “While I’ve been here this whole trip, I’ve been doing the final edit on it, so it’s kind of fresh in my brain, because I tried to push it away a lot of times.”
The 28 Days Later star elaborated on the harrowing nature of the accident, during which he was crushed by the 14,000-lb. snowplow.
“There’s so many wonderful gifts that come from being tested to your limits of death. Because I did die, and I came back, and I came back for a reason, and nothing to do with me,” Renner shared. “If it was my choice, I’d rather stay. But I came back, and I’m glad I’m back.”
The Hurt Locker actor has been candid about his near-fatal accident ever since it occurred, providing fans with detailed updates.
“I never really had scars before; they were probably more emotional, spiritual scars, you know? And now there are some physical ones,” he told Men’s Health earlier this year in the magazine’s July/August issue. “But the physical ones aren’t even from the accident, they’re just because of the accident. All those are just reminders of the beautiful, beautiful day that could have been a really bad day.”
On New Year’s Day 2023, Renner was using a snowplow to help move a vehicle stuck in the snow at his Nevada home, when the plow began to slip and roll. In order to protect his nephew, Alex — who was working with his uncle to pave a way for the stuck vehicle to get out — Renner became crushed by the plow.
“I remember every undulation. I remember my head cracking on the thing and it just pressing on me — it’s exactly like you think it would feel,” he told Men’s Health. “An immovable object and a crushing force, and something’s gotta give. But thank God my skull didn’t fully give.”
Renner continued to share as many details as he could about the accident, including how his “eye bulged out.”
“I could see my left eyeball with my right eyeball,” he recalled, listing off the dozens of bones he broke.
Ultimately, Renner knew he did the right thing to protect his nephew.
“I’m not letting anybody get hurt on my watch. That’s why I put my f***ing own life on the line for my nephew. I’m not gonna let that thing f***ing crush him!” he told the magazine. “I couldn’t live with that. … If it was the other way around, if I didn’t get back on that thing and then it crushed him … I would not be a good man right now. … I’d be f***ing haunted.”
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